Category: Drawing Challenge

HOW to COMBINE INSPO from TWO FAIRY DRAWING IMAGES to Create Your Own Masterpiece!

2/9/2022

Ever combine inspiration from 2 fairy drawing images to create your own magical drawing? I do it ALL the time when I'm drawing faces and fairies! If you've never done this before, I can't wait to show you how simple it is in lesson 9 of my #50FunFabFairies drawing challenge.

Today's fairy drawing tutorial is step-by-step and easy enough for beginners. Don't have tan toned paper or a fancy drawing pencil? Use the back of a paper grocery bag, a school pencil, and draw along with me anyway!

Want easy access to today's fairy drawing images and even MORE fairy drawing ideas? Join my FREE #50FunFabFairies drawing challenge over at Awesome Art School!

Simply click the button below to receiveinstant access to ALL the fairy drawing images for each drawing prompt, plus info on supplies, cheatsheets, and more!

Wanna become a better artist? Do today's lesson (and every lesson of the challenge) five times, making a few creative alterations of your choice, and watch your skills soar as you practice fairy eyes drawing, fairy and ears drawing AND fairy hair drawing 50 different ways.

I'm using this face drawing reference (by artist Anna Tsvell), to inspire the face shading that I'd like to do today in my own drawing. I love this messy, edgy approach - like how Anna used the side of her pencil for a little shading in the hair, and how she's created funky lines to indicate shadows on the face.

My second drawing reference today is by artist Monika Andruszkiewicz. I'm in love with the braided hairstyle and glowing eyes she's drawn!

For today's lesson, I'm using some random craft paper I had lying around my studio. There's nothing special about it - it's just what I had nearby. Use the back of a paper grocery bag if you want, or if you have a pad of tan toned paper at home - use a sheet of that. I don't care what supplies you're using, I just care IF YOU'RE DRAWING ALONG WITH ME, because that is how you'll grow as an artist.

I'm using my favorite blackwing pencil to draw for this lesson. Blackwings are super fancy drawing pencils, and feel like butter on your paper. You totally don't need them. It's fine to use whatever pencil you have on hand.

After I sketch in my oval for the face, I drop in my face drawing guidelines. If you're not familiar with face drawing guidelines (I NEVER draw a face without them!), these are available for FREE in my #50FunFabFairies classroom (also FREE) over at Awesome Art School.

Never drawn a face before? Here's a quick face drawing tutorial for total beginners that shows you exactly how to use my face drawing guidelines. Feel free to check that out and then pop back to this lesson to try drawing a fairy.

Make sure you watch this video to see the drawing process in action - especially when I sketch in her eyes. They're very angular and widely spaced compared to what I typically do.

Neither of these awesome reference images have fairy ears, even though I'm using them as fairy drawing references. That's totally fine, because I love to go rogue and make stuff up as I draw.

If you're unsure how to draw fairy ears, click over to the video because it's all step-by-step.

I haven't drawn braids in forever, so I'll really be studying my drawing reference with this hairstyle. I'm a firm believer in using reference photos and drawings for anything and everything you don't know how to draw.

There is NOTHING wrong with studying a photo or someone else's drawing to learn. Never feel bad about it! You are developing your own observational skills as an artist.

The only thing that could be wrong with using someone else's work as a reference, is if you copy every single detail of the reference and try to pass your work off as an original idea, or worse yet- if you try to sell it. Copyrights are there for a reason and SO important to artists. I'm a huge stickler about always crediting original artists.

If you're just learning to draw at home and using a piece for inspiration and your own enjoyment - don't worry about it. Just make sure to always give that original artist credit if you ever share your work online as many do in my Facebook group.

When I got to the eyebrows for today's fairy, I decided to try the look from one of my references of a really thin, scraggly eyebrow. Look at how these completely change her expression (above)! My fairy looks super timid now, which I wasn't even going for, but now love.

After the drawing was complete, I started adding funky lines to the braided sections to get the shading started. I kinda love this whole "not being precious" theme for about my project today! I hope you're giving this a try with me at home - especially if you're someone who is ALWAYS "precious" with your art ;)

If you've been following me for a while you know I'm obsessed with my pentel pocket brush pen for eyelash drawing and outlining. I really love it because it has actual bristles like a paintbrush instead of a marker nib that's shaped like a paintbrush tip. Depending on how you change your pressure as you're drawing - you'll get different line weights, all from one drawing tool. Super fun!

Not sure how to draw eyelashes? Watch this video and grab my free eyelash drawing cheatsheet.

I felt like my drawing needed more contrast so added shading with my black stabilo all pencil, China markers, and my white posca pen. I also got super crazy and added color to my fairy's eyeballs with straight-up acrylic paint!

Thanks for hanging out with me today! I can't wait to see your version of today's lesson in theFacebook group:)

If you're OBSESSED with fairies and fantasy art like me, you might just LOVE the Celtic Collective over at Awesome Art School that I run with my Scottish bestie, Lucy Brydon. Add your name to the waitlist to be notified when it's open for enrollment.

You might ALSO enjoy our podcast 1Scot,1 Not. We talk about everything under the sun to do with Scotland - whether it's historical, fantasy, whatever. Just a quick warning - we have a blast and are totally ourselves on the podcast, which means there is some drinking and swearing.

