Sunday Update - 22/02/26

As mentioned in my last post, my recent hyperfixation with figure has me numbed and longing to draw something different. This week, that has taken shape in artist studies - something I’ve rarely ever done until now. 

Now yes, most of these pages are of people/figures, but the approach feels totally different. More about composition, form and style than gesture or anatomy. And, it’s of course impossible to perfectly match the look and energy of the original artist's strokes (especially when I’m drawing these at a fraction of the original scale), but it’s been a joy attempting to replicate some of the artists who I’ve admired for so long. It’s honestly strange that I haven’t thought to do it before. 

The artists I’ve studied so far include Mike Mignola, Yoji Shinkawa, Ashley Wood, Katsuhiro Otomo and Alphonse Mucha. 

We’ll see, but outside of adding some watercolour to the Mucha page, I think I might be done with these artists' studies for the moment. I keep considering doing a couple master studies down the road, but for the time being there’s a pile of half-baked watercolour pages I’d like to round off before the month comes to a close (and February's artbook is released).

This figure fatigue has also led me to study more landscapes, objects and crowds (via some YouTube walking videos). So, a few small steps outside of my current comfort zone, but it feels like a natural progression, and something I will continue with next week.

As far as everything else is concerned, I’m back on the no reference sketching - with the intent to fill up a few pages a day until it feels right again. And looking to next week, I’m hoping to get a little music and writing in before February's end - two things that I've largely neglected this month.

Lastly, this month’s downloadable artbook will be out next weekend! It’s not as full as last month’s but I feel there’s a few nice moments, and I’m hoping whatever comes along next week will round things off nicely.

Till then, all the best,

Alex