MY FIRST DRAWING STEPS

Many people have asked me if I have ever been taking drawing lessons. I didn't, but I started painting at an early age with my grandmother, who paints in her spare time.

I was studying art at high school though, and that's where I discovered drawing. At that time, I loved to reproduce pieces of existant drawings and magazine ads, being as precise as possible.

Through a work of patience and visualization, I could achieve, after many, many corrections, a pretty rewarding output of the original image; And I think everyone is able to draw according to his/her own style of drawing.

One of the artworks I did at school (around 2007)

My advice to you would be : don't be afraid not to be able to draw the final result you want, because that's usually how you give up early, saying you won't be able to do it (or: I'm can't, I'm not good at drawing, etc.).

You probably won't get it from the first try if you're a beginner. The game is to begin with a first approximative sketch, while attentively observing your original pattern (the overall structure first, then the details while you go further in your work) and trying to get closer and closer to it.

I usually begin with something that doesn't really look like the image I'll willing to reproduce. But then, I erase and re-do the part I think is wrong, and it takes me hours and hours doing that to achieve what I call a great work of art and patience.

I'm willing to give advice to those who are willing to learn how to draw the unconventional way. Keep it up, and be persistant: everyone can do it!

So, here are some pieces of lost and found or incomplete works I did. I should get back to it very soon (when it comes to get some free time...).

The two first sketches are one of the oldest I drew :

And then, through practice, persistence and patience, I was able to draw that :

ARTISTS X BLOGGERS

Remember the post I wrote about Igor + André?

Well, while I was reading some new blog posts this morning, I came upon that picture on the Betty Facebook Page :

As I easily recognized the mark of Danny's art (the illustrator of the duo), I thought "wow, I like Betty's blog very much, but it seems I didn't figure out how popular Betty was among the blogosphere and the "fashion" world online in general." 

Then I looked at Igor + André illustrations collection, and I found out Danny drew many portraits of bloggers among the web, named : Blogger's portrait.

Here's the one of Betty :

I found these amazing! And it's also incredible to see how fast a blogger's reputation can grow through that kind of "collaboration". Some bloggers are now having a very special statut in the blogosphere, being considered as experts, role models, and also some kind of stars to some. Seeing how technology can empower each each and everyone of us to build a whole "brand" around their blog and persons in fascinating. 

I remember I did draw a portrait for a blogger once. It was more than two years ago. Here's the link of the post, and here's the drawing :

It was for Pauline, creator of the Pauline Fashion Blog. It was fun to collaborate with her, and beyond the artistic motivation behind the initiative, I also got many benefits from it. 

As she posted my drawing of her very popular blog, her audience could hear of me and go check my blog as well. That boosted my daily visitors number and enabled me to interact with many people who wrote me that I was talented, and who asked me for some advice about how to draw, etc, etc.

I love the way everyone can express himself and get connected so easily through the web. How inspiring our sharing culture online can be!