Many of you will know that I have been taking part in A Sketch a Day for a year now.
In late 2014 Ruthie Redden asked if anyone was interested in joining a Facebook group where topics would be set on a daily basis to inspire people to draw every day. I said I would be interested although I was unsure if I would be able to make the time and whether I would be intimidated by others abilities, especially as I had hardly done any drawing at all for several years.
©Ruthie Redden
Early in 2015 A Sketch a Day was started and the first topic was Favourite Cup or Mug so I sketched my favourite Lisa Parker Hare mug.
I decided to keep my sketches small so bought a Winsor and Newton A6 sketchbook to get me started.
The group has grown to about 60 members although not all managed to post each day. But those that do post on the timeline and in the daily folder. We comment and "Like" each others sketches, which helps to build confidence and means also that we have gained new friends with a common interest, some local, whilst others live the other side of the world. I stepped in to help with setting topics too which has been fun as it means with a few of us setting topics we get a wider range of subjects. Some I have found quite easy, whilst others have been quite challenging!
I think the topic Post-Apocalypse was one of the most challenging!
As I gained in confidence I decided to use some of my sketches to make into greetings cards to sell.
Day 40 topic was Love
I have taken small parts of the image to create a border for the finished card.
Day 56 was Mandala, something I have not done before but very much enjoyed and I have also turned this into a card.
Day 68 was Owls, I have taken the owl from this sketch and produced a card with multiple images, used a more solid background and added the moon digitally.
Another of my favourite topics was Yin and Yang for day 213
Although I was reasonably happy with this design I decided to redo it a bit bigger before making it into cards.
My card range has grown and I now have 30 designs, some have been born from my Sketch a Day, whilst others I have designed specially. These are available to buy from both my Etsy and Folksy shops. I also sell to retailers, please contact me for details.
Having produced a range of cards I thought I could put my designs on other products, again my Sketch a Day drawings have come in handy.
Day 161 Fox
Used on a Pocket Mirror
Day 227 Elephant
Again I have used this on a Pocket Mirror
Next I decided to experiment with making some jewellery.
Day 240 Dinosaur is now available as a badge.
Day 230 Badger is available as a card, badge, pocket mirror, hair grips and earrings.
If you would like to see all of my 2015 sketches please see my Pinterest board
I am very grateful to Sketch a Day and Ruthie Redden for getting me sketching again and giving me the confidence and inspiration to do more. I now have 8 little A6 Sketch books with lots of ideas. I am not proud of all of my attempts but most I am reasonably happy with!
I shall be continuing Sketch a Day for 2016 but they will be weekly rather than daily. This means I will have more time to work on other ideas.
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