I posted my very first drawing on Instagram back in 2015 on the 25th of February. It was a drawing I did of Amy Winehouse, and it turned out really great. I was very happy with it. The likeness was good, given the fair amount of effort I put into it.
Today, I drew my 214th drawing and posted it on Instagram. This drawing is of the amazing and incredibly talented actor and vegan, Natalie Portman. For four years, I’ve been drawing and posting on a regular basis, and looking back over this timeline I can clearly see progress and development in my work. And this is Great!
These series of drawings on Instagram aren’t really for anyone other than myself. It’s there to see if I’ve been able to improve at my craft. And I have to say, the improvements have been good, still not where I’d like it to be but really really good. I’ve learnt, how to better capture proportion; that always threw me off. I can capture likeness much better now whereas previously it really was hit and miss. I can also work much faster now. A lot of that has got to do with the iPadPro, Apple Pencil and Procreate. These tools allow me to work much more quickly and to work with large areas of dark color very easily, whereas previously it was laborious.
But irrespective of this, the technology doesn’t help with proportion, and this is where the constant practice has come in. Whether on paper on screen, the hours have paid off. And this is what I wanted. To be able to consistent hit accuracy with as little time as possible.
Based on my progress to date, I am certainly going to continue to push my ability consistently. I’m at the point where I would even like to explore other styles again. Perhaps the next two hundred drawings will yield some other interesting pieces.