❤️ My Love letter to drawing (and to you!)
#67 story behind “The Secret of the Dragonflies”
Bonjour my little demon,
Welcome to the edition #67 of The Art Missive. We are now 12,170 😈 in this newsletter! Whether you've been here from the start or just arrived, thank you so much for reading ❤.
✨NEW TUTORIAL UNLOCKED✨
To celebrate your dedication to The Art Missive, I'm inviting you to an exclusive 40-minute portrait tutorial. In this in-depth video, I share the learning plan I'd use to master portrait drawing from scratch. Creating stylized portraits was a challenging journey for me, so I've condensed my experience to make your path a magical adventure. Focus on improving and creating fantastical characters with just a pencil and paper.
👇Click the button below to unlock the masterclass 👇
In this Missive:
1/ Intro.
2/ Drawing French folklore.
3/ A Love story.
4/ What made it so hard.
5/ Unlock your superpowers.
1/ Intro.
It's a Wednesday afternoon, and I'm basking in the sun in a stunning garden. Yesterday, I traveled across France to reach a rented house where I plan to rejuvenate over the next few days.
The fruity scent of flowers, the dance of bees buzzing around, and the gentle sun kissing my skin awaken my senses.
I want to capture this magic of the French countryside.
Of course, I didn't bring my paints and easel on vacation, but I do have my trusty sketchbook and precious pencils. It’s been months since I’ve truly drawn, and these few days of vacation are the perfect opportunity to return to my signature graphite portraits.
Welcome to edition #67 of The Art Missive, where I redraw for the first time in 4 months.
2/ Drawing French folklore.
During my stay in this green paradise, I remembered a legend from our folklore: in France, they say dragonflies are the guardians of fairies, flying around clearings and ponds to protect enchanted places. That’s how I got the idea for my drawing:
The Secret of the Dragonflies.
What if the dragonflies were protecting a well-kept secret: their precious Queen, secluded and guarded, who was responsible for maintaining the balance of the forest’s ecosystems?
After a few hours of researching references and sketching thumbnails, I picked up my pencils and began to draw. And in the midst of my drawing process, the revelation struck me.
3/ A love story.
While I was drawing, something magical happened.
The scent of graphite filled the air, and the vibrations of the lead against the smooth paper guided my every stroke. It was like a dance, a rhythmic flow of dynamic lines and shading. Everything felt just right.
After 4 months without drawing, I realized that graphite has always been my first love.
But this love story hasn't been without its struggles. For over 3 years, I faced many challenges before reaching the "Léa and her pencils lived happily ever after" moment.
4/ What made it so hard.
When I first embarked on my portrait journey, I was filled with excitement and determination. Little did I know, the path ahead would be riddled with obstacles and frustrations, with endless detours along the way.
YouTube tutorials, Domestika courses, the Loomis method, complex anatomy programs—I spent 3 years struggling on my own to learn what was needed.
Hours of trial and error.
Days when I wanted to give up.
Moments when I didn't even know what or how to improve.
Years of feeling alone, looking up to my favorite artists, and not understanding what made their portraits so mesmerizing or how to achieve that level.
I fell behind because I had no experience, no special talent for drawing, and most importantly, no one to guide me on my learning journey.
In the end, it took me 3 years to be able to draw a portrait like the Secret of Dragonflies, when with a straightforward method, it could have taken just 3 months.
5/ Unlock new superpowers.
After a few days of vacation and drawing, I'm excited to share The Secret of the Dragonflies, a graphite piece inspired by the French countryside. ✨ As I reflected on this drawing, I realized that drawing has given me a superpower: the ability to create a whole new world. My world.
So, I felt an irresistible urge to share this superpower with those of you who, like me, feel limited by a monotonous life.
Who, like me, want to create something meaningful.
Who dream of accomplishing great things and touching people's hearts.
Because that’s the magic of drawing.
To acquire this superpower, you'll need to work hard. But I can at least guide you so you can achieve in 3 months what took me 3 years.
That's why I've created an in-depth video where I walk you through a step-by-step plan to draw the portraits of your dreams (or your nightmares 🔥🔥). All you need is a pencil and some paper.
Just click below to watch your masterclass 👇
Voilà, that’s all for me.
Keep creating and see you next week! 😈
Léa