iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Helen Birch - drawdrawdraw @drawdrawdraw.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

#inktober2026 12 Toss Tossed down keys. One of the everyday items @michaelnobbs.bsky.social encourages you to draw in his book 'Drawing Your Life'. #keys #drawingyourlife #felttip #blackpen #drawing #felttip #drawingbook

The open pages of an interactive book - an invitation to 'DRAW YOUR KEYS' printed bottom right, the author's drawing bottom left. My keys x2 tossed just above the printed info. Main page on both sides - drawings of the 2 bunches of keys - black pen outline, marker pen colour.

The cover of Michael Nobbs' book 'Drawing Your life' - hand drawn text plus a pair of hands drawing a teapot - all in same thick black outline filled with solid, flat colour.

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Helen Birch - drawdrawdraw @drawdrawdraw.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

#inktober2026 10 Mystical Otherworldly, mystical unicorns and other creatures from medieval manuscripts. Drawn with a glass pen and coloured inks. A class I taught @artistinresidence.co #artclass #glasspen #creatures #digitalcollage #ink #unicorn #drawing #medieval

Drawings of various creatures on a pale yellow watercolour stained/textured background. On the right a seated woman holding a mirror in which a unicorn paying her homage is reflected. Another unicorn enters the frame on the far right. Jousting knights fight in the top right hand corner. A griffin sits by the woman and a hybrid of man and tailed beast blows upon a musical instrument bottom left.

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Helen Birch - drawdrawdraw @drawdrawdraw.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

#inktober2026 9 Ram There'a a ram in there somewhere! A class I taught @sketchbookskool.bsky.social about constructing your own chimera - a mythical or fictional creature with parts taken from various animals. #artclass #chimera #creatures #collage #acrylicpen #acrylicink #blackink #drawing

A table top covered with collaged and drawn elements of various animals from public domain sources. Tracing, cutting and collage have been used to create 'mash up' ideas for new creatures. The ram / bird hybrid collage has been drawn up with acrylic ink pens on brown paper. Other collage creatures include lion snakes and a horse bird (Pegasus like),

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Helen Birch - drawdrawdraw @drawdrawdraw.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

#inktober2026 6 Ogre🧌 Suggestions for alternative 'monsters' - medieval creatures, and Yōkai - a diverse class of supernatural spirits, monsters, and demons in Japanese folklore. A class I gave @sketchbookskool.bsky.social #artclass #monster #creatures #feltpen #highlighter #acrylicink #drawing

A drawing made with pastel coloured office highlighter pens of the head of a large eyed creature with tentacle like mouth. Loose scribbly mark making.

Several open sketchbooks, some white other tan / kraft / brown paper. Various creatures shown - yellow haired with pink halo eyes, demi man / sea creatures - head and shoulders; studies of creatures from Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights. All in pastel colours. Various ink pens and some coloured pencils shown alongside drawings.

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Helen Birch - drawdrawdraw @drawdrawdraw.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

#inktober2026 5 Smack A "smacker" is British slang for a loud, enthusiastic kiss. Liking the heart in the negative space. #acrylicink #kiss #negativeapce #heart

A half tone photo of a couple kissing. Definition unclear. Space beneath their chins and background filled with brushed in muted pink ink. A heart beneath their kissing lips is revealed.

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Helen Birch - drawdrawdraw @drawdrawdraw.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

#inktober2026 4 Cactus Small, potted houseplant rotated and drawn with four different dip pens and inks. #ink #dippen #bamboopen #cactus #houseplant #drawing #botanical

Four drawings of same potted cactus - top left olive ink over green-brown wash, top right emerald green ink, bottom left bamboo dip pen and dark brown ink, bottom right fine dip pen with black ink. Light pencil drawing signifies part of the plant's pot.

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Helen Birch - drawdrawdraw @drawdrawdraw.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

#inktober2026 3 Miniature Small spices made big. Some amazing shapes and textures to see when you get up close. Various ink pens over random #watercolour splashes and a #gelprint. #blackink #ink #biro #brushpen #Sharpie #fineliner #felttip #dippen #winsorandnewton #seeds #spices #botanical #food

A collection of drawings of culinary spices: a cardamom pod, nutmeg whole and halved, several peppercorns, a clove, a coriander seed, and some cumin seeds. The black ink work of each is over random splashes of watercolour on paper and from a gel print, in tones orange, brown and pink. The various pens used displayed next to drawings.