❤️ CHECK OUT ALL my art books on AMAZON
❤️ MY FAVORITE ART SUPPLIES on AMAZON
❤️ MY BELOVED FACEBOOK GROUP
❤️ FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM

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SCARED of DARK Skin Tone Markers for Face Shading? Help is Here!

22/8/2022

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SCARED of your DARK skin tone markers? You are NOT alone! The process for shading faces with dark skin is EXACTLY the same as shading faces with light skin tone markers. Press play to CONQUER these fears once and for all and to see my BEST alcohol marker blending tips in action. Playing along with my #50FunFabFairies drawing challenge? Today's FAIRY face drawing and shading tutorial is lesson 8!

Want easy access to today's lesson and even MORE fairy drawing ideas? Join my FREE #50FunFabFairies drawing challenge over at Awesome Art School!

Simply click the button below to receive instant access to ALL the fairy reference images for each drawing prompt (including today's elf ears drawing reference!), plus info on supplies, cheatsheets, and more!

Wanna become a better artist? Do today's lesson (and every lesson of the challenge) five times, making a few creative alterations of your choice, and watch your skills soar as you practice fairy eyes drawing, fairy and elf ears drawing AND fairy hair drawing 50 different ways!

Before we continue, super quick announcement: All product links are Affiliate. I may earn a small commission if you choose to order through these links but by law there is never any additional cost to the consumer for doing so. I thank you for your support.

How to Draw a Fairy Face

To get today's drawing started, I simply draw an oval and sketch in my face drawing guidelines. Not sure what face drawing guidelines are? Check out lesson one of the #50FunFabFairies drawing challenge, and my face drawing guidelines are waiting for you in the FREE #50FunFabFairies classroom over at Awesome Art School!

HOT TIP: Grab a piece of bristol or my favorite cardstock (cheaper and works exactly the same!), to complete this project. This paper is smooth, non-porous, and will help your markers blend more easily!

This week I'm using an ellipse template (above), to sketch in my eye drawing guidelines. You can TOTALLY do this at home too - it's a little time saver, and a simple trick to help you draw eyes evenly if you're just learning how to draw eyes for beginners.

Next I pencil in the fairy ears and facial features. I'm basically creating a "mashup," because I'm using two face drawing references today - one for the fairy ears, and one for the facial features and shading. Both images are with today's lesson in my FREE #50FunFabFairies classroom.

Combining various aspects of different reference photos in this way is an awesome way to create your very own, original art. This is excellent advice as well if you're someone who is insecure about looking for copyright-free images.

I'm an outliner and love this look in the faces I draw, so once I've finished sketching in my fairy face, I outline the whole drawing with a few of my favorite fineliners by Molotow. I use a thicker nib for outlining the hair, and a smaller nib for outlining facial features.

Next, I erase all the graphite with my vanish eraser. This is a really important step if you're going to shade a face with alcohol markers because they will pick up any remaining graphite on your page and smear it around if you're not careful.

How to Select Skin Tone Markers for Face Shading

Typically my students tell me the most intimidating part of shading faces with alcohol markers is getting started and selecting your skin tone marker shades. I always recommend to use at least three so you have a light, medium and dark that go well together.

I have TONS of references to help you with color selection. Inside the FREE #50FunFabFairies classroom, you'll get access to my Skin Tone Markers Guide (shows you the best skin tone marker combos for across THREE alcohol marker brands), along with the exact colors I'm using today from my Ohuhu Skin Tone Markers (Set of 24).

In addition, I recently published a book ALL about shading faces with alcohol markers and how to choose which skin tone markers will go well together.

You can shade a face from light to dark, or dark to light- it's totally up to you. Lots of my students prefer shading light to dark - especially if they're intimidated by working with darker skin tone markers because it can feel like you've got a bit more control.

As you'll see in the video, the contrast between my initial three marker shades for today's project was just too great. This is OK and TOTALLY fixable. It's actually great for you to see this happen to me so you can watch how I troubleshoot.

If this happens to you at home, and the jump between shades 1 & 2 is too great, find a happy medium shade of a "1.5" to fill in that gap and help you blend your skin tones. It's really systematic.

What to Do If You Hate Your Project

If you're new to my world, you may not have heard me talk about "the ugly stage" yet! EVERY project goes through this, especially when you're drawing and shading faces. Here is the perfect example of what I'm talking about below...

She looks crazy, right?! This is the "ugly stage." It's the point in a project when you're about half-way done, and you look down at your piece and think it's garbage. She looks like an alien, you think you should just quit and move on with your life.

DON'T LISTEN TO THOSE VOICES IN YOUR HEAD! I'm serious. These feelings are SUPER normal and you just have to keep going no matter how ugly your girl is. Do NOT let the "ugly stage" win. Just KEEP GOING.

How do you keep going when you hate your project? In this case - more layers.

How to Eliminate Streaking
and Blend With Alcohol Markers

As you watch the video, you'll see me adding additional layers of shading. Whenever I have streaking or want to ease the transition between two colors, I go back with my lightest skin tone marker to blend what I've already done.

Every time you do this add a new layer of shading in the opposite direction from your original layer. When you do this, you reactivate the previous layers of color, and they begin to blend (and reduce streaking). To create contrast, you can also add tiny bits of a new dark skin tone, as I did when I added a 4th "darkest" skin tone.

When I move on to shade the hair, I started off in the same way I did with my skin tone markers. I pulled three shades of the same color in a light, medium and dark. This is how you get dimension in your drawings.

