Sketching with the dreaded white pen

I sketched this guy with my white pen onto the brown paper bag I'd stuck in my Moleskine. I was waiting to see the midwife today and I liked the idea of sketching this man because of his flat cap. He looked kind of out of place among the other people in the waiting room. Also, he was right opposite to me so I thought it would be a good opportunity to see how I would get on with sketching a face following on from my portraiture class the other day. Well, I was amazed! I started by drawing the hat and then when I began to draw the face I had absolutely none of the hesitation and nervousness about it that I used to have! One portraiture class and I have overcome my fear! I'm so pleased about that. And also (you'll have to take my word for this) the man on this page actually does look like the man I saw in the waiting room! Unbelievable!

Equipment: White Uniball Signo pen, brown paper bag stuck onto a page of Moleskine sketchbook. The lines have come up a bit fuzzy in the scanner.

IF 'Farewell' Continuous Line

Didn't think I'd get around to doing an illustration for Illustration Friday this week but I was practising portraits (again) and did one as a continuous line drawing and thought it would be nice to carry it on into an illustration. I started drawing this lady and thought she looked like she was leaving behind one adventure and travelling on to a new one.  On reflection I see I haven't made the seat on the Amtrak train anywhere near as wide as they really are...I must've been getting confused with our British trains! :)

I can't believe I embarked on drawing copious amount of windows on the buildings after that tower block drawing! These were more fun to draw though as they were drawn continuously so at least it was easy to keep them in line. Also, I don't like the person pulling the suitcase on the platform. It's a little bit distracting I think. I really enjoyed doing this especially the lady's hair. She is a bit messy around the jaw line as at that stage I was going to work up a bit of shadow but then gave up as I wanted to go and do the hair. This was done with just a Pitt pen. I did think about putting in a spot colour but not sure what part would be best to use it on.

Trying to get in some portraiture practice before next class

I know that the whole point of going to portraiture class should be to practise in class but I'm not sure whether to spend my 5 weeks on the course doing pencil drawings or attempt to also keep what I produce in class in line with my usual drawing style, or to also try and branch out and use some different materials. I found drawing in pencil a bit strange for me and am concerned that if I spend 5 weeks in class drawing in pencil when I try to sketch someone on a bus with a pen or try to do an illustration I'll just revert to my old habits (i.e. the habit of drawing weird stiff faces!) so I was thinking about using ink or watercolour in the next class. But as I'm new to portraiture I'm not sure how I will get on with the shading on the skin if I do this - I don't want to turn the model into a giraffe! On the other hand, the whole reason I've signed up to this class is to work on my accuracy and understanding of physiognomy, so maybe I should persist with the pencil as you can't rub out a big splodge of Indian ink! So I thought I would practise at home before next class with putting some colour on. But obviously I have to draw a face first. I never usually draw from photos and I'm not keen on working that way as I find I need to see something in it's 3D form to be able to draw it but Loxie isn't human so I went with drawing a lady and her baby from the front of the 'eating for breastfeeding' leaflet the midwife gave me. They looked nice and they are both in profile which is really what I struggle with most in portraiture.

My problem now is that, having spent ages drawing (I kept moving her chin in and out - I seem to always make chins stick out too far), I don't want to colour her in in case I mess up the drawing. So here she is scanned as just a pencil line drawing...

Equipment: B Pencil, Goldline 150gsm cartridge paper.

Super-hatched Cat

I didn't think I had the energy to draw today, but apparently I did! The permanent tiredness of my pregnancy makes me pray for days when I will feel I've been productive and achieved something with the day. Today was definitely a productive day.