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Helen Birch - drawdrawdraw @drawdrawdraw.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

#inktober2026 2 Relic If a relic can be 'an object, tradition, or physical remain from the past that survives into the present' I'm including these nostalgic objects. The hand whisk still in use. #blackink #ink #temperastick #brushpen #Sharpie #woodypencil

In the centre 4 drawings - of a UK dial up red telephone, a yellow typewriter, a hand whisk with white handle and a 2 cassette tapes. The objects are semi shown in the margins each side.

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Helen Birch - drawdrawdraw @drawdrawdraw.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

#inktober2026 1 Apple Two apples plus incoming Autumn wasp - ink with Sailor Fude pen, plus tempera paint stick & watercolour #carbonink #ink #temperastick #apples #wasp #insect #Autumn

Two mostly red apples, some touches of green, sitting next to each other. Outlines drawn with black ink and broad nib. Colour put down with chunky tempera paint sticks - it goes outside the lines. Top right an incoming wasp. It's already made a hole in the apple on the that side.

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Helen Birch - drawdrawdraw @drawdrawdraw.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Ink pen drawing of falling to bits sunflower head on gel printed ‘ghost’ discard. #sunflower #botanicalart #inkpen #blackink #gelprint An art session with @beckmckim.bsky.social

On the right a large, dry, gone to seed sunflower head, petals brown, clumps of seed missing or falling out. On the left a black, carbon ink pen drawing of the same on yellow ochre gel printed paper with white ripped paper stencil shapes and brayer texture.
Drawing matched to these chance shapes and colour shifts.

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Helen Birch - drawdrawdraw @drawdrawdraw.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

The Autumn Equinox prompted a class @artistinresidence.co combining folk art, cuckoo clocks & Eastern European harvest festival costume. This drawing series will be part of the monthly artist trading card swap there #onlineartclass #arttutor #drawing #ATC #artisttradingcards #paintpen #ink #gouache

6 x artist trading cards - 2 rows of 3. All are drawn using portrait format.
Each row has 2 folk art figures and 1 cuckoo clock. They are drawn with bright, flat colour - the result of acrylic paint pens, some gouache, tied together with black ink line. The figures are dressed in various stylised Eastern European costume - one riding a creature that might be a cow, goat or horse!

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Helen Birch - drawdrawdraw @drawdrawdraw.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

1 Lichen #SciArtSeptember2026 Very much heightened colours! Media: acrylic pen on gel print plus black carbon ink line work. #botanicalart #lichen #gelprint #collage #acrylicpen #ink

A lichen covered twig drawn diagonally lower left corner to top right corner on brown paper. Very little of substrate visible. Blues, ochre, greens, white used to draw lichen, background filled with green acrylic pen. Black lines pull things together.

Jaggedly cut piece of gel printed paper with drawing of vertical twig towards the left. The background print is a mixture of pink & green. The lichen covered twig is comprised of small areas of turquoise, lime green, orange, pale blue. Black ink used to add linear detail.

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Helen Birch - drawdrawdraw @drawdrawdraw.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

The #avianaugust challenge has influenced the monthly #artisttradingcards swap I do @artistinresidence.co These'll be winging their way UK --> Pacific NW this week 🐦 Can't wait to see what I get in exchange. Such a nice mini project to do. #pigeons #sciart #atc #exchange #art #birdart

Drawings of pigeons on artist trading cards. 4 feature urban pigeons doing their thing, 2 are the head and shoulders of domesticated show birds.
Media: acrylic pens, water based markers and black pen on card.
Colours are flat and bright.

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Helen Birch - drawdrawdraw @drawdrawdraw.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Led a class drawing pigeons @artistinresidence.co - common & bred/show versions. Worth looking at these overlooked urban birds. Reminder to self - to share my #avianaugust2026 birds 🐦 #drawing #pigeons #artclass #birddrawing #arttutor #sciart

A collection of pigeon drawings: three from A5 sized sketchbook pages, two on artist trading cards. Materials used: water soluble markers and acrylic pens. The latter have colour blocked in backgrounds.
Four of the pigeons are predominantly grey toned with a green / purple sheen on their necks. One of this collection has been bred in to an elongated form - long neck and legs (a Maltese Blue Bar pigeon).
One drawing shows a ruffed pigeon, with large breast. Its feathers are brown, pink with a little grey.

