How to Draw Angels?
Angels Come with Wings
None of my angels are perfect and sometimes I can’t get them even tolerably right, no matter how long I spend tweaking the lines. But angels come with wings, and that's the main thing to remember. Most of the time, no wings, no angel. Even though in real life most angels appear disguised as friends... but technically speaking, you need some wings.
Inspiration
I look for inspiration in old Christmas cards, in children’s books, mail catalogs, newspaper clippings... Fitting imaginary wings to ordinary pictures is a technique that I find very useful, and it seldom fails. (If you get desperate enough, you can fit wings even to an old shoe box.)
Don’t Copy!
The most challenging thing is to make the angel your own work and not a copy of someone else’s picture. The patterns that I’m most happy with have gone through numerous phases, transformations and tweakings. The trick is to dump the original trigger very early on and then base the work totally on your own sketches. Often what remains of the original source of inspiration is only the posture of the hands or the body, or just the idea. Let me stress the point: you don’t want a copy of anyone else’s picture, you want something that looks like you. And it’s not only about the fear of infringing on someone’s copyright, it’s about feeling proud and right about your own work.
Who Wants a Perfect Angel, Anyway?
Perfection sucks.
Keep on Drawing
When you draw lots and lots and lots, the going gets easier and you notice you no longer need a picture to start with. That’s when your angels start showing their own mood and temper...
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I’m going to post some more tips on this page and perhaps some sketches ,too, to show you how my drawings evolve. So stay tuned!
Casa Caramellia
“a house full of goodies…”