Finishing Touches Make ALL the Difference

To pull everything together, and pump up the drama, I'm using my pentel pocket brush to add eyelashes and eye makeup. It works more like a paintbrush than a pen, and I use it in ALL of my eyelash drawings.

Not sure how to draw eyelashes? I've got a cheatsheet for that too! Head over to my FREE #50FunFabFairies classroom over at Awesome Art School.

As you may notice in the video- the eyes in this drawing were a bit uneven, so I used my pentel pocket brush and switched from eye to eye to even them out with some eye makeup. She ends up looking really glamorous, which I love!

Finally, I added highlights with my copic opaque white "nail polish." Love this product!

Honestly, this project was one disaster after another to get through. And just when I thought I had about one minute left of adding in highlights, my white paint pen exploded on her chin and I had to try and rework the whole area to fix it!

This kinda stuff happens all the time in art, and you just have to problem solve a little to get back on track. It's ok! Accept the challenge, try another solution and move on! This mindset is REALLY important when it comes to your art, or it will destroy you!

Stay positive and you'll get there. Everything is fixable.

Want MORE dark-skinned face drawing projects? You might just LOVE my Whimsical Women of the World series over on YouTube. This also turned into an online art class at Awesome Art School, AND a book! Enjoy!!

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How to Draw ELF EARS in PROFILE on a HOT Male Elf Warrior (#50FunFabFairies Drawing Challenge)

8/8/2022

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Wanna learn how to draw elf ears in a side profile drawing of a HOT male elf warrior? Heck yeah, ya do! In lesson seven of the #50FunFabFairies drawing challenge, you'll learn how to draw a male face in profile and just how EASY it is to turn him into an elf warrior.

Make sure you bring a blending stump to today's drawing tutorial. I've got TONS of pencil shading and blending tricks up my sleeve to help you shade pencil drawings more quickly & create COOL male fantasy art hair for your own characters!

Let's get this party started...

Wanna become a better artist? Do today's lesson (and every lesson of the challenge) five times, making a few creative alterations of your choice, and watch your skills soar as you practice fairy eyes drawing, fairy and elf ears drawing AND fairy hair drawing 50 different ways!

For today's drawing tutorial I'm working in my favorite 11x14" watercolor sketchbook by Strathmore. The cold press paper has a gorgeous texture to it. Cold press paper is perfect for watercolor and wet mixed media art projects. The texture is also excellent to draw on because it makes shading super easy!

To get us started on our male elf warrior drawing, we first need to sketch in our profile face drawing guidelines. If you know me- you know I'm a stickler for drawing in my guidelines EVERY time I draw a face. Guidelines aren't just for drawing realistic faces. Your whimsical drawings will have a more sophisticated look to them too, because the facial features will be more proportional.

If you're not sure how to do a side profile drawing, you can grab those face drawing guidelines from two of my books (How to Draw MORE Fun Fab Faces and How to Draw & Find Your Style). The book above was on my art table, so I'm using that one in today's lesson. If you've already got this book at home, turn to page 179 to follow along.

We're using a face drawing reference of Uhtred of Bebannburg (Alexander Dreymon) from The Last Kingdom because I love him and this show. Both the reference image (on the left) and my side profile drawing guidelines are in the FREE #50FunFabFairies Drawing Challenge classroom waiting for you over at Awesome Art School so you can draw along with me.

I love to start my side profile face drawings off by tracing a circle. Some people prefer to freehand this, but I figure why bother wasting time trying to recreate the perfect circle? Trace something and move on already. Am I right?!

After your circle is sketched in, it's time to mark where your eyes, nose, and mouth will sit. Make sure you click over to watch this while I do it because the placement of these lines is super important.

Not sure how to draw elf ears? Check out how EASY it is in today's step-by-step drawing tutorial. I promise you can totally do this!

As you can see in the pic above, I'm drawing with my favorite pencil. The graphite is super soft and feels similar to a 6B to work with. One Blackwing pencil will replace an entire pencil set because you can get so many different values from it while you're shading faces just by changing the pressure of your pencil as you draw.

Now before you judge my quick and dirty shading above, I already know if looks like a scribble scrabble mess at this point, but I promise you - when I start using my blending stump- it's gonna get magical.

Tons of students ask me how, or if I clean my blending stumps. The answer is I DON'T clean them ever, because "the dirtier, the better" is my rule as far as blending stumps go.

However, if you start blending and feel like you're kinda losing control or your drawing is getting too dark- you can absolutely switch to a cleaner blending stump to lighten things up. You can also knock some of the graphite back using an eraser. I love using my vanish eraser for this, but you can also use a kneaded eraser.

After I've blended in the first layer of shading throughout, I press my pencil down firmly to add some contrast wherever I see dramatic shadows and details in my face drawing reference image featuring the lovely Mr. Dreymon.

When you're ready to work on the hair, make sure you click over to watch this in action because I've got a lot of really cool tips to help you if you don't know how to draw male hair.

A great tool to try when you're drawing hairstyles is the Tombow Mono Zero eraser (pictured above). It's basically like a mechanical pencil, in eraser form. It's awesome for carving out highlights when you're shading faces too.

I hope you enjoyed today's free drawing tutorial on YouTube. If you're drawing along with me in this series, make sure you share a pic of your work in my Facebook Group with the hashtag #50FunFabFairies for a chance to win giveaway prizes on the 1st of the month :)

I can't wait to see what YOU create!