I embarked on scouring the disgusting cupboard by my bathroom that I use for housing everything from hairspray to cat litter. I want to put my towels and the baby's bath stuff and nappies in there etc and there was no way it was fit for purpose. I don't think the previous owner of this flat ever cleaned anywhere! So I started washing away the thick literally black cobwebs...and ended up hammering out with a lot of brute force the bottom shelf and rebuilding the upper shelves. This is typical of me. I should've known cleaning would turn into full scale DIY! But it is so much more functional now and is sparkling clean. I obviously then had to deal with the fall out i.e. hoovering all the mess up and finding storage space for all the old pots of paint and sandpaper that were in there (I'm sure I could make art with them so I'm not binning them)!

By the time I'd done all this I was knackered - a reminder that I am in fact 34 weeks pregnant - and guessed today would be a write-off in terms of doing any art. But later I saw Loxie trying to lick the remnants of my dinner off my plate and she was in such a nice pose I grabbed my sketchbook and pen to sketch a 10 second line drawing of her...and that has turned into this hatching extravaganza!

Equipment: Pitt Pen 'S'. I also have just realised that my iffiness in clarity with a lot of things I scan might be to do with the fact that the scanner is by the window and I am always scanning in the daytime and light might be seeping in. I scanned this at night and it looks loads clearer..I think!

Accidental Cat Collage

I've almost finished this Moleskine sketchbook, well I have finished but there are a couple of pages in the middle that I'd made a bit of a mess on so, being the waste no want not type I wanted to recycle them. I stuck a bit of brown paper on one and as I did the opposite page, which had this quick little cat sketch on, fell out (I must've torn a page out at some point! Heaven forbid).  I hadn't thought much about this sketch at the time but I didn't want to lose it so I cut round it and stuck it on the paper bag page. Initially scribbled a white frame around it but my silver marker caught my eye so I went over the frame with that instead.

So there we have it, an impromptu aka accidental collage. Happy accidents!

Coconut Candle on Paper Bag Illustration (& EDM 312)

This was drawn purely in response to EDM #312 - 'Draw something very light'. I've woken up this morning and my back is killing me so I wanted to draw something to take my mind off it! I'd also been trying to find something in the kitchen draw this morning and had pulled out a stash of brown paper bags I've been hoarding so reckoned drawing with white pen on one would tie in nicely with this 'light' theme.

The candle was sitting on my table and it is definitely 'light'. It produces light, the packaging is light - it has a white label around a gold tin, but mainly I think it is light because the smell of the coconut makes me feel light. It makes me think of holidays and sunshine and purity and relaxing.  I love the smell of coconut more than any other smell. My baby's daddy always smells of coconut...which may be why he's my baby's daddy...!

This brand of candles are the best! I have another one called 'Powder Puff' and it smells just like powder. The smells are SO accurate to what they say they are and are really strong but are also subtle and natural, not overpowering. I guess I should credit them. They are made by Lily Flame and are made locally in Somerset. They are in a tin with a lid so I think once they're finished they would be good for water pots for painting, although I'm yet to reach the end of one, they last ages!

Equipment: Brown paper bag, Uniball Signo pen in White, Staedtler Triplus Fineliner in Brown.

Tower block at the end of my road (& EDM 313)

This is one of a cluster of tower blocks at the far end of my road. One day my mum looked up at them and said, 'Aren't you glad you don't live there?' and I said 'Yes, but I bet the flats at the top have got an amazing view of the city!' It always seems strange to me that there are tower blocks which are undesirable to live in, but people pay a fortune to live in 'apartment blocks'. I used to live in an apartment block in London on the 10th (or was it 11th) floor. I really miss the views I used to get from there.

I was waiting outside the pharmacy and I looked up at this particular block and noticed that the blue on it was about the same blue as one of the Berol Fine Markers I had put in my pencil case yesterday with the intention of keeping an eye out for something to sketch in that shade. It also struck me as a good composition for EDM #313 - ' Draw something you look up at from below'. I look up at these every day and one day when I move this will be a real reminder of where I used to live.

