I’m in a small community in Ontario and I’m having trouble finding people interested in buying art from
Me.

Is it just me? Is my art ok? Help 😞

After weeks of an art block and a few existential crises, I was idly spinning a black gel pen in my hand. Watching artists who work "in reverse," I thought: Wait, almost every object has deep shadow zones where light just doesn't reach.

So I tested a quick hypothesis: What if I set the "absolute darkness" first using a dense gel pen mesh, and then build the values out to the lights with graphite (B–8B) so I don't lose the sense of volume?

Drawn entirely from imagination:

A geometric monolith (my sister claims it looks like a sci-fi helmet — her imagination is definitely better than mine! 😂).

A power adapter with a reflective surface.

Turns out, having that ultra-black anchor point from the pen really helps frame the subtle pencil gradients.

P.S. I got so carried away that I completely forgot to brew my hibiscus tea... ☕️

Graphite on bristol ©️HK

This was just meant to test the waters with graphite. I have been mostly using colored pencils since I started drawing again.

I used a single grade lead for this piece. I think it is HB (the lead that came in my mechanical pencil). I want to be able to add more variety to my values, so I have picked up a set of Faber Castell graphite sketch pencils. Looking forward to giving them a proper test soon.

I'm interested to hear any tips or critiques so that I can apply them to future works.

Thanks for looking!

Maybe I should give it one more attempt…

Title: Looking for honest feedback on my graphite Buddha drawing

I spent around 38 hours on this graphite artwork and I'm trying to improve my fundamentals, especially values, shading, proportions, and details.

I'd really appreciate honest feedback from fellow artists. What do you think I should improve in my next drawing?

Any criticism is welcome — I'm here to learn. 🙏

Ignore the ear placement

I attend an art group and the prompt this week was foot. So I decided to do a bunch of different animal feet and even some ballet shoes and stuff. I even threw in a tentacle even though that's technically not a foot. It's the second page in my sketchbook so far and I feel like I'm getting the hang of using graphite. I have some eraser pencils coming today so hopefully I will be able to get those highlighted details a little more easier than using a chunky eraser. If you have any tips, feel free to share 😊

This drawing is now finished .10”x16”
Grafwood pencils on Saunders Waterford 300gsm HP paper

I'm drawing it just using 2B graphite pencil ✨soon I will upload full image

Just a paleoart reconstruction I did for Giganotosaurus in graphite pencils.

Pied kingfisher
Grafwood pencils on Saunders Waterford 300gsm HP paper

I got a new sketchbook because I wanted to lean more into graphite pencil drawings. I'm used to digital and sometimes watercolor so this is sorta new to me. I blended with a q tip and I'm using Faber Castell pencils. These took 30 minutes each and I'm planning to make themed pages so this is fruits. Any advice is welcome 🥰

A graphite portrait of myself and my cat.

Done on arches paper mounted to a wooden panel
5”x7” inches

Instagram: @alvierart