Recent Posts
Finding useful gift ideas for artists sounds easy until you actually start looking. There are endless art supplies for sale, but that doesn’t mean an artist needs or wants them. Most experienced artists already have their favourite pencils, paints, brushes and paper. Buying more of the same can be a …
A tiny art studio space doesn’t need to be purpose-built or take over an entire room. Most of us have to work with the space we’ve got. A small corner of a room can be enough. The main thing is having somewhere comfortable to work, decent light and a sensible …
If you want to make more money at your Christmas market stall, add some affordable art merch to your setup. People love small, giftable items they can pick up without thinking too hard. It’s fine to test a few ideas with small orders, but remember that Christmas trade is short. …
Christmas markets look inviting for artists trying to boost sales. The lights, music, and steady stream of shoppers make them hard to ignore. But are they really worth the effort and cost? These markets can be great for some artists and a waste of time for others. It depends on …
Selling your art at an outdoor market in winter is a test of endurance as much as salesmanship. You might be standing behind your stall all day in freezing temperatures. The right winter gear makes all the difference between a great day and a miserable one. Get your layering, footwear, …
Same old problem, there’s too much choice, so how do you choose the right pastel pencils? If you are struggling, this guide will help you choose the best pastel pencils for beginners ALL lists are subjective, we all favor our own brands for our own reasons, not the least of …
A cozy hobby room can be as simple as a table beside a window, a spare bedroom you’ve gradually taken over, or a garden shed where you can leave your paints out and close the door when you’ve finished. The best Art Room Ideas tend to be practical rather than …
Creating an Artist Home Studio can mean anything from taking over a spare bedroom to squeezing a desk into the corner of your dining room. If you have the space, you might convert an entire room. If you don’t, you can work with what you’ve got. That’s the idea behind …
Here are some cozy art studio ideas that may resonate with you. Images of different artists, working in different mediums, in different studio settings, all through that same autumnal light. Just people like you and me, getting on with their artwork while the year turns towards autumn, the days get …
Drawing landscapes is something I used to do quite regularly, going out sketching whenever I could. But as time went on, and I started drawing professionally, my life moved to working entirely from photographs. The commercial realities robbed me of the time I needed to sketch outdoors. I took photos …
When you’re putting together your first drawing kit, it’s incredibly tempting to walk into an art store and buy one of everything, a fancy sketchbook, dozens of pencils, even a drawing board. But here’s the truth, most of that stuff ends up gathering dust. In this post, I’m going to …
I remember an art teacher telling me to soften my edges, fine but you have to know where the boundaries are first. So do you need to outline drawings? Certainly You should outline drawings to get the correct proportions and overall shape. An outline is a scaffold for your finished …
I didn’t set out to become a hyperrealist. Honestly, my detailed art happened by accident. Early on in my commercial art career, insane detail wasn’t the goal. I was just drawing. The turning point came while selling my art in a street market. I set up an easel, and draw …
If you want to know how to shade a black background, the main problem is getting a deep, even black without patchy areas, or that annoying graphite shine. It sounds simple. You’re only filling in the background, after all. In practice, large areas of solid black can be a pain …
Ever wondered how artists draw those tiny white lines in a pencil drawing? How do you draw whiskers? It looks insanely difficult, doesn’t it? But in actual fact, it’s incredibly easy, once you know how. There are three reliable ways of creating white lines in a pencil drawing. Score the …
If you’re learning how to draw a realistic cat, whiskers are one of the things that trip people up. They look simple, but they’re surprisingly hard to get right. Most drawings end up with whiskers that look stiff, kinked, or fat. It’s a common problem, and it can ruin an …
If you want to know how to get good at drawing, and already know the basics, adding personality will improve your art. I draw animals from reference photos, and I’ve learned that a few small tweaks can turn a stiff illustration into something that actually feels alive. In this guide, …
Atmosphere is the mood a drawing gives off. Calm, creepy, dramatic – you feel it. Nothing about the subject has to change much to get there. It’s all in the light, the shadows, and what you choose to leave out. This isn’t some advanced trick only pro artists know. It’s …
Storytelling is the easiest way to sell anything, including your art. At a market stall, you get a few seconds to grab attension. If your picture doesn’t hook them fast, it’s just wallpaper. I’ve sold prints from a stall for over 20 years, and storytelling is what closes the sale …
These drawing tips will help you add movement to your animal drawings and stop them looking stiff and lifeless. It’s an easy trap to fall into. You spend hours getting the details right, refining the shading and sharpening the edges. Before you know it, you’ve tightened everything up and lost …