It's pretty obvious from this sketch that I am someone who has no patience with repetition and therefore drawing in any kind of repetitive way. I admire people who can draw buildings but I usually have no inclination to draw them myself. All those beastly windows to draw over and over again. So the windows on this block are pretty off. But then, the thing that strikes you when you look at a tower block is the scale of it and the blocky squariness of it, so I'm not too worried about drawing the correct number of windows. There are a lot and that's that!

Equipment: Moleskine A6 Sketchbook, Pitt Pen 'S', Berol Fine Marker in a turquoise (don't think they have name colours), Pitt Pen 'B' in Grey, Uniball Signo Gel Liner in White.

IF Train (of Cats): A Shady Looking Bunch!

I haven't done an Illustration Friday drawing for a while as I've been too fixated on this sketching people and observational drawing business. But when I saw the theme for this week 'train' it tied-in with something I saw last week that made me really laugh but I hadn't been been quick enough to take a photo on my phone.  I was reading in the garden and I looked up and saw three of the neighbourhood cats - including Loxie - standing on the wall. It reminded me of those elephant trains. They were all looking at me, and on the wall they looked so much like they were looking for mischief.

For this illustration I've had to draw them all from memory and stupidly although I'd meant to draw this across two pages of my landscape sketchbook, I forgot and drew on a page that had something opposite. Hence only 2.5 cats!

In the train are: Front 'The Cloud' a bit of nuisance of a cat as I keep finding him in my house whenever I leave the back door open, and he's quite a scary looking thing with that big old flat face. In the middle is Loxie. And at the back is 'Fat Alf'. He lives in the flat upstairs and of all the cats in the neighbourhood, of which there are a crazy amount, he is one Lox has made friends with. I share a garden with the flat upstairs so I guess she's had to get used to sharing her patch!

Something a bit different - Portraiture! (And a very long post!)

So, I went to my first (ever in my life) Portraiture class yesterday.  Here are the two portraits (same model believe it or not). My A3 paper won't fit on my scanner fully so she's a bit hemmed in and had a few bits lopped off. And the scan has come up a bit light as I had to dismantle the lid of the scanner to get her in!

The set up of it was similar to the way a life drawing class is set up - apart from there are no willies on display, obviously! We could work at easels or at these things that look a bit like a wooden weight lifting bench that you sit on. I chose one of those and had my paper on a board balanced somewhere between the post rest at the front of the bench and my baby bump! To be honest, I'd never seen one of these bench things in my life before and although they really make your bum hurt after a while, the position it puts you into was really good for pregnancy!

I chose to work in soft pencil (I used a B) because the whole point of me going to a portraiture class is to learn to draw faces better. I know that sounds obvious but when I sketch I really struggle with getting the face to look like anything I am happy with. The whole sketch looks nice and loosely drawn but then the face looks rigid because I get nervous about making the mark. And obviously hesitating is pretty counter-productive when you are doing very quick sketches of people who are moving about. So my thinking is that if I go to a portraiture class then a) I can pick up some tips as to how to draw faces, b) spend some time actually studying a face that isn't moving around, and c) most importantly, know that I've done a portraiture class which will give me some belief that I can actually draw faces!

I found using the soft pencil quite a challenge as I'm so used to using pen which of course you can't rub out! Also, the model holds the poses for a really long time. The class is 2 1/2 hours long and the model holds the same pose for the whole session! We do have a break halfway through though! Most people in the class worked on the same portrait for the whole session - some use pastels and oils etc. I was a bit daunted by this as I've never spent that long on drawing one person. Even in life drawing classes I've been to the maximum pose time has been about 40 minutes. But as I am there to try and work on some accuracy, once I'd got all the model's features down on the paper, the tutor came over and helped me make her look more like her. There was quite a lot of reworking of the position of width of her face and position of her ear.  It was really helpful and the first picture was finished in just over and hour. The tutor pointed out that I must be very used to sketching because I draw so fast!!  He suggested that after break I move to another part of the room and do another one from a different angle, rather than keep working on the same one as that would be more suited to my style.

