My first entry for the Sketchbook Challenge

This has been great fun to do. The Sketchbook Challenge was a site I found whilst on the internet looking for something else and I thought I would give it a go as I had bought a sketchbook about a year ago and never used it! See Sketchbook Phobia post dated 2nd Feb.

The Sketchbook Challenge is a way to encourage you to open up your sketchbook and discover what you can do and that the sketchbook can be one of the most valued tools in your artistic tool box. At this point I wasn't sure if the Challenge was for me but then I read 'Wherever you are on your artistic journey, whatever medium or style you work in The Sketchbook Challenge is for you!'

The theme for February was 'Close Up' so I decided to use some photos of marine fish that I took last Easter and do close up observational drawings of the Blue Saltwater Neon fish

and the Longnose Hawfish.

Using a viewfinder (I just cut a rectangle out of a piece of paper and laid it over the image to visually crop the picture of the fish) then everything I saw within the frame is what I drew. This method really helps you to zoom in on what you want to see rather than seeing the whole image.

The first picture I did was of the Blue Saltwater Neon fish and I used a normal pencil to draw with and then added blue stripes with a coloured pencil.

For the second picture I used Letraset Pro markers to draw the pattern around the fin area of the fish.

For the Longnose Hawkfish I used a bright orange coloured pencil for the repetitive pattern.

As I enjoyed doing these I then went on and found a picture of a Lionfish

and painted a close up of this with vibrant watercolours and felt pen.

So hey presto! The first page of my sketchbook is done!

When you are done you are invited to upload your photos onto the Flickr Sketchbook Challenge group and you can not only view your photos but everyone else who has entered too. If you tag the photo with the monthly code you stand a chance of winning a prize.

Look out for the new theme which will be out on the first of March!