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Helen Birch - drawdrawdraw @drawdrawdraw.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Picking out details from paintings using same limited colour palette for all. A class I gave @artistinresidence.co A reminder to use photos you've taken when visiting art galleries. Don't let them sit forgotten on your phone. #colouredpencil #detail #onlineartclass #limitedcolour #drawing

Three coloured pencil studies drawings placed vertically. At the top a seashell - after Victorian painter William Etty; in the middle a Tudor jewel against rich fabric - a detail from a portrait of Queen Mary I; lastly, an eye - a study from one of painter Jenny Saville's large works.
The eight pencils used for all placed on the right - colours including a dark blue, pinks, red and yellow, and a brown

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Helen Birch - drawdrawdraw @drawdrawdraw.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Another fishy drawing. It's been that kind of morning doing art stuff with @beckmckim.bsky.social #fish #drawing #ink #colouredpencil

At the top a supermarket packaged Yorkshire Rainbow Trout - a cardboard tray with plastic over the top and a price label top right.
Below it a grey, pink and green ink line drawing.

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Helen Birch - drawdrawdraw @drawdrawdraw.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

This morning I'm drawing prawns with stick and ink.. plus a little coloured pencil. #drawing #observationaldrawing #prawn #ink #colouredpencil

A raw, blue prawn on a plate next to a sketchbook with drawings of each side of the creature. The media used - sticks, ink and coloured pencil laid above.

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Helen Birch - drawdrawdraw @drawdrawdraw.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Multiple views of a seashell. Method - plasticine squished around shell, 'cast' taken, mould flattened, inked up, shell impression printed. Drawings made suggested by printed shell form. A monthly artist trading card swap @artistinresidence.co #artisttradingcard #ATCs #swap #print #ink #acrylicpen

A shell & art materials laid out next to a series of artist trading cards with shell drawings on them. Black ink drawn outline over acrylic pens - pink, peach, white, grey, brown and a plasticine printed background - which gives a mottled / grungy effect to the studies.

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Helen Birch - drawdrawdraw @drawdrawdraw.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

In this week's class @artistinresidence.co I used a viewfinder to demonstrate a simple way of revisiting and re-looking at ones own work. I decided to make 'blueprint' studies from my sketchbook drawings with blue pencils & dip pen + blue ink. #blue #drawing #onlineclass #viewfinder #ink #pencil

A sketchbook top left containing a series of rectangular blue drawings drawn with blue coloured pencils and dip pen plus two types of blue ink. These are shown next to it. To the right a selection of sketchbook drawings and mark making experiments, plus a viewfinder - used for the source and selection of there blue drawings.

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Helen Birch - drawdrawdraw @drawdrawdraw.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Coloured pencil drawing of a poster seen at National Portrait Gallery, London. Demo' from a session I gave at @artistinresidence.co - drawing from forgotten pics on our phones / photo rolls. #drawing #EltonJohn #colouredpencil #portrait

Coloured pencil head and shoulders drawing of a young Sir Elton John. He has short hair and is wearing large diamanté glasses with orange tinted glass.
The drawing is made up of mainly warm tones - yellow, orange, pink. His open shirt and jacket left as a line drawing.

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Helen Birch - drawdrawdraw @drawdrawdraw.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

A plate of strawberries and cherries i) drawn - tempera sticks & ink ii) collaged - gel printed paper #drawing #fruit #sketchbook #collage #tempera #ink #observational

At the top of a photo: a white ceramic plate patterned with coloured dots. Arranged on it are 5 strawberries and 5 cherries.
Below it are 2 renditions - on the left a drawing of the same in a sketchbook, on the right a collage on cream paper.

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Helen Birch - drawdrawdraw @drawdrawdraw.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Spent last week in the old fishing village/artists’ enclave of Staithes, North Yorkshire. One of my sketchbook studies from the harbour beach when the tide was out. #sketchbook #drawing #watercolour #ink #enpleinair #seaside #Staithes

An open sketchbook + Winsor & Newton pan watercolours and travel brush.
Watercolour over black ink drawing of coastal village, sea wall and beach with boats sitting on sand at low tide.

