Fun Skull Study

We have a full sized skeleton in the anatomy classroom which is great for helping my students understand a little more clearly how the body moves. This week I had my students spend a class session drawing it this past week, and since it has been quite a while since I’ve had the opportunity to do so myself, I figured I would join them.

Of course I am always walking around the room, checking on folks’ drawings so I couldn’t get to the entire skeleton like I would have liked to, just the skull. I’m thinking of doing a video for my YouTube channel drawing the full skeleton just for fun. I would want to have it seated and maybe holding something, or at least have the head tilted in a way that looked in thought… I’m not yet sure exactly what I’d do, but I would want the skeleton positioning to look somewhat ‘lively’, not just stiffly standing there like a dry anatomical diagram.

Let me know in the comments below if a full skeleton drawing demo on my signature toned paper would be of interest to you:)

But in the mean time, enjoy this lil skeleton shortie vid…

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..and then enjoy a few of my student’s skeleton drawings too!

7.12.2022

Attempting a 30 Day Figure Drawing Challenge

“Attempting” being the key word there - ha!

Totally on a whim on April 1st I decided to challenge myself to create a figure drawing every day for 30 days straight. I say on a whim because as of March 31 I had no plans to do a challenge, but when I enjoyed creating a figure drawing so much that very next day, I thought ‘why not?’ Just do it.

In the first couple of days I actually asked my Instagram followers if anyone had attempted any kind of 30 day art challenge in the past, and if so, what were the results. I honestly didn’t get a lot of positive responses, as in, most people either had been too intimidated to try, or they didn’t have much success when they did.

Which is kind of why I had never tried one myself!

This challenge wound up being pretty successful in my opinion. I only missed two days of drawing and I allowed myself a little wiggle room as far as doing two days of drawing at the Picasso exhibit, and three of the days were spent working on a figure painting I had previously started. I also had a little more time this month for drawing than I have in the past 6+ months so I wanted to seize that opportunity too.

Here’s a few pics from the beginning of the month, or you can see them all in order on my Instagram @caleighbirdart.

If you decided to try an art challenge too, either like mine with a personal challenge, or an official prompted one like Inktober, please let me know how it goes either here or in the video comments.

And last but not least, if you are interested in acquiring an original figure drawing I have them available at especially good rates this month to coincide with this challenge. Visit my Shop here.

5.2.2021

Real Time Figure Drawing Demo

Aloha friends! Today I'm bringing you a real time figure drawing demo as part of my 30 Day Figure Drawing Challenge, which I tried to do live week before last but YT deleted it almost as soon as I was finished - I think because my drawing reference photo was viewable (even though I thought it was a 'safe' one!).

Anyway, this one is far more concise since I did edit out little things like erasing mistakes and swapping out materials, plus this figure is only a back so I won’t get flagged for sharing my reference photo.

As far as this 30 day challenge goes, I decided to do it to help get myself back in the groove of figure drawing. Since covid has shut down so many open studio figure drawing sessions I haven’t had the opportunity to draw from life in over a year and I’m missing it terribly! I can feel myself getting rusty so I wanted to get back on the saddle and slip back into my comfort zone.

If you would like more info on getting your own handmade-with-love toned (or white) paper sketchbook pop over here to be kept in the loop for my next sketchbook release.

Materials I use to draw (any purchase through my special links helps my channel at no cost to you so thank you!):

White Chalk Pencil

Parisian Blue Carbothello Pastel

Kneaded Eraser

Mono Zero Eraser

4.18.2021

How to Get Better at Drawing :: Ask an Artist 6

So a really common question I get from people is a pretty general one, ‘how can I get better at drawing?’ And while the number one answer of course is to practice, I think very often people aren’t sure quite how to practice or how best to use their time practicing drawing. Today I’m going to share some of my best tips for getting better at drawing for beginner or intermediate artists that you can apply to any art practice.

Once you focus in on what areas you need to improve on and make a consistent habit to practice, I’m sure you will be delighted by just how quickly progress will come to you.

Here’s my How to Draw Hands workshop if you’d really like to take things to the next level.

You definitely do not need any special materials in order to improve your drawing skills, but below are just a few items I like to use. If you purchase anything through my special links it helps support this channel so thank you very much!

White Conte Pencil

2B Pencil

4B Woodless Pencil

Mono Zero Eraser

Kneaded Eraser

9x12 Toned Grey Sketchbook

White Chalk Pencil

Parisian Blue Carbothello Pastel

Steel Grey Carbothello Pastel Pencil

Canson Me Tienes Paper in Steel Grey

Find this model, Diana, on Instagram if you’d like to use her poses in your own work at whatever donation you can afford:)

2.28.2021

Creating a Professional Artist Portfolio

Welcome to Ask an Artist 5! We are going to get into how to make a portfolio for your art that is professional and thorough and will open doors for you when opportunity arises.

