Hi everyone,

My name is Garyfallia and this is my first time I host a challenge.

I hope you like my photos and enjoy drawing.

All levels of drawing are encouraged to participate!

The goal of this thread is to enable and encourage individuals to practice their drawing skills, learn new techniques and have fun! If you just want to sketch that’s fine. If you want to create a complex, detailed drawing, that’s great too. You will get out of this what you want. The references used are from my own personal reference library of images that I have photographed and I release them here as not under copyright, meaning you can use them as you wish for drawing.

You will be challenged by some aspect of all references most likely as you all will have different strengths and weaknesses in your ability to translate the images to paper.

Reminder:

This is a DRAWING challenge. Therefore please confine your artistic endeavors to some form of drawing: graphite, colored pencil, pen and ink or charcoal.

There is no ruling on what size your final drawing or sketch should be. Smaller, sketchbook sizes will provide a smaller file size which is easier for loading onto the thread.

If you would like assistance or advice, please ask for it and I will be more than willing to try to guide you.

This challenge will last for one week. At that time, all challenge drawings should be submitted to this thread.

I have offered 3-5 reference images to choose from. The images are also provided in grey scale. Seeing the images in black and white gives a better sense of basic values.

I have kept the images to simple shapes that still provide challenges. Block out your basic shapes first then work the details into them, rechecking proportion and measurement against other reference points in your drawing.

Here are my photos.

1. An old house in my village
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2. Old greek coins
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3. My grandfather's classic guitar
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4. A fig tree
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5. A little boat
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splendid photos, my dear.Where is your village?I have been to Crete and Athens, Delphi.

Your images are good, will try a couple of them, if I am able to get some time.

Okay here is my watercolor and Sepia Liquid Pencil .. I was so anxious to try out the Sepia in my Liquid Pencil.. ( Derwent Liquid Pencil ..rewettable for those who are not familiar with the medium.) I used Ivory Black watercolor for the background.. The sepia is okay but not as vibrant as I had hoped.. But a good contrast against the black..

very nice, TL.
I did sketch the coins and parts of the guitar last night, didn't scan 'em yet.I use pencils for challenges as i am behind on my graphite skills.And challenges are the only graphite works I do.

rough sketch , Ill try and post beter if time allows mechanical pencil, 20min

very good sketch, Jeff.

Here is my rather embarassing sketch of 2 in 1.

well I tried my first foray into colored pencils on the guitar, still a work in progress, but I find the need to erase some stuff and I cant

The strings are giving me a hard time as well 8)

graphite pencils

promising guitar, Jeff. I almost envy you for the nice shape. How big is your paper for the guitar?

Carol, this illustration of the fig tree with a glimpse into the greek village is great work.Love it.

6X5 im only using half sheet of 6x9.5 to sketch, my wife already complains that I spend to much on art supplies

Yeah, I noticed that the size looks small.I should start thinking small too. But i love big format.

Dear Elena ,

Many thanks for the comments ...!!!

My village is in Mount Pelion ( Central Greece in Magnisia ) and it's name is Trikeri ! I hope sometime you will come and pay a visit !!

This is so pretty ... !!! I was anxious about this photo because of the greek letters but I see you made them really nice !!!

I like the way you sketched it !!! And in 20 min this is really a very good time !!!

I was never good at drawing guitars.... so I think this is a good one !!! I'm so glad you tried both sketches!!!!

I believe the final result will be just fine !!! Don't try to erase anything !!! This is what makes it unique !!

When my mom saw the photo of the fig tree said that it would be a really good photo to sketch !!!

This sketch really says it all !!! I love the houses on the backround !!!

Nice!
If I may suggest , try adding shadows it would make it more realistic

sketch of fig tree, grahpite 2b stick, mechanical pencil, 45 min

I tried the old house with pastels on cartridge paper. It measures about 8 x 6"

very nice, Norma.

Here is my oil pastel greek village vista with fig tree, etc. One hour and 30 minutes on Canson MI-teintes 8x11in.



I love Greece and this in the celebration of my happy days there.

And here it is the the map of Greece with my purple dot on Magnisia.

And the map of Magnissia with Trikeri village at the Aegean Sea.Beautiful!

Looks awsome Ellie.

Thanks, Jeff. It's so much fun to draw in OP! I love this medium.My hands are multicolored and have pastels under my nails but it feels great working with them.You should try.

I have a set of student oil pastels, there not very good, , and the flower I drew with them and showed my wife, she said, "ah thats a nice walnut", once i told her it was a flower she laughed

That's funny, but you know art is like this, it stays with the viewer not the artist.Anyway each medium has its pros and cons. I know that oil pastels can somehow distort shapes.The best medium for me to render mostly realistic shapes is Colored pencils. But it takes an eternity to finish a work layering pigment layer after layer. So for my temper oil pastels are easy to handle, in a couple of hours i have the painting done.The same is for charcoal as opposed to graphite. Charcoal is so quick.

I'm going to Thessaloniki in June. Trikeri looks like it is too far away to visit

This is so nice !!! I love the colours !! I wish you could all see this house ... is so beautiful !!!

Absolutely amazing !!! I couldn't imagine that the fig tree would look so nice !!

It's a bit far from Thessaloniki ... about three hours !!! But if you ever visit Trikeri would be great!! It's the last village you find on your way to Mount Pelion!!! It's a traditional Greek village with lots of fresh fish and many beatiful beaches !!!

........

Watercolour on 140lb Rough 16" X 12" pad. 6 hours approx.

Absolutely wonderful watercolour !!! I was so anxious to see a drawing of the boat !!!

Nice work with the door's sketch !!!

This is my sketch for the old house

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That looks really nice songsparrow, my wife said she would hang that on our wall at home .

Thanks jtbears. Your wife is very kind to say so! And obviously a great art lover!

That is really a lovely watercolor. You are good .

hi there, here is my rendition of the lovely doorway..I like to try to get at least one drawing in per challenge
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this is good, have you used charcoal pencils?

I wonder if I will be able to get time to participate?

thank you 1_8..no it is just a #2b..

Really nice sketch !!! Well done !!

Hey yall! I wish I had more time to participate lately! Being off of Spring Break and back to work has taken up most of my time. I will definitely try to get at least one drawing done this challenge.

Everyone is doing absolutely wonderful this week! I love them all!

Texas Lady- Last week's challenge was great, I especially loved all the photos, as they all were "familiar" to me. I'm so sorry that I didn't get to participate as much as I'd hoped. If I get the chance to take on those pictures, I will send them your way!

Hello Garyfallia,

I had few time this week but I could make the boat. About 1.5 hour using hb and 2b pencils. Nice drawings for everybody but I really like the watercolour boat.

Cheers,
Turrialba

that is really a very nice nob turrialba..

Thanks Miss Sarah..I hope to one day get another stab at this .. I have come across some really interesting ones ... I think you would enjoy them too.. You did just fine on your contribution and I hope you maybe took away something learned.. I know I always do.. Like you tho.. When I can find the time..
I am enjoying watching this Challenge .. Some VERY VERY good art here.. !!

Hello Turrialba ,

This is such a really nice boat as the one with watercolours !!! You did a great job!!

I'm so happy that I see all this great drawings!!!

Thank you all...