Jake Gyllenhall: oil pastels

My former housemate left behind a box of oil pastels when she moved out. I found them the other day and decided to try them out. My first attempt was amazingly bad, but then I youtubed it. You're meant to layer pastels! And blend them! Who would have thought?

I used coloured pencils to draw the eyes, because the pastels were quite chunky and it's hard doing fine detail with them. I had a look in an art store today for pastel pencils (as seen on youtube) but they were about $30 for a dozen so I passed on those. The whole box of oil pastels only cost $3.50! I'm not going to bother buying expensive art supplies until my skill level can justify it

(An aside: I drew this from a picture in a magazine. I'm terrible at recognising celebrities, and thought it was Ewan McGregor until I read the article.)

My boyfriend described this one as "ok, but he looks melty". My dad told me it looked like he had a black eye.

(16 January 2011)