Creating a college application portfolio is very different than creating a fine art portfolio, so the first thing we will talk about is how they compare. Then we'll get into why you should be doing artwork in a series, and ultimately what the five components of a great art portfolio are.

Feel free to pop me a question here or in the YouTube comments to be discussed in an upcoming ‘Ask an Artist.’ You can also see some previous episodes featuring other figure drawings and questions here.

If you'd like to snag some of these amazing super smooth pastel pencils, the first two are the ones I'm using in the video and the other two are some of my favorite colors. Any purchases through my special links helps to support my channel so thank you!

White Chalk Pencil: https://bit.ly/3d3COLh

Raw Umber Carbothello Pastel Pencil: https://bit.ly/30zLfL8

Steel Grey Carbothello Pastel Pencil: https://bit.ly/2YIvbED

Deep Purple Carbothello Pastel Pencil: https://bit.ly/2XTkGPk

How I create my figure drawings (and this one too)

How to Photograph Artwork

How to Photograph Artwork Without a Glare

How to Write an Artist Statement

How to Write an Artist CV

If you would like more info on getting your own handmade-with-love toned (or white) paper sketchbook pop over here to be kept in the loop for my next sketchbook release: https://www.caleighbirdart.com/handmade-sketchbooks

10.4.2020

Mirror Self Portrait Drawing

I didn’t post the full ‘Mirror Self Portrait’ on my blog post yet, so just in case you missed the video last week, you can watch the entire drawing process as well as the crazy way I had to film it here. This is the most accurate self portrait I’ve ever created and I’m super proud:)

chalk pastel, 18 x 14 inches, drawn from life

5.6.2020

How to Draw a Portrait :: Front, Side , 3/4 View

Yaay!! The final piece of the 'Drawing Portraits Realistically' series is here for you friends, ‘Placing the Features Correctly on the Head.’

Whew it has been quite a ride and I hope you’ve learned a ton!

During a few of the weeks I was filming these tutorials for YouTube I was actually fortunate enough to teach this entire series as part of a ‘How to Draw Portraits from Photographs’ workshop in person to a small class. I asked the attendees for feedback and heard and saw great results.

I even got photos of two final portrait drawings from ladies who said they had never drawn portraits before. I’m so floored and excited to see such amazing results from my first time teaching this particular lesson!

And if you didn't catch the rest of the series grab a bowl of popcorn and your sketchbook and get comfy 'cause I'm 'bout to drop that knowledge bomb on ya!

How to Draw a Nose

How to Draw Lips

How to Draw Eyes

How to Draw Ears

2.14.2020

How to Draw Ears

Woo hoo we are doing this people!

Welcome to Part 4 of my Drawing Portraits Realistically series, How to Draw Ears. And as with all the features in this series, I'm showing you from the front, the side, and three quarter view.

If you didn't catch How to Draw a Nose or How to Draw Lips or How to Draw Eyes check those out and make sure you pop that Subscribe button because I still have how to place things properly on the head coming in the next two weeks, which you definitely do not want to miss.

Enjoy and tag me on Insta if you're practicing! @caleighbirdart

1.31.2020

How to Draw Eyes

Are you ready to learn how to draw BOTH eyes?!? Like the way humans actually own two (usually) and not one as sooooo many other tutorials seem to believe?

Then you've come to the right spot!

Now I know today's vid is a long one, and I swear I did my best to edit it as succinctly as possible, but it's just a lot of information so just get comfy. I'm going to show you not only how to draw both eyes in relation to each other, but from three different views. Yep, you're welcome ;)

If you didn't catch How to Draw a Nose or How to Draw Lips check those out and make sure you pop that Subscribe button because I still have the ear from three angles and finally how to place things properly on the head coming in the next two and four weeks, which you definitely do not want to miss.

Enjoy and tag me on Insta if you're practicing! @caleighbirdart

1.17.2020

How to Draw Lips

Hey folks, let's draw some luscious realistic lips! I'll walk you through a simple outline demo for three different, and then we'll shade 'em up real good. You're gonna want to kiss your own drawing by the time we're done!

Today is Part 2 of my 'Drawing Portraits Realistically' series. Last time I did noses, then we'll have eyes, ears, and finally placement on the head.

Here is Part 1 :: Drawing Noses

12.27.2019

Make sure you are subscribed to the Birdie Blog so you’ll get a weekly roundup of my blog posts and YouTube vids so you won’t miss any of this series: