WIWT 2022 | 01

While I don't strictly set any New Year's resolutions, one of my goals for 2022 is to draw more. That's an odd goal for a proffessional illustrator but one of the weird quirks of the game is that drawing very much becomes work and work is something that's easy to put off. And I'm very good at putting things off.

I'd like to change that. Drawing more ONLY leads to good things.

This is a drawing of what I'm wearing today. I do these WIWT drawings from time-to-time after finding Gemma Correll's brillso WIWT Flickr group many moons ago.

WIWT: Glasgow International / iPad Pro Edition

The launch of the new, smaller, iPad Pro coincided closely enough with some money burning a hole in my pocket that I had all the excuses I needed to pick one up. I've been long considering a portable setup for digital drawing and, compared to a laptop + small Wacom, the Baby Pro + Apple Pencil was a no-brainer.

While I've not used the Pencil enough to have it sussed, I'm definitely impressed. The drawings I've made on the iPad Pro feel like my drawings and I've already been able to send roughs over to a client that were created entirely on the device.

This quick wee WIWT drawing was made in Pixelmator, one of the many iOS image editors that support the Pencil. It's a good app. One thing that I didn't expect when I picked up the Pro is the potential for working cross-platform. Pixelmator can ping images straight into Dropbox as PSDs, meaning you can open up (layered!) drawings in Photoshop on your Mac. That's incredibly useful.

Anyway, WIWT drawings (What I Wore Today) are a thing I do from time to time. Here's what I wore when I set out to visit some Glasgow International preview shows. The descriptions may-or-may-not be retrospective rubbish about things I was already wearing (and wear most every day).

Also worth mentioning: this post was written, formatted and posted using iOS too. I still prefer to work on a computer, but these wee machines are definitely becoming more useful to the way I work.

What I Wore Today (in 1996)

A wee WIWT drawing from my sketchbook.

I was 13 in 1996. This meant I was too young for Britpop and too old for the Spice Girls. I didn't like football either. I was a dork. And, like any good dork in the mid-90s, I got swept up in the big rollerblading boom and dressed the part for 4 years.

Though it's not a period I'm particularly proud of, I'm happy to have grown out of my awkward phase before nu metal came along and really stank up the place.

What I Wore Today: Skateboarding

If you don't know, What I Wore Today (drawings only) is a Flickr group started by Gemma Correll that encourages people to regularly draw self-portraits wearing, well, whatever you're wearing. It results in a nice mixture of both drawing and fashion styles.

My outfit choices are worryingly repetitive so I usually try to add a wee activity in there too. This drawing is from a few days ago on a visit to my parent's house - it was the first time it had been dry enough to go to the skatepark in 6 months. I grabbed my board and nipped round for a wheech about. I was a wobbly old man. My legs are still sore.

Also, I've recently started a What I Wore Today section on my site where I'll try to archive all of these daft things.

What I Wore Today 2

This is my second What I Wore Today drawing for this blog. If you don't understand, there is a Flickr group here started by the illustrator Gemma Correll that accepts open submissions of self-portraits depicting the clothes you're currently wearing. I have been posting up my artwork there for quite a while now and I find it provides a perfect little mini-project for those times I'm suffering from block or simply just want to make something. Go have a look, there's some amazing stuff from more serious fashion illustration to more dorky, humorous stuff.

I just battered this illustration together quickly. It's not great, but it's better than nothing and, quite frankly, I did it just as an excuse to draw. I need practise. I need practise drawing and I need practise writing (I would like to be a really good writer). You don't get out of a lull by sitting about watching telly and you don't make better art by not making any art. Putting together a self-portrait gets you into a kinda reflective mode and it almost seems like it might be appropriate to accompany such drawings with a personal, diary-like post but I'm not sure if that's a good idea.

Ah, I dunno. Maybe it is a good idea. Maybe every time I draw myself, I'll write a little something about my life. Hell, I could make it up if it feels too personal or honest. Righto David. Starting now, with this picture and these words, I'm gonna go into autobiography mode with my What I Wore Today drawings and this decision, while not exactly soul-searching, is plenty for this evening.

What I Wore Today 1

Recently I've put on a little weight, got myself all unfit and lost my enthusiasm for drawing due to doubting my abilities. I'm at a low, you could say.

This doubt is further exasperated by the fact that, after my unplanned break from drawing, I'm rusty. Drawing rusty is frustrating. It makes you hate drawing. A classic vicious catch-22.

So, after recieving a new sketchbook for my birthday, I've decided to give it another go. To draw just for the sake of it. To forget the mistakes and concentrate on the process. I have tried this before, and failed, so I dunno if it will work. I hope it will.

This drawing is for the brilliant Flickr group, What I Wore Today (in drawings) started by the fantastic illustrator, Gemma Correll. I have done better, I have done worse.

What I Wore Today In Video

I've been playing with my camcorder a lot recently, more for fun than anything else. Well, that's my excuse for being rubbish anyway. I kinda feel like there is a goal to aim for with this video stuff, but I guess there isn't really. Will I be a director one day? Will I make a documentary or conquer Hollywood? Nah.

Anyway, the above clip is the most recent thing I've mucked about with. A real-life version of my What I Wore Today drawings. The goal was to work out how to get images to show over the top of video and, hey, I managed it. My initial intention was to produce quite an elaborate little movie about what I was wearing but once I started, that went right out the window. If I don't delete this after a week (it's quite a weird, invasive thing to put online), I might have another go. It already makes me cringe but I feel a little better when I remind myself that I'm just a beginner.

Apart from that, in the past wee while I have added a dumb trailer for a skateboard film I'm making with my friends (this is almost exclusively for our own amusement, pretty much nobody else will find it funny or in any way impressive), a stupid clip of us sliding on a wall and a video showing the mess Alex leaves when she makes a birthday cake. If you want to follow my progress in the world of moving pictures you can view and subscribe to my YouTube channel here.

Hmm.

EDIT: I should also mention that the idea for this video and all my What I Wore Today drawings came from this wonderful Flickr group started by Gemma Correll (of doing amazing drawings fame). Also, the song is 'Food and Pussy' by Dan Reeder from his self-titled album. Check out Work Song when the Man is getting you down.