Reference Archives

Exploring Shadows and Highlights in a Side View Portrait

Side view sketch drawing by Ralph Contreras

Quick Sketch with a Focus on Light and Dark

Here’s my latest sketchbook entry. I decided to draw a side-view portrait. I found a photo of Zoe Saldaña in her iconic Gamora makeup as my reference, although I didn’t focus too much on capturing her likeness or the details of the character. Instead, I wanted to experiment with shadows and highlights, emphasizing the play of light on the subject matter.

For this sketch, I took a different approach by incorporating more dark shading than I typically do. I’ve had success with using shadows in some of my recent drawings. So I wanted to create go deeper and bring out the contrast between the light and dark areas. It was a quick drawing session, lasting about 5 minutes, I used a 0.7 HB Pentel mechanical pencil for the drawing.

Although the resemblance to Zoe Saldaña or Gamora may not be immediately recognizable, I’m very happy with how the overall sketch drawing turned out. It served as a valuable exercise in exploring different shading techniques and capturing the subject with shadows.

Leap into Creativity: Sketching the Energy of a Jumping Pose

*Drawing set up of Ralph Contreras’s drawing table*

Embracing Dynamic Movement: A Sketch Inspired by Pinterest

Here is another full-body sketch from a reference I found on Pinterest. I really wanted to draw something with a lot of movement. And I found this fun photo of a dude jumping in the air. He shows a lot of emotion on his face too. His arms, legs, and back are bent backward. It’s a very dynamic pose and I really enjoyed drawing it.

I put the image in my Amazon Fire Tablet and placed the reference on a shelf I made for my drawing table. I tried to use a lot of shadows in this illustration. In the drawing, I elongated the figure a little. It’s not a perfect rendition of the reference image. But that’s ok, it was a fun exercise in drawing the figure. I drew this sketch with a 0.7 Pentel HB mechanical pencil and ad a good time with it.

Finding Inspiration on Pinterest: Drawing a Cool Swordswoman Pose

Drawing set up of Ralph Contreras’s drawing table

Embracing Imperfection: The Beauty of Quick Renditions in My Art

For last night’s sketching session, I searched on Pinterest for something to draw. I found this cool swordswoman pose on Pinterest. Pinterest has proven to be a treasure trove of great reference photos and inspiration to me these past few years. It offers a bunch of resources and references for artists like myself.

The original photo was taken by Jessica Truscott, AKA as faestock. I pulled up the image on my Amazon Fire tablet and set it up on a makeshift stand I made for my drawing table. The photo was the perfect reference for costume and pose, providing me with a foundation to work from.

Instead of trying to draw a perfect replica, I approached the sketch as a quicker rendition. My sketchbook has been focusing on faces, but this time I wanted to challenge myself by drawing the whole figure. I drew this sketch with a 0.7 Pentel HB mechanical pencil. I’m really happy with the way it came out.