Graphite artwork

I’ve been getting back into graphite drawing after years of not drawing much at all and I’d like to share a couple that I’ve completed recently, both were made from reference photos.

This beach one is actually the first graphite drawing I’ve made in over a decade, so I was a bit concerned going into it that I would have lost the skill and initially chose it just as an exercise to see where I was at. Thankfully, just after a couple hours, it felt like I was picking up right where I left off and I decided to make it into a fully shaded drawing. That’s what I found to be so interesting about art: the skills gained from the practice is something that doesn’t leave you, unlike other skills that have to be continuously maintained.

I unfortunately don’t know the original photographer of the reference image as it’s an older image that I came across online and is floating around on multiple websites. The beach is located in Colombia though, I’d love to see it for myself.

This next one is of my grandfather in his youth on the family farm. We were going through old photographs of him for his celebration of life and I knew I had to draw this one as I saw it. It’s a fairly simple looking photo, but there are many different elements going on that excited me: the perspective of the shed, the old Ford, the foliage, and of course him in a challenging pose. I also enjoyed making this drawing as a way of honoring and remembering him, I bet he would’ve got a kick out of it!

A gif of my drawing process. Being left handed, I like to draw from the right to prevent smudging.

That’s all I have to show for now, but I hope to keep making more fine art like this in the future. There’s just something about the feel of pencil on paper that drawing with the computer can’t compare to. I never knew how much I missed it until I started to draw again!