Finally figuring out my portrait drawing technique

Horror novella editing, a charcoal portrait breakthrough, and thougts on serializing fiction.

Hi friend,

Happy September. 😌 How are you? Are you also getting back to a more regular routine after summer?

I'm settling into a weekly rythm of writing, drawing, and video production. Making slow but steady progress on the novella I mentioned last week. I wrote in that letter that I didn't think there would be as much editing and re-writing for this one, compared to my first one. Well... That turned out to be only partially true. I've finished editing the first half of the story, but the other half I'm completely re-plotting and re-writing. There's quite a bit of work left, and it seems the story might grow substantially. Possibly even into novel length. Which would be incredible, since I've never managed to write more than around 20 000 words for a novel before giving up. This manuscript already sits at 16 000 words, with plenty more story to write. So we'll see…

My writing app of choice: Scrivener

I'm working on a little writing vlog for my channel, where I show a bit of my writing process and routine. It feels weird, filming myself writing instead of painting. But it also feels exciting, because I want my channel to include both. I want it to be about art and storytelling, and about the creative life in general. My focus will likely keep shifting between writing and painting, and it's only right that my videos should reflect that. Getting to talk about writing have also opened up so many more topics and ideas for me. I feel a lot more inspired to make videos again. 😊

And charcoal drawing is positively addictive right now. I think I've reached a kind of breakthrough in my practice where I'm beginning to find my personal style and technique. It took me a lot of frustration to get there though. For many weeks now, I've been wanting to draw portraits in charcoal, but I've hated the results and hated the process of it. It's just felt...awkward and uncomfortable. But then I experimented with using Pan Pastel more…

I prefer my portrait models bearded and pouty. 😌

Pan Pastel is a form of soft pastel in compressed powder form, and you apply it with your fingers, sponges, or these palette knives that have little sponge-y tips. Even though it's not technically charcoal, it looks and functions much the same way, and many artists use it together with charcoal. I talk about it a little bit in my video Everything I know about charcoal in one video. And in this week's video, I'm demostrating how I use it for portrait drawing in particular.

Starting my drawings off with Pan Pastel and the palette knife works so much better for me than using vine charcoal. I can draw the basic shapes and proportions, erasing if I need to, while keeping my hands and the paper less smudgy and messy. I lay in the groundwork shadows and midtones with the pastel, and then use charcoal pencil for the detail work and the darkest darks. It's the perfect combination. I love having a clear process to rely on, and I love how these portraits turn out. The contrast between the softness of the pastel and the sharpness of the pencil lines. It's starting to feel like "my style".

Or…just pouty. 🤗

I can't wait for tomorrow, when I get to draw charcoal portraits all day. I'm going to try out the new set of Pan Pastel palette knives I received a few days ago, with different-shaped tips. And I'm going to film for my next charcoal-themed Skillshare class.

On Sunday, we're off to vote in our national election. And then I'm going to visit my mom for a couple days.

I hope you are well, and that your weekend will be nourishing and relaxing.

With love,

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New video: I LOVE this tool for portrait drawing

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Reading:

10 Reasons Why I'm Publishing My Next Book on Substack, by Ted Goia:

10 Reasons Why I'm Publishing My Next Book on Substack

I find it fascinating how many authors, both new and established, are serializing their fiction on Substack. I've been toying with idea for the future but I don't know if it's for me. At least not the "publish as you write" model. That triggers a kind of PTSD for me from all my years working as a freelance copywriter and trying to be creative while my clients were hanging out in the same Google Doc, watching, judging, commenting… 🙈

No, I need to keep the whole thing to myself until it's done. Of course, some authors finish the thing completely and then serialize it. But that seems like an unnecessarily slow and expensive way to consume fiction, from the perspective of a reader. If I would pay for a serialized novel, it would be more to support the author and maybe get some extras and behind-the-scenes along the way, not because I would enjoy the reading experience.

What are your thoughts on this? Would you ever pay a small monthly fee for a serialized story, or are you the binge reading type like me? 😌

Speaking of binge reading, I've been doing a bit of that.

Finished The Troop by Nick Cutter yesterday, which was...pretty good. It's a gory, creepy horror novel about a boy scout troop encountering a mutated parasite on an island. It was a bit too lengthy for me, for this type of story. But I was thoroughly impressed by Nick's vocabulary. He really can describe things in excruciating detail... 😅

I've also just started The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling.) The 6th installment in the Cormoran Strike series of detective novels. I've seen some people complain about it being 1200+ words long, but that suits me perfectly. I devoured the previous books in the series and have waited a long time for this one. The longer it lasts, the better!

Watching:

Lots of charcoal portrait stuff right now, getting inspired by different artists and their techniques. My top three favorites are:

Jeff Haines:

Zin Lim:

And Nathan Fowkes:

Listening:

Mostly the playlist for my novella, Ghost of the Mountain, which is a work in progress. (Both the story and the playlist.) Is it spoiler-y to share the playlist before the story's published? Nah, I don't think so. Think of it as a teaser. 😊

(A YouTube Music version will be coming soon as well...)

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