This second portrait took the same amount of time as the first but I had got more confident and so got her features in the correct places more quickly so I spent some time working on light and shade. This freaked me out at first as I personally don't like shading with a pencil, I mean not in the traditional, blend it all in type of way. I started doing a bit of the scribbly shading but felt that was going to ruin the picture so eventually I settled on hatching and cross-hatching her. Surprisingly, I like the way she's turned out. It just feels so weird to draw on such a big scale and not have those punchy black lines of a pen. She needed a little more shading under her left eye I think as at the moment she looks like she's been in a fight but the class ended at that point.

Equipment: B pencil, Daler Rowney 220gsm Heavy Weight Fine Grain Paper A3

Sketching on the way to class

I sketched a girl on the bus, a lady in the cafe at the Bristol Folk House while waiting to go into my new portraiture class, a lady on the bus on the way home, and the girl who took her seat when she got off the bus.  I was so pleased when I saw the lady with the bright orangey-red hair sit down in front of me. What perfect providence for a spot colour sketch! At the point when the girl took her seat I only had another 2 short stops before it was my stop and I didn't think I'd have enough time to sketch her but I couldn't miss out on the opportunity to get that bright pink pen out. I sketched her so quickly I started to draw in the knitted lines of her hat which I actually think really makes the sketch!  I need to get a pen for colouring in black skin tones.  I've got a few pens I use for skin tones but none that are anywhere near right for black skin. All of these were drawn with the Pitt Pen, skin tones are done with Promarkers, and the colours are the Berol Fine Markers and Triplus Fineliners. The Berol and Triplus are great because they don't bleed through the pages.

Sketching at Antenatal Class

I did a couple of sketches of people sitting in front of me at antenatal class today. This was the second and final of the two antenatal classes (i.e. there are only two).  They are two hours each. I'd had the  intention of sketching some people in the surgery waiting room before going into the class, but I arrived right on time so went straight in. I was really glad though that I had my sketching stuff with me as it allowed me to disappear into my own little world. I really wanted to attend the classes in order to learn about caring for my baby but, as I am on my own I found the constant talk of the daddy's role pretty tough to take. Thank goodness for my trusty Pitt Pen and Moleskine!

So here are the sketches... The lady in the picture on the left was turned at a bit of a strange angle and I couldn't quite get the correct posture for her. I did learn a few things at the class thankfully, and another positive outcome of it was that a lady who was doing some kind of observations of the class leant over and said that she liked my sketches.

When I  got home I rang up and enrolled on a 5 week portrait drawing class at Bristol Folk House which put me back in better spirits!

Time for a Cat Drawing

I'm so struck on wanting to sketch people and living things that on days when I can't engineer the opportunity to I'm finding I'm not doing any drawing at all! This could work to my advantage though as I really need to do more cat sketches if I'm ever going to get on and illustrate this book. So here is my faithful model Lox. The idea of doing this in the Seawhite sketchbook was to colour her in with an ink wash but I ended up doing some scribbly colouring in instead. She had just woken up and was straight out of her basket so something less 'sleek' and a bit more disheveled seemed more fitting. She is also a perfect model for a spot colour illustration with her black fluff and big green eyes that have a little bit of blue in the middle. She is a beautiful little thing.

Out and about in Redfield with the Moleskine

Here are a few I've done over the last couple of days. The first was a man at the surgery while I was waiting for the midwife. I almost didn't draw him because the bald spot was putting me off. But he was the only person in the waiting room so I had to just get over it! The next are of people in Tesco Metro while I was waiting to pick up a camera I'd ordered online. It's a shame I don't have more excuses to sit by the checkouts there as you definitely see some interesting people passing through, and they stand relatively still! I then went to the park briefly. I'd intended to draw a couple more people there but no-one was nearby. Then this dog came and stood in front of me, expectantly. I'm sorry I've called him 'Stupid Dog' I'm sure he's not. He just had a funny look on his face and was kind of knock-kneed with big fluffy paws that was all making him look quite comical.

