Mastering Da Vinci’s Hatching Technique

Here’s Part 2 of my process for copying a Leonardo da Vinci drawing—this time focusing on hatching, where every line matters! Too much density, and the face changes entirely.

Copying a Master: Da Vinci Drawing Process

This is Part 1 of my process for copying a Leonardo da Vinci drawing! You’ll see planning, measuring, making mistakes, and correcting—because no copy is perfect, but the practice improves accuracy and trains the eye, hand, and brain.

Speed Draw: Shading Hands with Hatching

Hands are notoriously tricky to draw, so when I saw this beautiful hand positioning in Michele Bajona's drawing, I knew I had to try it! I've been working on hands and feet with a teen student, and this was a perfect challenge.

In this speed drawing, I fill in the shading on the right hand without a reference—just using anatomy knowledge and intuition. Did I get close? Watch and decide!

Speed Draw: Shading Hair with Graphite

Watch as I build value and texture in the hair on the right side of this portrait, keeping the graphite pencil strokes natural to capture the flow and volume of curls. The key? Direction, depth, and subtle shading!

Blending Large Areas with Prismacolor Pencils

This speed draw (filmed while teaching via Zoom—apologies for the camera quality!) shows how I blend large areas like the table using Prismacolor colored pencils. I also test out Brush and Pencil Brand Colored Pencil Powder Blender—not totally convinced yet, but still experimenting!

New This Year: Private Zoom Drawing Lessons!

I’m offering private Zoom lessons for couples, friends, or just YOU—because everyone deserves a creative break! You can even gather a group of singles for a fun, relaxed session.

Speed Draw: Shading Hair & Lips in Graphite

Here’s a Zoom recording of me shading the hair and lips on a 3/4 view female portrait using graphite pencil. Whether you're looking for relaxation or drawing tips, I hope you enjoy watching the process!

I typically use a 2B graphite pencil for shading portraits, and in this one, I was working with a Tombow Mono.

Drawing Tulips in Prismacolor Colored Pencils

Here’s an excerpt from a drawing session with a student, where we worked on tulip stems & leaves using Prismacolor Colored Pencils. This was recorded over Zoom (so the lighting/camera quality isn’t the best—thanks for understanding!).

Drawing Messy, Curly, Short Hair!

I’ve shared this one on Instagram before (Check it out here!), but now you can watch the full process as I create this fun, textured, curly short hair!

It was such a blast to draw—hope you enjoy watching it as much as I enjoyed creating it!

Check out how I use sighting and structural lines to create accurate proportions by hand for my portrait outlines.

Drawing Fabric Folds with Prismacolor Colored Pencils

Watch and learn how to draw realistic fabric folds using Prismacolor Colored Pencils! I’m using colors from the 150-set, which I highly recommend.

Here is an excerpt from a drawing session with a student, drawing BTS Taehyung's hand, freehand. I use the Sighting from a Photograph technique several times,

Hi all! I’m starting to share some speed drawings recorded during my Zoom lessons with one-on-one students over the past 15 months of Covid. Hope you enjoy watching and maybe pick up some new techniques along the way!

This one is a detailed portrait of President Abraham Lincoln—his face had so much character and texture, making it a great subject for portrait drawing!

A year or more ago I found the Erasable Podcast and their Facebook page which opened the door to obsessed PENCIL GEEKS LIKE ME! Thank goodness, because as a lone pencil geek, my students and people found me odd. But in this group, I have a mild interest in pencils and while I don't collect them, I use a heck of a lot of pencils day-to-day! So here was my first trade with a fellow pencil geek, and it definitely was fun enough to want to trade more!