Horse

 

Yes, it is a yellow and blue horse. Deal with it. I'm actually very happy with how this one turned out. Done in markers and some colored pencils in my crappy sketchbook. Enjoy.

~AnnElfwind.

Smiling

Just a portrait I drew. Probably with a bit of help from some youtube video or other. And I'm also pretty sure it is done with a colored pencil. It doesn't seem to be a graphite pencil. But it's hard to tell from just the pic I took of the drawing. And I don't feel like pulling out the sketchbook it is in.

 

Archangel

I have started this years and years ago. And then finally I decided to finish it. It is a mix of markers and colored pencils. Hope you like it.

~AnnElfwind

Written on the 8th of March, 2022

 

Random portrait

 

Just a random portrait made with no reference whatsoever. Done in colored pencils. And I'm pretty sure it was done in my crappy sketchbook, the one with the flimsy paper. But enjoy anyway.

~AnnElfwind

Elf

Just an elf with a scribbled background. Done in colored pencils and some paint or gel pen for the highlights. Oh, and done on rather crappy paper. And, you can see a part of one of my bookshelf in the background. Enjoy.

~AnnElfwind

 

Just some architecture

 

I promised myself I would post something today. This was offering itself. It is a little old, like two months or so, maybe three, but I think it's good. I like it. And I hope you like it too. It is done with colored pencils if I remember correctly. And some black liner to do the outline. Well, sketchy outline. Do you like it? Tell me in the comments.

Written on the 15th of December, 2021

~AnnElfwind

More Colored Pencils Pictures

 

Excuse the green nose. Some marker from the previous page bled through. It is a redraw of an old pic. And I think that this one is better.

Rose Garden

 

And no, I'm not talking about the book (or movie) of the same name. Even though I had to read the book some years back for school. It wasn't a bad book but it wasn't exactly my cup of tea. So, this pic. Done in pencil over some sketch that looks like it's green? No, wrong. The green came later. I started with a pencil only. But then came the green and the roses. Hence it's called Rose Garden.

Colored pencils picture vomit

 

Based on a youtube tutorial by Yong Chen, but after seeing the subject, the real inspiration was a Czech poem for kids.

A Budgie and an Eye

 

A budgie. Done in colored pencils for Sketchdaily on Reddit. I'm pretty proud of this one. Mostly because I went into it with the attitude of screw it - if it blows then it blows. And it didn't. It turned out really good. So yay me!

A sensitive flower

 

This flower is really sensitive so try not to be mean to her, okay? Done with colored pencils over a lightened pencil sketch. Based on a Reddit sketchdaily prompt.

~AnnElfwind

Written on the 7th of April, 2021

An Acorn

 This was done on the last page of one of my sketchbooks. Done in IKEA watercolor pencils and finished with a pentel aquabrush. I think it's pretty good for a last page drawing. What do you think?

~AnnElfwind

Written on the 14th of January, 2021

Alchemy in Autumn

 

Okay, so I've been drawing again. And lately, I've been using prompts from SketchDaily on Reddit. They seem to have really interesting prompts. Well, obviously not all of them, but a great many. And this time, I used the prompt for OCtober - Alchemist. I had several ideas, but most of them were pretty chaotic and not as clear as this one. So I went with the young elf boy holding a bottle of potion. What potion? I don't know. Ask him. And yes, it's smoking pink. For this drawing, I used one of my better sets of colored pencils. After doing a pencil sketch. I think the end result is pretty interesting. Complete with the white highlights done in white posca pen. I love that thing! 
I'm also pretty happy about the hand. I mean, there are some extra lines around the thumb, but at that point, they were kind of impossible to erase. I tried. They wouldn't budge. Still, the hand doesn't look completely crap so I'll take it.  

I like the house

 I got more art. After a bit of a break. Two new pics. Did them both more or less in one sitting. The first one is a blue-haired girl done in crayons. And yes, I know that the nose and the mouth don't really align as they should. So, either she has a skewed smile or there's something wrong with her. Sue me. It was kinda hard to do it in crayons. I just don't understand how people can layer them so well... I can do that with oil pastels, but with regular crayons... Nope. Most of those I own feel really scratchy when put to the paper. Although, most people I've seen using crayons on youtube were using Crayola crayons.  And they don't offer those where I live. Not at all. So I can't compare them with the ones I own. Maybe when I finally make the trip to a country that sells them, I will be able to do a bit of a test and see how they perform for myself. 

