Exploring Art and Creativity: My Journey with Coloured Pencils

Hi there,

I’m Melissa and I love to draw.

I’ve created a blog to share my artwork, creativity as well as snippets of my life along the way.

I’ve been drawing since I was young and it’s something that I’ve never parted with. Each sketch I created was an opportunity to better my skill and prove to myself that one day instead of shying my art work away, I could share it and be proud of it.

So here I am, working away with the intention of sharing my pieces, the lessons I’ve learnt, challenges I’ve faced and the small victories along the way.

Grey lead was the pencil I used the most as a kid.

As much as I loved to draw I was never satisfied with the direction my art was going so I was continually drawing on and off.

In 2015 – 2016 I would see online and in magazines, drawings of realistic animals using coloured pencils and was blown away about how incredible they looked. With some artwork looking like photos, I thought if I would ever be able to re-create the same.

It was definitely a medium I wanted to try so decided to at least have a crack at it.

I struggled with the medium for quite a few years and frustration was more apparent than excitement.

To start, I would draw animated characters to understand and help me progress this new skill.

When I felt like I could expand my skill I started to draw animals to practice textures, layering and aimed to achieve the ‘realism’ affect.

I continued to practice and as each drawing progressed, I found that I was starting to create these coloured, realistic drawings that I saw in my mind’s eye.

Using coloured pencils gave me that depth and richness that I was looking for in my art. It allowed me to create something as realistic as possible.

Drawing wildlife then led me to drawing pet portraits and for a few years I was lucky enough to create some drawings of beloved pets.

These types of drawings led me to appreciate the smallest of details when creating art.

From creating the colours in the eyes, drawing every fur stroke and creating different textures, it was here that I was really learning to love colour pencils.

I personally love the challenge and excitement of taking something on creatively.  I’m always thinking of new projects to take on and this year plan to try a few new things, diving into some sewing and knitting (if I can find the time!) I’ll blog about these projects along the way.

If you’re an artist or another creative, someone who’s looking to pick up some inspiration, or happy to follow along for a read, I say thank you for being here.

Talk soon

Mel x

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