Elle Wills

Brisbane based artist/tattoo apprentice

Another artist I came across on Instagram - a really useful way to stay up to date with other creative types.

When I first saw her work I was blown away by the amount of detail she managed to show just using a pencil.

I think it's amazing what kind of visual impact you can create just using a pencil and hard work.

In OUIL403 Studio Brief 4, I realised I was really struggling with the human form, realism and what seemed like basic shading to me. Outside of my projects I decided to try and tackle this issue and really work on creating some more reaslistic images.

To begin with, I simply typed into Google, 'Drawing realism'

This was the first page I looked at - basic steps and materials I'd need. I found it really useful to go back to the basics and get myself in the right mindset for learning how to do this - after reading this tutorial, I started to use tissue paper to blend my pencil and the results were so much better. 

I also took a tip from Elle Wills and scaled up my drawings so it would be easier to draw in the detail.

I used an eye as my first subject as I have always struggled with getting them to look realistic. Used a photo as reference.

A3 Portrait of Bryan Cranston, work in progress.

So far, I have found it difficult to draw the texture of the skin and find myself going back and adding little bits of detail. Pleased with progress so far.