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Gorgeous REALISTIC FAIRY Drawing Tutorial with Watercolor Flowers [Week Six of #50FunFabFaries Challenge]

25/7/2022

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Today's REALISTIC fairy drawing tutorial with watercolor flowers is lesson six of the #50FunFabFairies drawing challenge- featuring Awesome Art School guest teacher, Bryn Nguyen.

A master of the grid drawing method, Bryn will show you step by step how to use this technique to achieve a fairy portrait that looks EXACTLY like any fairy drawing reference image you select! You'll learn how to draw fairy ears in Bryn's whimsical style and how to add colorful, loose watercolor flowers to bring your fairy to life. Enjoy!!

Want easy access to this and even MORE fairy drawing ideas? Join our FREE #50FunFabFairies drawing challenge over at Awesome Art School!

Simply click the button below to receive instant access to ALL the fairy reference images for each drawing prompt (including today's!), plus info on supplies, cheatsheets and more!

I'm excited to introduce you to today's Awesome Art School guest teacher, Bryn Nguyen. Bryn is a very accomplished artist with a distinct style (below) that my students and I have been admiring in my Facebook Group for years!

Bryn and I have known each other online for years, but finally got to meet in person for the first time this summer, on my 2022 Scotland Castle Art Retreat at Wardhill Castle with Lucy Brydon!

To get us started, Bryn demos how to trace the key lines of a drawing reference image using a sheet of trace paper and a lightboard. This helps her achieve greater accuracy, and she finds the process therapeutic.

You may be wondering why we're tracing today instead of freehand drawing. The freehand drawing part is coming up! As you'll see in the video, this is a great way to zero in on the key features of a drawing reference photo, and removes the distraction of all the shadows and highlights.

I've been asked many times over the years if "tracing is cheating" when it comes to art. I believe tracing can be a very effective tool when it's used like it is today to create an original piece of art that's all your own.
Check out this video for more of my thoughts on that subject.

Once her face outline is complete, Bryn explains how to pencil in grid lines over a tracing. She loves to get super detailed at this point and creates 1/2" x 1/2" boxes for this process. Then she transfers what she sees (this is the freehand drawing part!), box by box onto another sheet filled with 1/2" squares.

If you'd like to learn Bryn's process in even greater detail without time-lapsed (sped up) video, Bryn is a guest teacher in The Fun Fab Drawing Club with me over at Awesome Art School in my Realistic Face Drawing classroom. Add your name to the waitlist here to get notified when the Fun Fab Drawing Club is open for enrollment.

Since Bryn plans to add loose watercolor flowers to her fairy drawing, she needs watercolor paper. Today she's using a sheet of 140 lb. cold press (textured) watercolor paper by Canson. Bryn enjoys working small, so cut a sheet of this paper in half for today's project.

Make sure you watch the video to see exactly how Bryn transfers a scaled down printout of her original drawing to watercolor paper using graphite transfer paper.

I LOVE using transfer paper as well when I'm doing watercolor portraits because this process really saves my paper.

If you do a freehand drawing from scratch directly onto your watercolor paper, you risk wrecking your paper from tons of erasing. Drawing from scratch on another sheet of paper first (even plain old printer paper!) and transfering your finished drawing to watercolor paper is totally the way to go.

As you'll see in the video, Bryn uses a kneaded eraser to lift some of the bold graphite lines from her watercolor paper once her transfer is complete. This is a great tip, because if you skip this step, your watercolors can smear the graphite and turn brown.

When Bryn's finished with erasing, she uses a purple Copic multiliner (in .5) to outline portions of her drawing. This fineliner is non watersoluble so it will stay put once watercolor is added. Notice how Bryn doesn't add fineliner to each and every line of her drawing, and sometimes only outlines a piece of each line. This technique really adds a sophisticated look to her artwork.

Once the ink is totally dry, you can erase any remaining pencil lines, and get ready to add watercolor! Bryn is using "The Classics" watercolor palette by Prima today for this project, but you can use any kind of watercolor you like. I typically use Daniel Smith watercolors, and have a wide variety of my favorite shades recommended for you in my Amazon shop if you need ideas.

If you need help starting a Daniel Smith watercolor collection of your own, check this video out to learn about Daniel Smith dot cards to inexpensively discover YOUR favorite shades, and this one to start your first Daniel Smith watercolor collection.

To create loose watercolor flowers on a tiny scale, Bryn uses a #3 round watercolor brush and adds abstract doodles of color in spikes and swirls to indicate flowers. Watch this process in the video because each moment has been recorderd step by step so you can paint along from home.

After the first layer of watercolor is dry, Bryn darkens portions of the flowers to add contrast, and adds bits of yellow green throughout to suggest foilage and leaves.

For the skin tones on her fairy's face, Bryn adds in layers of pink from her existing palette. Once these layers are dry, she adds a light layer of yellow green to indicate the darkest shadows.

I LOVE this look! Just make sure your original layers are FULLY dry before doing this at home, so your colors don't turn into brown.

Next, Bryn thickens a few of the lines from her original drawing using her copic multiliner (above), and draws in a few light embellishments throughout her watercolor flowers to tie things together.

To finish her fairy, Bryn adds a little watercolor splatter paint. I LOVE this effect too!! The key to getting this just right is having a really wet brush. Watch the video to see this technique in action, and paint along with Bryn in real time!

Thanks for hanging out with us today! We hope you have fun with lesson six of the FREE #50FunFabFairies drawing challenge!

If you're OBSESSED with fairies and fantasy art like Bryn and I are, you might just LOVE the Celtic Collective art club over at Awesome Art School.

Add your name to the waitlist to be notified next time we're open for enrollment, or when there's a club member cancellation so you can join in the fun with us!

❤️ CHECK OUT ALL my art books on AMAZON
❤️ MY FAVORITE ART SUPPLIES on AMAZON
❤️ MY BELOVED FACEBOOK GROUP
❤️ FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM

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FUN & EASY Fairy Drawing Tutorial IN SCOTLAND with Karen Campbell & Lucy Brydon [#50FunFabFairies]

8/7/2022

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Lucy Brydon and I had the BEST time filming this EASY fairy drawing tutorial in Scotland together! While our art retreat guests at Wardhill Castle had some free time, we snuck off to draw this adorable fairy couple, inspired by Pascal Moguerou.

All you need to draw along with us is a sheet of paper, a pencil and eraser. We hope you enjoy lesson 5 of the #50FunFabFairies drawing challenge as much as we enjoyed making it for you!

Never drawn a fairy before? No problem. You'll learn how to draw a fairy step by step in each lesson of the challenge. All you have to do is watch and draw along!

Wanna become a better artist? Do today's lesson (and every lesson of the challenge) five times, making a few creative alterations of your choice, and watch your skills soar as you practice fairy eyes drawing, fairy ears drawing AND fairy hair drawing 50 different ways!

Today, Lucy and I are drawing on cold press watercolor paper. If you haven't drawn on cold press paper before, it's got a lovely texture that actually makes blending for your shading SUPER easy!

We're keeping the rest of the supplies at bare minimum today with just a Blackwing pencil, mechanical pencil, blending stump and eraser. We did end up using my Tombow mono zero eraser, but you can totally do this project without it!

Our reference image today comes from the cover for Sketchbook by Pascal Moguerou (above). If you ever come across one of Pascal's books, we highly suggest you grab it because they are fantastic. At the moment this one's a bit pricey on Amazon, at $96. Check back later because you might find a better deal.

I love the look of Moguerou's style - especially in the branch these fairies are sitting on. It's got so much cute character! I decided to try using my non dominant hand (left) to replicate style of his scraggly tree branch and vines.

Lucy sketched in the girl fairy for us on the right side of our drawing using the Blackwing pencil. In case you haven't used a Blackwing before, it's so soft that the lines you draw with it can come out quite dark and thick. I love bold strokes like this, but if you have some finer detail to add to your drawing, you might prefer using a mechanical pencil.

The shading in our reference photo appears to come through the most in the fairy wings just at the tips and tops of the wings. It reminds me of how I often shade hair - leaving a swath in the middle as the white of the paper.

If you're not sure how to draw fairy wings, make sure to watch this video because Lucy did a beautiful job. She switched to a mechanical pencil for the fairy wings in this drawing because these lines are more delicate. It's just adorable.

The shading in this piece came together quickly with only a blending stump! Remember, the dirtier, the better with a blending stump! If you don't have one at home- simply use a q-tip, a kleenex over your pointy finger, or just your finger.

We did pull out my Tombow mono zero eraser to carve some highlights back into the shading where it got a little too dark.

If you've never tried this eraser before it's amazing at making highlights in your pencil drawings, and really not that expensive at ~$6 on Amazon. To cover larger areas with an eraser, I prefer my Vanish eraser.

For the man fairy that I drew, I mostly used my blackwing pencil and blending stump. His little belt is SO cute!!

During the filming of this fairy drawing tutorial we were outside and it started to drizzle (as it does in Scotland!), plus Lucy and I were seated closely with one another for filming, so we were working in a tight space.

If your hand drags through the graphite you've already drawn in - as mine did, don't sweat it. When you get to the end of your drawing, go back and erase out the areas you had intended to be white or whiter than they currently are.

Then sharpen your lines using a mechanical pencil.

I just love this pic above of our hands working together on the same cute drawing!! What a fun memory.

Press play on the lesson below to draw along with us in real time and see all the little tips and tricks we mentioned to you here, in action!

Plus... you'll get a sneak peek at the front door of Wardhill Castle in Scotland :)

If you're OBSESSED with fairies and fantasy art like Lucy and I are, you might just LOVE the Celtic Collective over at Awesome Art School. It's an art membership that we run together!

You might ALSO enjoy our podcast, 1Scot,1 Not. We talk about everything under the sun to do with Scotland - whether it's historical, fantasy, whatever. Just a quick warning - we have a blast and are totally ourselves on the podcast, which means there is some drinking and swearing.

❤️ CHECK OUT ALL my art books on AMAZON
❤️ MY FAVORITE ART SUPPLIES on AMAZON
❤️ MY BELOVED FACEBOOK GROUP
❤️ FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM

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EASY Fairy Drawing in Alcohol Markers with Karen Campbell [Week 3 #50FunFabFaries Challenge]

14/6/2022

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Wanna create this EASY fairy drawing with me in alcohol markers? These are one of my FAVORITE art supplies to use when shading faces I draw. If you've never tried them before, stick with me - I'll guide you step by step in today's drawing tutorial as we continue with week three of the #50FunFabFairies drawing challenge!

To find ALL the info for the FREE #50FunFabFairies drawing challenge, simply click the button below to receive instant access to ALL the fairy reference images for each drawing prompt, plus info on supplies, cheatsheets and more!

Wanna become a better artist? Do today's lesson (and every lesson of the challenge) five times, making a few creative alterations of your choice, and watch your skills soar as you practice fairy eyes drawing, fairy ears drawing AND fairy hair drawing 50 different ways!

Just because we're switching up our supplies for week three of #50FunFabFairies, I don't want you to get distracted from the actual purpose of this fairy drawing challenge - which is increasing your drawing skills!

You're learning how to draw faces and where to look in reference images for face shading guidance so you know how to add depth to your drawings.

If all you have is a pencil and a piece of paper and you want to do this drawing challenge - that's perfect. You're good to go! All that matters is you draw.

If you're new to my world, my absolute favorite alcohol markers are copics, but they cost between $8-9/each, so when I teach my students how to use alcohol markers I use Ohuhus (especially for skin tones!) because they only cost $1/marker.

I was recently approached by a company called ArtBeek to try out their alcohol markers. I said I would because their cost per marker is only 40 cents and they have a brush nib on their markers -which is a must have for me. So today's project is not only our #50FunFabFairies drawing prompt number 3, it's a product test and review for ArtBeek Alcohol Brush Markers.

The fairy face drawing we're doing today is a side profile drawing in the three quarter view pose. While this is the most challenging view to draw - I think it's important for you to start practicing this right away so you don't feel intimidated.

I'm including cheatsheets on how to draw a three quarter portrait from my book How to Draw & Find Your Style in the #50FunFabFairies classroom for you over at AwesomeArtSchool.com.

I'm also referring to my book Skin Tone Secrets for a little help in locating the skin tone marker shades I want to use for this drawing. I love the rainbow vibe in our reference fairy drawing image. I see seeing a lot of yellow in the lightest areas, so immediately connected with this page from Skin Tone Secrets.

To get started, we need to sketch in the basic side profile drawing shape for a three quarter portrait AND the facial feature guidelines. If you know me - you know I NEVER draw a face without guidelines, because they're just too important!

If you're not sure how to draw fairy ears, I've got you! Simply watch the video, and I'll show you step by step.

Once I've penciled in a few swirly hair lines, it's time to get rid of our graphite as well as we can, because graphite and alcohol markers really don't mix. The brush nib of an alcohol marker can get dirty and pick up graphite super easily. This can drag all over your drawing and muddy things up, so make sure you take enough time to erase as much of the graphite as possible.

I use my vanish eraser for this. After the guidelines are gone, I actually pounce my eraser over the rest of my lines just to remove even more.

HOT TIP: If you're an outliner like me, and want to do those first, make sure you're NOT using a sharpie because these are also alcohol markers and they will naturally want to bleed and blend in with the other colors you're using.

Instead, opt for a fineliner that is water-based or pigmented, like this one from Molotow. These will NOT smear when you're working with Copics, Ohuhus, or the new markers I'm testing out today by ArtBeek.

HOT TIP: There are lots of fun swirlies in our fairy drawing image for jewelry, I love using a STENCIL to do this! It takes the pressure off trying to copy something exactly and looks SO precise in your drawing. I highly recommend you do this as well :)

Since I'm using a new to me set of alcohol markers, I do need to swatch them out prior to coloring today. As I do this, I'm loving the soft brush tip of the ArtBeek markers. There aren't a lot of skin tones (even in the large set of 120), but I do feel like they're even softer to work with than the Ohuhus, which kinda surprises me!

In the video, you'll really see how I look to my reference fairy drawing image to "inform" my face shading. If you're scared to change marker shades as you get into shading the face - that's ok. Just use the same shade you were working with for layer one and darken your drawing with a second coat of that same color to start creating subtle shadows (above). It's totally fine to do this in baby steps until you're comfortable.

Typically I recommend using three shades of a color to do face shading in alcohol markers. As you can see in the photo above, each time you add a layer of shading that is slightly darker than the one you did previously, leave that a bit of that previous color exposed to really add depth to your drawing. In the photo above, you can see all four skin tone marker shades I used in the shadow on her face, next to her ear.

The hair on this fairy is wild and SO much fun! I am in love with the rainbow and the fact that it gives me the opportunity to use so many colors from this fun new marker set by ArtBeek.

After my fairy is done, it's time for me to pull out my secret weapon for drawing killer eyelashes! I LOVE my pentel pocket brush. It's also water-based so works just as beautifully with alcohol markers as it does over china markers and my mixed media paintings!

I hope you enjoyed today's fairy drawing lesson. Remember, if you haven't signed up for the FREE #50FunFabFairies drawing challenge - you can still do that whenever you want to. It's not too late to join, and there is no "behind" with the challenge. Everything is draw at your own pace on your own time!

I've stocked the FREE classroom at AwesomeArtSchool.com for you with PDFs of our fairy reference images for each lesson, plus drawing cheatsheets to help you along, info on supplies and SO much more!

Have so much fun and I'll see ya in the classroom, or if you're posting your progress in the Facebook group!

If you're OBSESSED with fairies and fantasy art like me, you might just LOVE the Celtic Collective over at Awesome Art School. It's an art membership my Scottish bestie, Lucy Brydon, and I run together!

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Drawing FUN FAB FAIRIES with Karen Campbell

12/4/2021

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I LOVE drawing fairies as much as I LOVE listening to stories about REAL fairies and teaching my students about drawing & shading faces! I've put together a 5-day fairy drawing workshop called Fun Fab Fairies and will be teaching you how to complete THREE easy drawings of fairies. You'll learn how to draw a fairy sitting on a mushroom, how to draw fairy wings, how to draw a fairy face + how to shade a fairy face, and exactly what you need to do to turn these pencil drawings into your very own masterpieces!!

I LIVE for teaching people how to draw faces and can't wait to do this with you!

The LIVE festivities for How to Draw FUN, FAB FAIRIES kick off on Monday, April 26th. On days 1-3 will be a learning how to draw a mushroom, fairy with wings, grasshopper, grass - all from scratch! Then I'll teach you how to shade and color it in.

On day 4 - I'm gonna teach you how to draw and shade a fairy face in pencil in my "Fub Fab" style - also from scratch! We'll be working in pencil, I'll teach you about the value scale and how to use this when you're shading faces so your drawings will POP and look more realistic.

On day 5 I'm going to teach you how to draw and color in the fairy face from day 4 using alcohol markers!

Never used alcohol markers for shading a face (or anything) before? Don't worry- I've got TONS of resources for you. This FREE 12-page eBook I created about how to shade with skin tone markers (and how to CHOOSE which marker shades go best together!!) will be your NEW BEST FRIEND!!

Simply click the button below, and I'll send this FREE 12-page PDF straight to your inbox.

I tell you EXACTLY which marker shades go best together to shade light, medium and dark skin tones using alcohol markers by Copic, Ohuhu and Arteza so you can choose which brand is best for you and your budget!

If you're interested in learning how to draw FUN FAB FAIRIES with me, make sure you sign up before April 26th, because the price to participate is jumping from $10 to $47!!

CLICK HERE to SIGN UP for the FAIRY DRAWING WORKSHOP

Cost for all 5 days of this workshop (including the Facebook LIVES with daily giveaways) is $10. But make sure you sign up NOW because the cost is going up to $47 to join on Monday, April 26th.

Everything for the workshop is included from added PDF resources and links to supplies, to all the prerecorded content. AND it's ALL YOURS TO KEEP, download and rewatch forever!

CLICK HERE to SIGN UP for the FAIRY DRAWING WORKSHOP

Even though the workshop has LIVE festivities beginning on April 26th, there is no pressure to complete the workshop lessons on a time schedule. You are welcome to play at your own pace.

I hope you join me for FUN, FAB FAIRIES!!

Need info about other stuff?? Here ya go!!

❤️Did you know I've started a FUN new podcast with my Scottish, artsy bestie, Lucy, ALL ABOUT SCOTLAND & the mythical goodness I can't get enough of about this magical place?! YES - we talk about everything including ARE Fairies Real?! (You know I think they are!!)

The podcast is called 1 Scot, 1 Not! Check us out on YouTube and here's our podcast website!

❤️Want FREE, immediate access to my Fun Fab Drawing Club and/or Mixed Media Society plus discounts on all my art books, sneak peek at YouTube videos and new book content, behind-the-scenes fun and MORE? Join me over on Patreon today and get HUGE PERKS in return for a small monthly donation.

❤️ CHECK OUT ALL my art books on AMAZON (available in both Kindle and Paperback)

❤️ SIGNED COPIES of my art books on ETSY

❤️ MY FAVORITE ART SUPPLIES on AMAZON

❤️ MY BELOVED FACEBOOK GROUP

❤️ FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM

❤️ FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK

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Why I'm Obsessed with YOUR Art Journey

18/9/2020

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I've been a full-time working artist for 15 years! If you've been wondering how to become an artist, how to become a better artist, or if it's too late to start your own art journey, you NEED to watch today's YouTube video on my Mixed Media channel, because that is EXACTLY what I'll be talking about!!

Would it surprise you to know that I don't sell ONE SINGLE PIECE of my art? I don't!!

So WHY do I make art and spend all of my time and energy on TEACHING art with a team of people behind me? Because I know the way art makes us FEEL. It can have a HUGE impact on our own lives and the lives of others.

You might find it interesting to know that becoming an artist was NEVER even on my to do list when I was growing up!!

Not for one second did I even consider becoming an artist! I grew up thinking art was a hobby - no more, no less.

So how did I get where I am today- with two YouTube channels, an online art school, and 12 art books already under my belt?!

I got into art later in life because I got addicted to the way it made me feel when I spent time being creative. If I was having a bad day, stuck home when my kids were little and I was changing diapers and wanted to cry, the minute that I sat down to draw, sketch or paint, all of those feelings melted away. It was like a drug. There was a transformation that happened inside of me - in my brain, in my soul, in my heart...and it made everything ok again.

Art gave me ALL the FEELS inside, and was something I craved because this goodness washed over me every single time I sat down to create.

These amazing feelings are what I hope ALL my students can experience, and they're WHY I spend SO much time coming up with cheatsheets and shortcuts and break things down step by step for my online art classes - because I want my students to get to their happy place TOO, and to get there even faster than I did!!

I became a good artist by default.

Because ALL the chasing of those good "happy place feelings" lead to practice, and all of that practice lead to really great results. Why does that matter? Because I grew up believing people who made art were BORN with talent. I didn't even entertain the thought that I could make art because I didn't think I was born with that talent.

Yet here I am, a successful working artist impacting students who are now making masterpieces of their own. So how does that happen?!

