Holidays present from Shasha: Downloadable Coloring Pages of Fashion Sketches by Shasha Ravacio

Happy Holidays, guys!

This blog has been empty for a long time as I have been busy...

 AND productive so I'm happy...

and I want to share this feeling of accomplishment with you.

If you follow my Instagram account @shashadreams, 

you probably have an idea that I draw and paint for fun.

I thought that I could make a small project out of the things I've made recently, so I complied all the fashion sketches I did on almost a daily basis for everyone to enjoy.

Here's the link to a downloadable PDF file, which is pretty much like a coloring book

that everyone can enjoy and relax the holidays away with.

I hope you like my small holidays present for you.

xoxo,

shasha

Compiled fashion sketches

Lolita - you can't really stop me

This watercolor painting of sorts reminds me of a lady named Lolita.

It really puzzled me for years why she hated me so much. 

I was just a young, carefree teenager who appreciate passion and honesty.

She once saw me drawing a lady (like I almost always do) and 

she bluntly told me to stop doing what I do. 

Out of respect and puzzlement, I did what she told me to do. 

I can never forget that moment, among all those moments 

when she enjoyed looking at me with those piercing eyes 

- she hated me so much, I don't know why.

So to you Lolita, wherever you may be, I forgive you. 

But you don't stop me from doing what I love.

Completed a whole week of daily sketching!

Day 2 of my Form before Detail practice starts with poses from Quickposes. Preferred men muscles and nude models, but put undergarments into these sketches anyways as I had been starting to post sketches everywhere. One of 'em kiddie playgrounds is Art Amino, an app where art-loving kids can open an account and upload their art ventures. Art Amino does not allow nudes so I hope half-nudes like mine below won't be blocked.

I'm proud of what I did below as I think this is the prettiest I've done men sketches so far. I did choose random gestures that are not timed, so I can really study muscle dynamics.

Form before Detail: Day 2

Day 3 sketch below is obviously hurried, with too many sketches on a spread. I think starting that day, I resolved to just sketch at most five to really study more.

Form before Detail: Day 3

On Day  4, I switched to taking Instagram photos instead for inspiration.

I then thought of The Sartorialist as I really like the natural poses of his muses.

Form before Detail: Day 4

Then I realized, I really should be staying away from details (e.g. complicated clothing) for now so I can thoroughly understand form.

Started thinking of the many beautiful minds and bodies I admired and followed on IG.

I then came up with the stunning yogi Talia Sutra.

Sigh, I could just draw her all day!

Form before Detail: Day 5

Talia's IG page has really gorgeous poses perfect for learning form.

I love using photos of people in stretched poses, or in action as they give me so many options to explore perspective. They're mostly in 3D so you get to think harder and develop some kind of x-ray vision to see how the boxes tilt and revolve.

I am terrible at foreshortening, but I think I'm beginning to get brave at it by using the boxes technique, and these of these beautiful poses.

Form before Detail: Day 6

Also, I am so thrilled that she visited my page to see this sketch,

and commented that she liked it.

I was both excited and weary as my sketches are too raw.

This Day 6 sketch I think has the most likes my IG page has ever had since its first post!

Somebody must have kindly shared the photo elsewhere.

My deepest gratitude to you, somebody! <3 <3 <3

On Day 7 sketch (below), I chose one serene pose of Talia along with two stretchy ones.

I like that I challenged myself with perspective with the one on the top,

having the camera shoot her from an above angle.

Form before Detail: Day 7

I know I said I could draw Talia all day but why not draw something different for a change, yes?

Photographer Martin Koll of @bild17 DM'ed me and asked if I could sketch some of his beautiful photos. I chose the three passionate poses below as they are perfect for my Form before Detail practice. Thus, Day 8 below.

Form before Detail: Day 8

And last but definitely not the least for this post, I sketched the talented queen of hoops @nosleeptilbrookelynn . Most of her posts are videos and I'm finding it hard to screenshot some great poses so I only got to choose from among her few but gorgeous photos.

Form before Detail: Day 9

I'd probably won't be doing anything different next week. Maybe similar poses but from different new IG accounts.

I'm really excited that I've done #dailysketches for this long now. I like flipping through the sketchbook, and looking forward to completing it, and buying another one!

I wonder how I progressed from here =)

I'm back!! (2016 version)

Okay, so a few days ago while I was shipping some orders, I did my usual bookstore/ office supplies tour and bought myself a new cheap sketchbook. At first, I intended to have one so I can sketch some ideas that I would hope to draw or paint in the future. But since I don’t go out much, watch movies much, don’t see anything much, or in short, won't be seeing lots of inspiration from, I’m afraid it’s gonna be empty for long. So instead, I'm using it for my daily drawing.

For my first reunion with sketching this year, I started looking for photos of people to copy. I remember I did use a website of quick poses but since that was eons ago, I have already forgotten the URL. So I searched again for something similar and found Quickposes.

I think I’m gonna be using this site for a longer time. Here are some sketches I did with 60 seconds per image. Sketching muscles are still sleepy for sure.

Upon realizing that my sketches seemed to be too incomplete, I searched for Youtube videos on how to draw from form. I liked this one from Ahmed and followed his boxes technique.

Drawing Figures and Poses QUICK TIP #1

I see an improvement from my sketches. But I did increase the sketch time to 120s to accommodate more detail:

A day after, I searched for more “drawing from form” videos on Youtube and found this nice advice roundup from Illustrator Clint Cearley:

Best Art Advice I've Ever Received

His tip on “Form before Detail” was so strong that I can’t believe how stubborn I was all these years to not accept it. I know I have been really debating as to where I start and why am I so overwhelmed by everything --- and this is the answer! I just have to find the best technique to draw from form. No more details until I am wowed by my own form drawings, whatever that’s called. My watercolors, pens and pencils will have to wait before I can really draw well.

I did remember Kelly Eddington saying that in college, the students weren’t painting until after two years of learning how to draw well.

Sigh, but the lure of painting and putting in the fun details just is so irresistible. Thus, explains my non-progress in this craft I have been so wanting to be good at.

So I searched for some more ‘draw from form” videos and one from Sycra came up. I have been watching Sycra tutorials since forever but I seem to just have the wrong mentality about things that is why I have not learned a thing from him. So I skipped to the next video from Marc Leone:

Basic Drawing: Sketchbook Techniques-Basic Form Sketching of Solids in Spatial Direction

I was reminded that before form, there was flow. I kind of had an idea about this way back from an Italian illustrator but Leone’s combination of flow and volume got me hooked.

On Day 3 of my reunion with sketching, I applied what I have learned over the past few days.
First, you should recognize the flow of your subject’s mass, put in the boxes or give volume to each of the masses that comprise the body, then flesh out the muscles. The following sketches were timed at 240s or 4min each.

For now, I’m gonna pause from doing portraits or watercolors so I can practice on form. I know I should’ve done this long ago but oh well. I’m excited now to fill this sketchbook with my practice sketches.

Til the next sketchbook page!