These were all done with a pitt pen 'S'. The colours are Promarker and Berol Markers 'fine'. I found a pack of Berol markers in my cupboard I've never really used. Think I acquired them from a school I was working in. It never occurred to me to use them in 'art' but due to the Creative Every Day 'Colour' theme I've put a couple into my carry around pencil case in order to have some new portable spot colours.

Watercolours, dip pen, Seawhites sketchbook

I've been getting back into using watercolours lately. The 'colour' theme for April at Creative Every Day has made me think about using new, stronger colours and, as much as I love Promarkers, I don't really like using the stronger colours in their range as I just find they swamp the illustration a bit. Plus, I really can't afford to buy any more of them! So I've had these watercolours out. But I haven't had a lot of success with them in the sketchbook I'm using at the moment. They go fluffy. They lose all their lovely translucent wateriness. Also, I want to use the dip pen at the moment and this sketchbook most definitely won't have any of that dip pen business. So I dug out a Seawhites sketchbook that is only about 2/3 full. I was using it for a project and for an illustration class I did so I never finished it.

So I was really just trying out how the watercolours would turn out on this Seawhites sketchbook (I already knew that it is very happy to have the pen and ink on it). I started drawing the nearest colourful thing to me, this Chapstick tin.

I've been thinking about converting this tin into a little tin for watercolours as I have a couple of pans with no home and some tubes of Sennelier colous which I would much prefer to have in a tin. Apparently you can just squeeze them into an empty pan and let them dry overnight. Now I just need to get some cheap empty pans.

The verdict is that the Seawhites sketchbook is really good for dip pen and watercolours. Also, it is really cheap compared to a lot of sketchbooks. I definitely recommend it. I think I paid £5.99 for it at Cass Arts -  I wish Cass would open a store in Bristol! The only minor thing is that it doesn't flatten down in the way that Moleskines and some other sketchbooks do. I mean, it does flatten but it isn't quite so flexible.  It says in it's blurb though that it is 'sized for extra wet-strength' and it really is because I like using a lot of water! I will try it with some ink washes next.

Adding Colour Where Colour Is Not!

I would never have drawn this as a subject matter but EDM #314 - 'Draw something that has a knob'  prompted me to.  I also never add colours where colours were not in the original scene but the CED theme for this month which is 'colour' has made me think about trying to use some new colours. I  love using spot colours and after sketching the girl in the library with the pink hat, I've got a thing for wanting to add pinky and purpley colours into B&W sketches.  I don't know how to fuse two pages together into one after scanning hence why this is split in two...

Equipment: I started off doing the lines with my dip pen but it does not get along with this sketchbook. It feathered crazily! I usually try to work around unexpected reactions of materials and see it as a happy accident that can be made something of but the paper was also getting all fluffed up in the nib and I didn't want to wreck the poor nib. So I scrapped it. I had a no.1 size brush that I bought for an art class and never used so decided I might be able to do the line work with that. I do have a brush pen but I wanted the sort of irregular lines that a dip pen produces and thought my shaky hand using the brush for the first time might create something similarly interesting. So the black and the grey are Winsor Newton Indian Ink, watered down for the grey. The colour I really love. It is Aliz Crimson and Ultramarine mixed. There is also a tiny bit of some blue or Payne's Grey in the shading but I can't remember. For the scratchy lines I used my 'S' Pitt Pen. It's been a while since I did scratchy lines - I used to do them quite a lot. I think they bring an illustration to life, if a cooker can be brought to life!

Sketching people at the local library

I finally made it to my local library. It is just a tiny neighbourhood library, I'm surprised we even have one. It really is very small but it was so busy. I don't believe this business the Government tells us that people don't use libraries and that they can be closed down. There were a lot of people reading the papers and all of the computers were constantly in use which to my mind is proof that the local library is a really useful and essential resource for many people.