This is my philosophy on what happened... if I CAN LEARN to be a good artist... so can anyone!!!

SO CAN YOU!!!!!

After you watch today's video, make sure you sign up to join one or both of the art challenges I'm running next week. They start on MONDAY!!!

✅ SIGN UP for my MIXED MEDIA CHALLENGE

✅ SIGN UP for my DRAWING CHALLENGE

Now press play already for today's video so I can show you how YOU can become an awesome artist too ;)

I can't wait to show you!!!!

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30K Giveaway & Challenge News!! [Plus a NEW drawing tutorial!]

31/8/2020

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I hope you had a fantastic weekend!!

I have a LOT to tell ya today, so buckle your seat belt...

On Friday, I did a LIVE STREAM on my mixed media channel to celebrate 30K subscribers!!

While I was there, I showed a sneak peak of some of my 30K giveaway prizes:

MY 30K GIVEAWAY PRIZE WINNER WILL RECEIVE:

A FREE Karen Campbell book of her choice
10 lbs of Arteza Acrylic Paints (no that's NOT a typo- the box is SO heavy!!!)
14 Canvas Boards from Arteza to paint on
FREE entry into my Challenge next month, and
THREE FREE months in the club of your choice - Fun Fab Drawing Club or Mixed Media Society.

HOW CAN YOU WIN the GIVEAWAY PRIZES?

All you need to do is subscribe to my new Drawing Channel on YouTube.

After that- just pop back over to my LIVE STREAM video from Friday, and leave a comment telling me you've subscribed.

That's it ;) The winner will be selected at random and announced this Friday (9/4) on my Mixed Media channel!!

KAREN's CHALLENGE DETAILS

While I was LIVE on Friday, I also announced ALL the details about the Challenge I'm running next month!!!

I decided to go BIG...

We're starting September 21st, and the Challenge will run for 5 days.

I'm giving away prizes EVERY SINGLE DAY in my Facebook Group!!!

CLICK HERE to learn more & sign up for my DRAWING CHALLENGE - beginning Sept. 21st

CLICK HERE to learn more & sign up for my MIXED MEDIA CHALLENGE - beginning Sept. 21st

**IF you're a Club member of either The Fun Fab Drawing Club or The Mixed Media Society - you've automatically been enrolled in the challenge and will see that bonus in your classroom.**

If you're NOT a club member, it's just $5 to participate in either challenge to receive the daily 1-hour lesson. I HOPE you'll join me!!!

NEW Drawing Video Today

My last bit of news today is to let ya know I've added another video to my profile series on my Drawing Channel.

Today she's an adorable fairy that I've shaded using some super cheap copic marker alternatives from a brand called Par Koo!

I was actually really surprised by how much I loved these juicy markers!

Even better- they're only 37 cents/ each - so if you're in the mood to add a ton of colors to your alcohol marker stash - I highly recommend giving them a try!!

CLICK HERE when you're ready to watch today's drawing tutorial & please draw along with me!!!

See ya next week!!!

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Mystical Mythical Magical MashUp Continues!

24/4/2019

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I have been having an absolute BLAST mixing and matching certain mythical references and combining them in new and exciting ways to produce new, unique works of art. I think what's even more fun is that I'm not even playing this fun game by myself, no sireee. My Friend, Artist Jenny Manno and I, have enlisted the help and fun of our respective Facebook Groups to play along with us and the results are sooooooo so much fun!

Here are the references this week!
The first one is my the amazingly talented folks over at thepicsees.com. If you don't know them you ought to!! They are amazing!!

blog

HOW to COMBINE INSPO from TWO FAIRY DRAWING IMAGES to Create Your Own Masterpiece!

SCARED of DARK Skin Tone Markers for Face Shading? Help is Here!

How to Draw a Fairy Face

How to Select Skin Tone Markers for Face Shading

What to Do If You Hate Your Project

How to Eliminate Streaking
and Blend With Alcohol Markers

Finishing Touches Make ALL the Difference

How to Draw ELF EARS in PROFILE on a HOT Male Elf Warrior (#50FunFabFairies Drawing Challenge)

Gorgeous REALISTIC FAIRY Drawing Tutorial with Watercolor Flowers [Week Six of #50FunFabFaries Challenge]

FUN & EASY Fairy Drawing Tutorial IN SCOTLAND with Karen Campbell & Lucy Brydon [#50FunFabFairies]

EASY Fairy Drawing in Alcohol Markers with Karen Campbell [Week 3 #50FunFabFaries Challenge]

Drawing FUN FAB FAIRIES with Karen Campbell

Why I'm Obsessed with YOUR Art Journey

30K Giveaway & Challenge News!! [Plus a NEW drawing tutorial!]

Mystical Mythical Magical MashUp Continues!

Categories

Karen Campbell

Archives

Categories

What Fans Are Saying

Contact ME

blog

​How to Draw a Fairy Face

​How to Select Skin Tone Markers for Face Shading​

​What to Do If You Hate Your Project

​How to Eliminate Streaking ​and Blend With Alcohol Markers

​Finishing Touches Make ALL the Difference

Categories

Karen Campbell

Archives

Categories

What Fans Are Saying

Contact ME

How to Draw a Fairy Face

How to Select Skin Tone Markers for Face Shading

What to Do If You Hate Your Project

How to Eliminate Streaking
and Blend With Alcohol Markers

Finishing Touches Make ALL the Difference