blue

some more sketchbook express

Sketchbook

Even though drawing on a 13″ laptop seems kind of annoying because the screen is so small, it’s convenient to sit on the couch while the TV is on and doodle.

I’ve tried to sit myself in front of my desktop and use Corel Painter X but for some reason the application feels cruder than I remember it. Maybe because I have that version installed on my Winbox or maybe it’s because the version of the software is over 5 years old. Or maybe it’s just because the chair I have sucks.

At least Sketchbook Express is beginning to grow on me. One doodle before the new year and one doodle after. I definitely like the second better because it looks softer but it’s just nice to see something complete.

Sketchbook Project mailed!

Projects

I finally submitted (on time no less!) my sketchbook from the project I signed up to do.

This was hard to complete for me. If I did have more time, I would’ve done more ink work and perhaps may have even used other colors. The most difficult part was keeping up with the idea I started with. Somehow I knew it would come out to a bunch of portraits. I wanted to add more text to each image but thinking of titles or headlines is the worst part.

I’m just glad that I feel like I completed something, especially so early in the new year. I’ll post an update when they post the scanned version. (Hopefully that blue pencil comes out.)

The Sketchbook Project

Projects

There’s a project out there that anyone can participate in called The Sketchbook Project. I haven’t been to the Art Library in person, but I thought the concept was a great idea. You get the sketchbook and it just looks so small and compact. Once I started drawing in it, I had this idea to draw on every single page, but I’m only a few pages through, so it feels daunting. I’ll just have to keep plugging along and we’ll see. I want to be able to submit it in time for the “tour” they take some of the books on. My only request is that they make a stop in DC.

Moto Girl

Sketchbook

I drew this a while ago. Been tweaking it and waiting for some time to just color it. Today I just said eff it and I’ll use pen. Pen is a pretty nice tool for shading. I’ll have to do some more stuff in pen.

Digging up old sketchbooks

Sketchbook

I was beginning a bit of spring cleaning the other day and came across an old sketchbook. I used this book from high school into college but never really got to mark up all the pages. Here are a few highlights of what I was able to crank out at the time.

I always liked the way this book came out. It kind of represents a more hopeful time for me; I felt more imaginative and yet not challenged then. (Compared to these days, it’s a challenge to just begin with the first stroke sometimes. That’s just RL getting in the way.)

Looking back on old work does help me realize that I have gotten better and it’s somewhat re-inspiring. At the least, I can establish that technique has evolved and I can believe my imagination can work again.

hand and cloth

Sketchbook

There were three main things I wanted to practice on in this drawing — the hand, cloth and hair. Initially I didn’t know where this was going when I first sketched it. Finished, came back to it and then decided to ink it. When I finally purchased a marker set, I started looking for some sketches to color in and this was it.

The sketchbook is one of my favourites. Gifted to me by my best friend, I was curious to see how it would handle marker. Finch Paper at 100lbs the ink will bleed through to the other side, but not enough to ink onto the next page. The pages are so smooth — I’ll be doing a lot more inking and marker work in this book.

Markers

Sketchbook

I played with markers years ago. I didn’t really understand the concept and techniques behind the tool itself at the time. Essentially, those Prismacolors went under appreciated for a very long time.

Today, I’ve been inspired to try again. I picked up a set of Shinhan Touch double sided markers. Working on a small sketch I did a long while ago, I fell in love with the marker. Perhaps it was the brush tip that really sold me, because the experience was a complete overhaul of what I remembered.