My name is Ashley and I am a 19 year old amateur artist. For me drawing is 30% talent and 70% practice, with lots of trial and error. I can't take credit for the talent part because I inherited it from my parents, who are both also naturally blessed with artistic abilities. My mother in particular is an avid self-taught artist, and I caught the passion for art from her at an early age.
My absolute favorite medium is pencil drawing, and almost all of the art you are likely to see on this blog now and in the future will be pencil drawings. I love the look of charcoal drawings as well but currently seldom use it myself, because I find it more difficult to work with (it is very messy).
I have never taken a drawing class. I have learned some techniques from my mom, some from reading art books, some from looking at other people's art, and a lot from practicing drawing myself. Trial and error is the best learning tool, because it quickly shows you what will and will not work.
Drawing has always been a fun hobby for me, and I have recently decided to share it with other people. The two main ways I do this are through this blog and through DeviantArt. If you have not yet visited http://www.deviantart.com/ I recommend doing it as soon as possible! You can view other people's artwork, and if you are an artist yourself (of any medium and skill level) you can become a member of the site (for free). I recently did this and it is great because I get an account to post my work on the site, and other artists can view it and give me feedback. I find this especially helpful as an amateur artist. My code name on DeviantArt is HarmonyInContrast. Follow this link if you would like to view my profile (and gallery) on DeviantArt: http://harmonyincontrast.deviantart.com/
This blog was created July 2010. Enjoy!
P.S: If you have any questions about my art or pencil drawing in general, please leave them in any one of the comment boxes (below my posts), and I will do my best to answer them.