But back to the picture. Like I said, done in crayons. Just a simple portrait. I had no reference for this. The only thing I used was the image on the back of the page. And well, the paper in this sketchbook is really thin. So it was visible and I used it as a little bit of a guideline. And then I used reference for the hair. I am really bad at coming up with hairstyles. I mean, I can imagine them, but without actual reference, if I try to draw my vision, it all ends up looking the same. No creativity whatsoever. So I've started using references for hairstyles. And I'm probably not gonna stop any time soon. 

Gender confused meets charcoal

 

No. I'm not gender-confused. But the person in the picture is. It was supposed to be a male, but for some reason, it doesn't look exactly male to me. I mean, it doesn't really look like a female either... So, that's why it's probably gender-confused. I did this in colored pencils and then, when it was done, I busted out my brand new white posca pen and added the highlights. And I'm in love. Be ready for me to sing praises about that pen. The YouTubers are right about this one. It works like a charm! I don't ever wanna go back to using that old paint pen I had before! Heck, even actual paint was better than that! But this is awesome! 

Back to the picture. I think he (yes, I'm calling him a He, regardless of what he actually is) looks a little surprised. Or maybe even scared? Or, since he is, confused. The drawing was done on a rather small format - A6, whatever that would be in inches for you inch fanatics out there. I don't do inches. Nuh-uh. Not gonna. Inches confuse me. But yes, what I was saying. Done on a small format and in a sketchbook. Please tell me what you think about it, okay? 

And we got one more. And this time I busted out my charcoal. Not too long ago I bought some vine charcoal. It was on sale and I couldn't resist. I don't think I've ever used vine charcoal apart from art classes when I was still in grade school. So, I was really excited about it, but until now, I had no inspiration for a charcoal drawing. So I was happy when that inspiration struck me today. I have this sketchbook with a really smooth paper in it. And it was this sketchbook's turn to be used. I'm right now filling in five sketchbooks at once. So, I'm grabbing this sketchbook and then I'm looking through my drawers. And I spot that charcoal. So I take it out and start messing with it. Turns out vine charcoal is one of the best sketching tools. I had so much fun figuring out what would go where on the paper! 

When I was done with that, I used it for basic shading. Just blocking out the main areas that would be shaded. And then I had to find my soft, darker, charcoal. This one was in pencil format, which is great for detail work. So, I found it and started adding details. Deepening some of the shadows, and so on. And then I'm like... Nope, I'm not blending this with my fingers! Nope. I was trying to not get myself completely black. And again, I went looking through my drawers. This time looking for a blending tool. And I found my homemade blending stick. Which is basically just some rolled up paper that is held together with a bit of tape. Still, it works. It gets the job done and it worked wonders on this pic. 

One thing I should probably invest in though is a charcoal eraser. The ones I have didn't work very well. I mean, they did an okay job with the vine charcoal, but definitely not with the darker, softer charcoal. Which forced me to again add the highlights with my posca pen. Though this time I only did it after spraying the whole thing with a fixative spray. I didn't want to completely contaminate my posca with charcoal. 

I would like to hear in the comments what you think of these two pics and which one you like better. :) If you think there's a specific area I need to work on when it comes to my art, I would love to hear about that too, so long as you manage to stay polite. No need to insult each other, even though I insult a lot of people on a daily basis. They just don't know it as I only think those insults. So, see you later. :)

~AnnElfwind

Written on the 13th of August, 2020

Winter warrior and the Samurai

Got two new pictures. This first one is a winter sol... Nope. Not Barnes. A winter warrior/demon. Yes, something like that. I'm insanely proud of this pic. I made it with mostly water-based markers. And I abused the hell out of that paper. It definitely isn't meant for such heavy blending and layering of something water-based. The hardest part was mixing a lip color that wouldn't be too feminine. I don't think I had the best colors for that. But! I managed. I managed to not make a female out of it. So yeah, super happy about it. Kekekeke! Apart from water-based markers I also used some acrylic paint. Mostly white for highlights and then blues and some white for the background and after, I used white again to make the snow? effect. I'm still not sure it's snow. It wasn't supposed to be snow. But meh. Let it be snow if it wants to be snow. Who am I to tell it what it can or cannot be, right?
So yeah, insanely proud of it and I hope you like it too. I found inspiration for it on Pinterest. I think I also had an art-related youtube video playing while I was drawing it. So, yeah. Inspiration galore. Tell me what you think.

