African Queen

Artwork by Clare Littleton, Drawing Academy graduate

Dear Vladimir and Natalie,

I want to say firstly thank you so much for your amazing drawing course. Before I joined up with your drawing academy, I used to just go straight into a painting with oils without really thinking!

Now thanks to you, I am first sketching out my composition.

So I thought I would send you my first composition drawing “African Queen”, this drawing started out as a rough drawing with an aim to just use is as reference for my painting, and now you have shown me new skills and a different approach to my work.

Now I think I am ready to work to canvas using oils.

This idea originated in memory, as when I was a child I used to see the Samburu brides whilst growing up in Kenya.

However, I have also used as reference a number of different photos, some black and white snap shots taken by my Father during the early 1960’s and others found on the internet.

This is what I have learnt from this drawing exercise:-

1. I would have saved a lot of time if I had been more careful in the beginning with proportions of the face, especially the distance of one eye being equal to the other and the space in between the eyes.

2. I have learnt to accept my mistakes and learn from them, I was afraid to make mistakes when I first joined the course, which made me nervous in my drawing, now I am much more confident, realizing that my work is improving. The more mistakes I do, the more I am learning! Phew!

3. I feel that this particular work or exercise is very messy, so I am going to draw and outline on rough paper first in future then transfer it to good paper. Also I think to do less dark shading at first and leaving that to last.

I am now going to transfer the outline to canvas and take the next step forward to begin the first layer of defining the darker shading in oils.

I am still enjoying your course tutorials, many I have seen more than a few times, and every time I participate in a tutorial I learn something more!

Many thanks again for this wonderful course and all the very best for 2016

Kind regards

Clare Littleton