BEAUTY: Illustration--Samantha Russo

Illustrator Samantha Russo came to her art later in life, but it looks like she has the ease and imagination of a life-long master. I love these glimpses into her process with pages and pages of sketchbook patterns. Her freedom and fearlessness--not to mention her color palette--is inspiring.

She draws inspiration from these exercises to make her colorful art works. Originals and limited edition art prints are available for purchase at her site, linked below.

http://www.samantharussodesign.com/
https://www.instagram.com/blossomrising/

BEAUTY: Illustration--Stephanie Birdsong

Illustrator and artist Stephanie Birdsong creates a list of things to do every day, and luckily for us, painting is one of the things she does every day. She keeps a delightful daily sketchbook where she reveals her sometimes slyly humorous To Do list...

I also love her Black-Cat-a-Day series...

http://www.stephaniekbirdsong.com/
http://shoulda-woulda.blogspot.com/
https://www.behance.net/stephaniekbirdsong

The Ten Second Self-portrait

Try it: set the timer for ten seconds and sketch as fast as you can...

BY JEF

BEAUTY: Art--The Sketching Backpacker

I have been meaning to post about The Sketching Backpacker for quite a while now. I marvel at how this wildly talented young man, with only pens, pencils, watercolors, and a Moleskine notebook so deftly and artistically captures his impressions of the cities he visits. His sketches are so lovely and crafted, but I imagine that for someone with this talent, it is nearly as simple and quick as pushing the shutter on a camera, but with such infinitely more precious results. Creating a travel journal is such a participatory thing to do, and creates an instant and deeper relationship with the host city. What an incredible souvenir to create on a journey. Visit his blog linked at bottom to see more of his gorgeous portraits of places, cities, and monuments.

http://the-sketching-backpacker.tumblr.com/

What Richard Saw Today

Richard Haines is a marvelous artist. He sketches fashion--and by extension, people--for clothing companies and runway shows. I envy the talent he has to see a shape and capture it in a quick pencil stroke. I have done quick sketches of people and faces before and this inspires me to do it again. I would love to sit in a public place with a sketchbook and capture head shapes, face shapes, tilts of chins, arm placements, postures... I think I will do that soon...

Visit his blog "What I Saw Today" to see more of his gorgeous sketches.
http://designerman-whatisawtoday.blogspot.com/