I haven't been able to read (I mean I can't concentrate on it) since I've been pregnant, and I am so picky about what books I want to read. But amazingly, despite there only being a small selection due to the size of this library, I borrowed three books! I find life easier when I have less choice.

I then sketched a couple of people who were using the computers. I'm not keen on the first sketch. Well, I was until I put the colour on. The second sketch I really like. I loved this girl's bright pink wooly hat, it really suited her. I struggled a little bit at getting comfortable to do these sketches as I was on a chair that had wheels and a springy back which with the baby bump was a bit difficult to support myself on!

Equipment: Top Sketch - Pencil and Promarker. Bottom Sketch - Pitt pen, pink Triplus Fineliner, and a tiny bit of Promarker for her skin.

I really like the bright pink fineliner. I am going to add this into my carry around pencil case and keep an eye out for things to sketch that include this colour. When I am sketching out and about, I never add a colour to sketch that wasn't in the original scene.

Sketches of people around Bristol today

I had quite a few things to do today and sketched a few people during the waiting moments. These sketches are in the order that I drew them. I was almost disappointed not to be kept waiting at a few more places!

Equipment: I only took a pitt pen and a blue, grey and sandstone Promarker.

D is for Duck (& EDM #315)

I've been wanting to go up to my local park and sketch the ducks for ages but it has been too cold. The cat and human sketches I have done recently have been making me want to sketch living creatures more and more.  Prior to that I had been thinking to go and draw the stuffed ones in the museum but I am hardly going to capture them in their natural state that way!! Also, the EDM next on my list was #315 - 'Draw something under water' and I thought that focussing on the bright orange feet of the ducks under water would be interesting. I'm not a great fan of bright warm colours but getting nearer to summer has been making me want to use orange and coral and yellow paint. Finally on Saturday we had the combination of sunshine and a bit of warmth. 

The park was so busy and as I sat by the pond sketching the ducks I noticed a few children with their mum pointing at me. Children are so funny how they think they're doing something in secret which is in fact really obvious. All the ducks were pretty sleepy. There was so much excess bread in that pond I think they must have gorged on it and needed a nap. They still move a surprising amount though when you're trying to sketch them. The wind sort of blows them about and they drift round to a different angle quite quickly!

I really like how this has turned out. I liked the sketches and was nervous to put watercolour onto them as I'm not not always massively confident with watercolour. The pencil ducks looked quite delicate and I didn't want to obliterate that with strong colour but I also knew that to get the bright orange I wanted I was going to have to use watercolours. I feel more confident about the watercolours again now.

Materials: Sketched with HB pencil. Coloured with watercolours.

Reverse Colouring In

This was an experiment. A couple of people who have looked at my sketchbooks, including a previous art tutor, have said that they like the effect the Promarkers produce on the reverse of the page.  It's true that they do bleed through paper a lot. They even make it through to the following page! So I always put a napkin or piece of kitchen paper between the pages to prevent that and I just use the reverse of any Promarker coloured pages for very rough sketches. But quite often the 'rough sketch' turns out to be something I quite like, and oddly enough the colours on the reverse of the page have worked really well with them.  There is one I have done which I keep meaning to blog that in my mind I've labelled 'disco cat'.

This morning I just started doodling my cup of tea and coloured it in but felt the colouring was a bit rubbish and too heavy. So I decided to work with the bleed through of the Promarker by resketching the cup on the reverse of the page  making the most of the colour that was already there. So technically the sketch on this page is only pencil and white pen.

Coffee on Moleskine

I watched a Danny Gregory video on Youtube this morning. Actually I only watched the first couple of minutes of it before I decided that it was imperative that I sketch my breakfast. I'm sure I've sketched plenty of breakfasts/lunches/cups of coffee in my life but watching the video prompted me to do it again but with the dip pen. I usually only draw this kind of thing when I'm out and about in a cafe and so am sketching with a pencil or pitt pen.

