Let’s Draw NEGATIVE SPACE ANIMALS!
Plus a peek in my sketchbook & what I've been up to 👀
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22 @ 7:00PM ET on YouTube & Twitch
I’ve really been wanting to play with negative space! It’s not something I’m really comfortable with and this post from April (Monkey Mintaka) is such inspiration! (Also Furry Little Peach!)
There’s something about tackling uncomfortable drawing things with friends — we’re all in it together and cheer each other on as we go and suddenly what felt hard feels fun!
So I guess this week is a two-fold week. We’re focusing on technique and subject.
Negative space is the technique. As for subject, I put up a poll on discord, as I like to do :) It’s still early days but I feel like “animals” is solidly in the lead. Should that change between now (Wednesday) and when I post this (Sunday) I’ll update the title LOL! (Still solidly animals!)
(Also the title “Let’s Draw NEGATIVE SPACE ANIMALS” kinda makes me giggle, like there are all kinds of grumpy dogs and squirrels floating around in space with helmets on)
Oh yeah one last thing! HOMEWORK!
Yes, I have to give out homework for the first time at ART HANG PARTY!
Prep your paper, sketchbooks, procreate layers, whatever you’ll be drawing on with ALL THE COLOURS! We will likely do between 10-12 references, if that information helps you prep.
✏️🤗💖✨
Next ART HANG PARTY! will be Thursday, February 29 at 7pm et on YouTube & Twitch
Theme: Underwater Seascapes!
Do you have an idea for a future ART HANG PARTY! theme?
Follow and DM your doodles to @arthangparty on Instagram to be shared on stream! Tag @arthangparty to be featured in our stories!
Join the ART HANG PARTY! discord! https://discord.gg/XztzrCkQT5 🤗💖✨ A place to share your AHP drawings, theme ideas, inspirations, artworks, and for us to get to know each other better! 🥰
Watch past ART HANG PARTY! replays here
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 12
I felt like having a low-pressure play in my sketchbook today. I recently signed up for
here on Substack, mostly to do the 30-day drawing challenge, but last week’s Book Cover prompt really spoke to me today, so that’s what I did!I first drew out all the books, then went back and added the titles, then used Inktense pencils and a little bit of Moonglow watercolour.
A few of my favs to get to know me a little better 😭
What would your autobiography title be?
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 13
Ray signed up for a raid train on Twitch, where DJ’s play a set then take all the viewers along to the next DJ, and so on and on for the day. It’s fun! His set was 10am-12pm and I decided to set myself up to draw along.
I looked for a reference photo in my archives to draw/paint, but nothing was really speaking to me so I went with a master study of Camille Pissarro’s “The Artist’s Garden at Eragny” (1898), mostly because it reminded me of my grandma in her garden.
I used only Neocolor II and spent the full two hour slowly scribbling away while chatting in the chat with everyone. Catch the replay here!
In the evening I tuned in to Sophie’s Scribble Brigade, which was another Retro Landscape session.
She started us off with the same 5 seconds per colour warmup we did last week (warmup seems too tame a word for how chaotic it feels!)
Then we moved on to 5 minutes, but sticking with the one colour at a time, so 1 minute per colour! (My suggestion and I’m so glad we did - I love drawing like this so much!)
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14
I was having one of those days where I was having decision fatigue. I knew I wanted to draw something full size on the page, and then zoom in on it on the other page (yep, another
prompt!) BUT I could not decide on a reference photo.I took a photo of our giant peace lily plant this morning, but looking at it when the time came to draw it just looked boring. I looked through my google photos for flower photos, but nothing stood out. I did a search on Pinterest but couldn’t make up my mind. I opened the master studies page I’ve been turning to and finally, finally found something that looked ok.
Willem Van Leon’s “Flowers in a Blue Vase (1906)” was the one. I used my Kuretake paints and kept it pretty loose.
I want to mention the very special Valentine’s Day gift I received in the mail today from
and her daughter Mila who are both regulars at ART HANG PARTY! 🥰They sent me some cute stickers and prints and original artworks! I mean, the AHP flavoured Friskies sticker! Mila’s OC stickers! The strawberry daisy drawing! I need to find some cute frames asap.
(Kristin, thank you again! I gave the Japanese sign guy sticker to Ray - he loves it!)
Please check out and follow
here on substack 🤗💖✨
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15
It was Vintage Valentines week at ART HANG PARTY! and it was CUTE.
I found a book of vintage pop-out valentines cards that was originally published in 1945 by Little Golden Books (see below for a photo). I scanned the entire thing and digitally cut out the illustrations for our reference photos.
We started with some 1-minute warm-ups then settled in to slightly too-fast-but-it’s-fine 3-minute drawings. It’s funny, this time I wanted to keep upping the timer (not at all usual), but the chat kept me in check, haha! (Thanks Elise!)
I decided to go with colour pencils and cat hair today:
Here’s the book! I found it on Amazon for $6.99!
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 16
I was very generously gifted a subscription to
by 🥰 so I have a lot of replays to catch up on!I decided to start at the top, with the Tortoises session. I wasn’t sure how it would go as it’s not a subject I would pick on my own. But I got out my Kuretake paints, pulled out my favs and didn’t think too hard when it came time to get to work.
I think these paints give me a level of confidence with colour that I don’t have with any other medium. Pink tortoise shells? Who am I!
Here are a few closeups of my favs!
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 17
Ok so you know how this week we’re playing with negative space? Well, turns out that
did a session recently too!I thought I would do a test run, to see what timing felt right. Beth did two rounds of 5 minutes in the session, first focusing on the background/negative space for all the references, then the next round was focused on details within the negative space.
I did the backgrounds in about 2.5 minutes, and details in about 1-2 minutes, so I’m thinking 5 minutes for each photo for ART HANG PARTY! feels perfect for our animals.
Anyway, earlier this morning I prepped a spread in my big sketchbook and a piece of hot pressed paper with Kuretake paint blobs.
Then after lunch I got to work with a black polychromos coloured pencil. I drew the silhouettes in almost a single line fashion and then ham with the scribbles. I’m not gonna lie, my hand started getting a bit crappy and I was using up a LOT of the pencil, so I switched to a black Neocolor I for the last two reference, but went back to using the pencil for the details. I think this combo worked really well!
Doing this test-run has made me even more excited for our ART HANG PARTY! on Thursday!
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18
I took the train to visit my friend, meet her new man-friend and make dumplings! I was early for the train, as is my way, so I pulled out my sketchbook and drew what was in front of me, despite absolutely everybody nearby trying to slyly peek at what I was doing.
Speaking of dumplings, I had grand plans of doing a bunch of panels of the dumpling making process, filling the whole spread with a bit of a step-by-step, but as you can see I did not do that. Still fun though!
I also got lots of snuggles from my god-doggy Prince!
And painted the roses sitting on the counter:
Watch as I paint an apple using acrylic paint on canvas, trying to keep it loose and semi-realistic! All in all this took over 2 hours, but with the magic of editing you get to see it all happen in about 5 minutes 🪄🍎
🤗💖✨
Ok, that’s it for me!
See you Thursday at ART HANG PARTY!
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Your turtles are so cuuuute 🐢💗 and after reading your post I got strangely excited about negative space!!! 🤔😄
I love the pink turtles so much and wish they really existed in the world! I also love @bethspencer's Substack! Looking forward to animal negative spaces with you on Thursday. I was sad to miss the Valentine's hang, but life got in the way. Happy long weekend!