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Helen Birch - drawdrawdraw @drawdrawdraw.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Some of my burlesque drawings from this week's drag & draw session set up by @beckmckim.bsky.social Next session (Manchester, UK) - July 21 2026: www.sumupbookings.com/muse-life-dr... www.facebook.com/TheCarltonCl... #drag #burlesque #drawing #figuredrawing

Several charcoal pencil and carbon ink line drawings of a burlesque / drag performer.

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Helen Birch - drawdrawdraw @drawdrawdraw.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Last day of June already. Time to draw sunflowers in @beckmckim.bsky.social weekly art sessions. Tempera sticks, acrylic pen and carbon ink. #botanicaldrawing #sunflower #summer

Drawing of a sunflower in a landscape oriented sketchbook. Materials used shown next to it.

Drawing of the back of a sunflower in a sketchbook. Black ink over yellow and green tempera stick, and acrylic pen.

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Helen Birch - drawdrawdraw @drawdrawdraw.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

My demo drawings from ephemera class @artistinresidence.co Small made big. Woody pencils, chisel tipped markers, heavy coloured pencil didn't allow detail. Hot air balloon & slipper orchid from Brooke Bond Tea cards, 1921 Lithuanian postage stamp from an album purchased as a Vinted job lot.

Three coloured pencil, marker pen drawings, portrait format. On the left a study of the first hot air balloon made by the French Montgolfier brothers in 1783; in the middle a rare Lady's Slipper Orchid - both of these drawn from Brooke Bond Tea cards. On the right a red pencil drawing, on tan paper of a Lithuanian postage stamp. Chunky red lines done with a woody pencil.

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Helen Birch - drawdrawdraw @drawdrawdraw.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

A Hama bead self portrait. Prompted by an online class I gave @artistinresidence.co about US artist Chuck Close's 'pixellated' large scale portraits. A playful approach that helped illustrate the 'trust the process' of his huge grid paintings. #hama #hamabeads #portrait #selfportrait #grid #pixels

A head and shoulders portrait built using a grid. Multi coloured 'beads' - hollow plastic circles, positioned on a peg board.
Method: a photograph was posterised to help simplify the colours, a grid drawn on it, beads placed on the peg board corresponding to each square on the grid.

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Helen Birch - drawdrawdraw @drawdrawdraw.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

Did a May Day 'tag team' class @artistinresidence.co with @helenlp.bsky.social - my demo drawings: a Morris dancer, Green Man, and 1950s May Queen #drawing #teamteach #arttutor #markerpens #pen #pencil

Three drawn portraits in a row - a smiling, bearded Morris dancer on the left - his hat bedecked in flowers and leaves; in the middle a man costumed as the Green Man - green skin, leaf moustache, green foliage all around - both of these drawn with water based markers and black pen; on the right a 2B pencil drawing of a girl. She gazes directly at us, wearing a large, pale headdress.

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Helen Birch - drawdrawdraw @drawdrawdraw.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

My demo' attempts at drawing landscapes in the style of J E Yoakum - from the Inspiration class I deliver each week @artistinresidence.co A fascinating artist: youtu.be/Ng2rNm6Nwsg?... #drawing #arttutor #onlineartclass #colouredpencil #biro #ballpoint #landscape #outsiderart #inspiration

3 x landscape drawings. Top left mixed media on a gel print background - river between rocks; top right rocky landscape - black pen and coloured pencil on scan of old book cover. Coloured pencils and black pens used shown next to drawings.
Bottom row - photo of US mountain landscape next to drawing of same - all in style of J E Yoakum.

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Helen Birch - drawdrawdraw @drawdrawdraw.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

Went to a life drawing session at the weekend. Always find these challenging...but in a good way. #drawing #lifedrawing

Several examples of figure drawing from a 2hr session - the same model in an edited selection of 8 drawings. Mostly charcoal, charcoal pencil, mechanical pencil, black pen (fine liner and fude nib), plus, some pink ink applied loosely with a brush.

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Helen Birch - drawdrawdraw @drawdrawdraw.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

My demo' drawings from this week's live class (every Tuesday evening 7-8 GMT) @artistinresidence.co - drawing animals beginning with W & X - the timer was set at 5-7 mins per creature. Can you name the animals? #drawing #sciart #pendrawing #animaldrawing #artclass #arttutor

A group of 6 animals variously drawn using brown and grey uni pin pens, 2B pencil or a fountain pen with black ink.

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