This next pic is a Samurai. Again, inspired by Pinterest. But a lot more loosely. Originally, his left (from his perspective) hand was supposed to be visible, but I, stupidly, drew in permanent medium and did the hakama/kimono/whatever you call it first and well, you can't do it on top of it. I would have had to glue a piece of paper over it or something and well, I didn't have a paper with the same slightly yellow tint to it, so I decided to alter the anatomy and simply move the hand out of the frame, so to speak. His other hand has a single finger visible on the hilt of the katana. Simply because it was supposed to be there but it simply wouldn't fit. I misjudged the size I was drawing at. So yeah. Total miscalculation on my part.
The pic is done in water-based markers again with colored pencils having been used on the skin. I did this with my 'other' water-based markers and those don't have many skin tones. Also, I used and abused the hell out of my pale-blue Tombow alcohol-based marker. But only because I forgot I actually have a pale-blue water-based marker... Silly me. And now I have two as I bought a second one today, thinking I didn't have one. And, apparently, Czech Republic now has POSCA pens. I saw 'em in the local art supply store and had to buy the white one. I'm gonna use it for highlights instead of always busting out my acrylic white. It's a 0,7 tip and I think it will be perfect for the highlights. Can't wait to use it!

~AnnElfwind

Written on the 11th of August, 2020

Bluenette

Meep. Just finished this. Done in my "trashy" sketchbook. Like most pages here, the basics were already there from several years back. Well, maybe not several, but at least a year. Possibly two. And now I finished it. At first, I was gonna use my IKEA markers. But then I realized that there was some residual glue on the page and I decided that I would rather not ruin my markers. So I switched to colored pencils as I was too lazy to bust out the paints. Maybe next time.

So, it is a blue-haired female that can possibly be an elf. We don't know. Her ears are covered. As most of the time, I used reference for the hairstyle. I also used white acrylic paint for highlights. And let me tell you, I just love how it turned out. Heck, even the shirt looks good! Don't know how I did that, but I'm happy with it. 

So what do you think? If you like to draw, do you also have something that you can't draw without reference in fear of it always looking the same? Share in the comments? 

~AnnElfwind

Written on the 6th of August, 2020

The Light of Music

Bite me, I know it's a weird name, but I also think it fits. Because! That's not the moon, it's a light created by the music of the flute. I found some inspiration for this on Pinterest. I mean, the elf playing the flute is something that was on the original and all, but everything else, even the different details, that's different. The original was vastly different. It was more along the lines of a broody elf in darkness with a flute. And this one, I added the element of magic!
Whatever. I just really like how this turned out. Oh, and about the rocks! It's just splashes of black, white, brown and green. In random combinations. And yes, I know that the flute light is on the wrong side, but hey, I added that as an afterthought. So I decided that, as it is magical light, it just doesn't illuminate the elf. That there is another source of light somewhere off to the right. So yes, magical light for effect only. Because it looks cool. Do you like it? Tell me what you think? Please? I haven't gotten any new comments in ages... I want some. 

~AnnElfwind

Written on the 21st of May, 2020

The Prince and the Woodelf

Two new pictures. The first one is done in blue. Don't know why. But I felt like doing something that would not be in pencil but didn't want it to be in full color. I did consider giving him the red eyes the inspiration had but decided against it. I think I made the right call. I love how it turned out.  Even the mouth and that' something I've been struggling with lately. Just a little, but if the mouth is wrong, it can change the whole pic and I don't like that. So I'm glad that this time, it turned out the exact way I wanted it. And I just love how it's blue. Do you like it? Tell me. :D

And this here is my little wood-elf. Yes, it's a female and I don't usually draw those unless a male decides they want to be a female, but hey, why not. So I just spliced some colors together. I mean, there's purple in the skin. Even some green. And the initial sketch was done in light green. That neon kind that I don't usually like much, but it worked here. It's done in colored pencils on a smooth paper and the white highlights are done with white acrylic paint. I contemplated adding some color to the background, but in the end, I'm glad I didn't. I think it looks better this way. And if I ever decide otherwise, it's easy to add some color to it later. So tell me, do you like it? Or does it suck? Oh, and the inspiration for both comes from Pinterest. Yeah, I got inspired. Heavily. So what. I like drawing elves and I needed inspiration.

~AnnElfwind

Written on the 17th of May, 2020

Picture Vomit

Yeah, I'm not taking the post name back. Nu-uh! I like it. Because that is precisely what this is. And this first one is a fish. Don't even remember why it is a fish. But I like it. It's simple yet looks kinda good. Excuse the pencil on the side, there was another drawing beside it and the fish would be cropped if I cut it off. So I left it. I'm thinking I could have done more with the weeds and corals, but I just wanted a bit of a different color there and the main focus be the fish, so it is what it is. I still like it. What do you think?