How I Start a Drawing Tutorial
My drawings are very random. I don’t really have a plan when I go into them. I don’t plan the colors and I usually don’t have any idea of what I’m going for except is it abstract or is it going to be a face? I do have a process for nearly every drawing I do though. Here is that process.
I first pencil in the drawing.
This first pencil outline will probably change a bit when I do the sharpie outline. But, at least I have a way to lay down a rough outline of my subject. This is the raw creation of a composition.

Second, I ink the drawing.
I use a plain sharpie to ink the drawing and lay down a concrete plan for the drawing. I then erase all the pencil lines that did not make it to the final drawing. This makes a great page that is begging to be painted. How can you resist that stark black and white watercolor paper.

Lastly, I paint watercolors.
I use Koi watercolor paint to give color to the drawing. I have a swatch guide hanging on my wall so I know what is which color when I am painting. You can’t tell just by looking at them. Then once things start to dry I begin doing zentangle patterns over the watercolor. I watercolor and zentangle until it feels complete.
The colors on this image are a little saturated. I’ll include a close-up that better shows the colors.


Finished party god with macaroni and cheese.

This a drawing from the same week.