I haven't actually used the dip pen in the A6 Moleskine before and it was a bit of a challenge I found as it is such a small space and I like to be able to be quite 'swoopy' with the dip pen. It looked like it needed a bit of colour when it was done and as I noticed that everything that had any colour in it in the composition was a tone of brown - coffee, crumpet, wooden table - I used the very strong remnants of the coffee in the bottom of the pot and painted it on with a big brush.  It cockled quite a lot but it seemed such an appropriate medium to use, especially as it made the sketch smell of coffee!  I really revel in being able to drink this coffee. Being pregnant I had to ditch strong coffee due to the caffeine and also can't have decaf due to the chemicals they use in it. But a few weeks ago I tracked down this 'Swiss water decaf' which is safe for the baby. They remove the caffeine by some clever filtering process. It isn't widely available but I got hold of it in Whittards, which is also nice as of course they grind the beans up fresh for you there. I used a bit of ink wash for the shading.

What I like most about this sketch is the geometric pattern on the plate. I was nervous about doing it and really thought I was going to stuff it up. But once I got the rhythm of it I really enjoyed drawing it. Now I want to go to the museum and sketch some Greek pots!

 

Ink wash on Moleskine

I had some watery Indian ink left in my palette after colouring in the lady and the lifeguard sketches so I decided to see what it would do on a page of the Moleskine (and obviously I didn't want to put that no.12 round brush down). Within a few seconds of hitting the paper the ink made a really pretty speckled effect.  It reminded me of the speckles on an egg. Ergo, I quickly drew an egg with pencil and then coloured it in with some ink wash! I also added a tiny bit of watercolour in a bluey-green colour to make it a bit more egg-coloured. 

Equipment: Papermate non-stop mechanical HB pencil (the Queen of pencils in my opinion and only costs 55p), Winsor & Newton black Indian ink, Winsor & Newton watercolour in some shade of bluey-green not sure what it is called. Also a scribble of Edding 780 white paint marker.

Even more sketches of people who don't know I'm sketching them

I sketched this lady while I was waiting for my midwife appointment this morning.  She was deep in conversation with her friend. I have no idea what they were talking about as my Arabic is limited to counting to three and saying 'I love you' and 'delicious'. At one point she did say 'they are SO desperate' which might explain why she is pointing so emphatically.

 

I rather liked the pencil sketch and I'm not sure adding the colour was a good move but I am continuing with experimenting with trying to fill the page and after using ink the other day I have been reminded how much I love splashing black ink around with a big No.12 round brush just for the sake of it!

Providence, more sketches of people who don't know I'm sketching them (or probably do) and filling the page

On Thursday at the swimming pool I tried to sketch the lifeguards from the viewing gallery after my swim. I'd worked out that if I got changed quickly after my swim I'd have about 10 minutes in the gallery to sketch before the lunchtime swim session ended. Well, I can't say it was massively successful on the grounds that I acquired a little friend pretty much as soon as I had sat down. 'What are you doing? asked a little girl who later introduced herself as Charlotte. Well, she wanted to have a good look through my sketchbook and then ran off with it to show to her Mum and Grandma!!!

I'm pretty good with sketching fast but I'm most definitely not a multi-tasker and the only point at which I actually had the sketchbook in my hands was while Charlotte was talking to me! Nevertheless despite the abysmal lifeguard sketches, unbeknown to me sketching lifeguards wasn't the real reason I had gone up into that gallery. Charlotte spotted the 'Lox on a Chair' sketch and really loved it. She kept touching the page and saying how fluffy the cat looked. What a result! As much as I liked the sketch for the book I still had no idea whether a child would like it. Bless her. And she gave me a great big hug before she left.

And here is the lifeguard sketch aka 'the ruse'... I probably wouldn't have even posted it if it hadn't been for the Charlotte story. Actually, the face looks pretty accurate. I would imagine that the poor guy was aware that I was sketching him by the fact that Charlotte kept pointing and saying very loudly 'What? That one there?! Him there?!!'

Clearly I added the colour when I got home.  I've been trying to fill the page up a bit more.

Lox on a Chair, spot colour, and finally using the dip pen again

I have finally picked up the dip pen and more to the point got the new nib working.  I couldn't get the ink to transfer onto the paper and was getting a bit frustrated with it but I now think it might have been a problem with the ink?? (Correct me if I'm wrong). I have had this ink a while and when I looked into the pot it looked pretty thick so I added quite a bit of water to it.  I've never added water before to ink when doing line work, only ever for washes, but it did the trick and the nib started flowing over the page with nice smooth lines.  So with the pen suddenly making marks I drew Lox asleep on 'her' chair.  If I had known I was going to have this success I would have got myself set up a bit better as it is a bit of a reckless endeavour using ink in my lounge...I have a light beige sofa, white table and white rug and they are all brand new!! Fortunately all the mess I made away from the page has only ended up on my fingers. 

After the dip pen lines I did an ink wash with the black ink watered down and used some blue ink for the cushion stripes.

I'm really pleased with how this has turned out as this is I think something along the lines of what I have in my head for the book I'm trying to illustrate.  I really have had in mind that the illustrations in the book will be black and white with grey ink washes and just one or two spot colours. I have done a tiny bit of ink wash in this sketchbook previously and wasn't 100% happy with how the watery ink sits on the paper, it looks a bit fluffy. I prefer when ink washes have very crisp edges and you can really see the layers of ink on top of each other, but actually I like how this fluffyness has given the cat fur a soft texture. 

Sketches of people who don't know I'm sketching them

I'm glad I put my A6 Moleskine into my bag again.  Today it prompted me to do these 2 little sketches, the first while I was waiting at Specsavers and the second while I was on the #45 bus going home.

I enjoyed doing these in the same way that I enjoyed the cat sketches.  I like drawing fast. I tend to find that if I spend more than a minute or so on composition the whole drawing just goes wrong. I've done loads of life drawing classes and more often then not really disliked what I've produced from them. I like the type of life drawing where the person running the session gives you just 1 minute to get the pose down but when I'm faced with 10, 20 or heaven forbid 60 minutes drawing someone I just get really fed up with it all.  Another challenge I find is that although I don't have any problem with drawing in public, I do get a bit hesitant about drawing people in case they turn around and see me drawing them. I don't know why it concerns me. I'm sure people would be flattered if they knew they were being drawn, I know I would.  And I'm never sure how obvious it is to someone that they are being drawn.  Do I look like I am sketching faces in my Moleskine or do people just assume I'm writing a shopping list?  I don't have the same hesitancy if I draw people in coffee shops though so I wonder if it is to do with the type of people I'm drawing. Do I unconsciously assume that students and business people in Caffe Nero are more open to arty stuff than people on the bus?

H is for Humus (& EDM #316)

Here is a pot of something tasty!  It brings back memories of travelling in Israel, hence EDM #316 - 'Draw a Travel Memory'.   Also, I did the drawing on Good Friday which brought back memories for me of being in Jerusalem at Easter.

There is a discrepancy between the spelling in the picture and the title of this post as I always spell it 'humus' but on the pot the spelling is 'houmous'. I know it doesn't really matter. I was actually going to write it in Hebrew on the illustration too but didn't didn't really have room.  Whatever the spelling, it is tasty.  This is the one that has whole chick peas at the bottom too. It's difficult to get decent humus around here. When I lived in London I used to go to Golders Green to buy it.  Near where I live I have to go to a big supermarket where I can get this one which is imported, I think - well it says it's produced in Israel on the pot.  Other than that there is only the own brand stuff that the supermarkets make which I don't know whereabouts they got their ideas about what humus is but it is WAY off.

 

Equipment: HB pencil, Promarkers