Outdoor Sketchbook Class

Create-A-Thon 2017 summer update - Over June and July this summer, I took an Outdoor Sketchbook class at the Adams County Arts Council in Gettysburg. For this class, I broke out a new sketchbook and sketched in pencil almost daily for four weeks. I averaged about 1 - 2, ten minute sketches each day trying to capture the essence of the outdoor object I was trying to draw. Mostly trees and flowers, with a few urban objects thrown in.

This is very different from the way I normally sketch, usually drawing in brush pen, marker, or watercolor, mostly from my imagination, creating cartoon characters or making repetitive patterns. I learned some very good drawing exercises for sketching from nature using a light pencil technique - something that I definitely needed to work on. 

Another activity this summer has been attending my son Isaac's Portrait Drawing class on Thursday nights at Waldo's in Gettysburg. This class is also venturing out from my drawing comfort zone, though I have frequently gone to figure drawing sessions. When making figure studies, I usually focus on trying to capture the essence of the pose rather than a detailed portrait study. I want to draw something quickly, unable to focus on a subject intensely for a long period of time. This class gives me the opportunity to study the face and learn a thing or two from my son!

And lastly, I'm in the middle of another drawing challenge while also trying to complete World Watercolor Month. I'm participating in Sketchbook Summer, for the month of July where I'm working on filling up an entire 8 1/2" x 11" 110 page sketchbook (on both sides of the page). This has been challenging, trying to fill up an average of 7-8 pages each day to keep pace with completing the sketchbook by the end of July.

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Over the past few months, I've been taking a break from traditional film photography, and focusing on instant photography, specifically Fuji Instax film. I'm in the middle of 26 instax packs - a six month Instax Mini film project. I'm shooting on different Instax Mini Films including themed Instax Mini Film character frames that I've bought from ebay. I use different cameras in my collection, mostly the Lomo'Instant Automat and a Diana F+ with Lomography Instant Back.

Stay tuned for upcoming Create-A-Thon art techniques that I will be trying in the coming weeks.

Gouache on Black Paper

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Week 6 - Reeves brand gouache from A.C. Moore on black sketch paper. I was inspired to try this technique when I watched a video demonstrating it on YouTube. I packed up my small traveling ArtBin that I take to work with all my tubes of Reeves gouache, metal paint palette, a few small brushes, pencils, pens, eraser, and collapsible water cup from Faber Castell. I also carried with me my backpack filled with the usual things and for this week, a small black paper sketch pad to use for the gouache paintings. 

I intended to work on the paintings on my lunch hour this week, but one of the days I spent fiddling around with the new set of magnetic adapters for my Slate, which is always in my work backpack.  Another day we all went out for lunch. I finally spent about two lunch hours working on just one painting that I was not really happy with when it was finished. That painting did inspire me though to create a revised illustration based on it with my iPad using the Procreate app.

One evening in my studio I painted a self portrait with white gouache going straight in with a brush without sketching myself first. I was happier with that result though it's not a complete likeness. Today I created two paintings, one from the art mannequin that I have and another from a silver Halloween skull from my anatomy collection. I liked the way the mannequin painting turned out, with the skull painting being more distorted and abstract.  

Kind of hit or miss with the gouache paintings this week, but not every sketch or painting is going to turn out to be a great work of art. I found the exercise challenging because I had to think about painting in the lights on the black paper, leaving the bare black paper as the shadows, opposite of the way I normally work. Although challenging, I enjoyed the exercise and may incorporate it into a future project.

Next up in Create-A-Thon 2017 - Paint or draw the same subject in 5 different mediums.

iSkn Slate

Brenda really surprised me this year with a Christmas gift that I've been eyeing up since I saw it advertised in my Instagram feed a couple of months ago. It's a new drawing tablet called "The Slate" by the iSkn company located in France. For week one of Create-A-Thon 2017 I've been sketching with it attached to my iPad Mini and MacBook Pro. The Slate can also be used in standalone mode for on-the-go sketches that can later be imported with your computer or iPad using the Imagink app.

The tablet includes a paper sketchpad, two clips to hold sketch paper to the tablet surface, a ballpoint pen equipped with a magnetic ring, graphite pencil with removable magnetic ring, and a usb cable for charging. My Slate also came with a nice carrying case with a snap closure with room to carry my iPad Mini. The Slate is very lightweight and of nice build quality.

The Slate works with paper attached, allowing you to make sketches while seeing the results in real time on your bluetooth synced iPad or usb cable connected computer using the Imagink app. Imagink has several tools with size and opacity adjustments and the ability to create layers. Throughout my testing of The Slate this week, I found both the pen and the pencil with magnetic ring to be very accurate in capturing what I was drawing. The removable magnetic ring can be attached to your own pencils, provided they fit the included adaptor. I've only found a few of my art pencils that fit, but a larger size adaptor is available from iSkn as well as a stylus called The Tip that allows The Slate to be used as a drawing tablet. I've added the larger magnetic ring adaptor and The Tip to my birthday wish list. 

The Slate can also be used on-the-go to make sketches that can be edited or imported later on your iPad or computer (pc and mac). Sketches can be exported from the Imagink app in jpg, psd, svg, png, bmp, as well as video mp4. I experimented with exporting different file formats, and found the files imported as expected for further editing in Photoshop and Illustrator, with layers also being imported.

I have to say that I really am impressed with The Slate and how well it captures my sketches, though I'm not really sure how it will fit into my creative workflow. I will be practicing drawing more with it and look forward to watching what others create using The Slate. I've included side by side sketches, actual pen or paper sketch on the left with Imagink files on the right.

Next up in Create-A-Thon 2017, I will be trying out Derwent Graphitint Pencils.

Funky Skeleton Drawings

We all know that I have a fascination with skeletal anatomy, though I'm not entirely familiar with all the names of the different bones. I'm especially fond of sketching skulls, mostly with an ink brush style pen such as the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen. I love the varying line widths that I can get with the brush pen. After completing a rough pencil sketch of the skeleton idea I have, I like to ink it in with the brush pen and then add color and texture to the drawing with watercolor pencil and Faber Castell Pitt Artist Brush Pens. I'm also quite fond of the of the waterproof Pitt Artist Pens with their bright colors and lightfastness. I'm thinking that I want to continue these goofy skeletal drawings and perhaps create a skeletal character that might be used on t-shirts, mugs, and such.

InkTober 2015

I'm a little late with this post, but I'll be participating in InkTober for the second time this year. Last year I was completely unprepared, not knowing what it was until scrolling through my instagram feed at 11:30 pm on the first day. I quickly sketched out something and posted it before midnight. Inktober is a month long daily drawing challenge using pen and ink in its various forms, with your daily drawings then being posted on social media. This year, I've prepared my folder of ideas and decided on a weekly theme of subjects for the month. This week's theme is "Cameras from my collection." Check in with me daily on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to see the daily pen and ink drawing.

Weekend Sketches

A few weekend sketches here, two pen and ink line doodles with the new Pentel Pocket Brush Pen that I picked up last week at Plaza Art in Baltimore. The third sketch is an entry in my Moleskine Watercolor Journal, made with Windsor & Newton Cotman Pocket Watercolor Sketcher's Box and Pigmamicron pen. I've been on a quest of sorts to find the perfect pen and ink brush pen, I've tried several. I've tried the Pilot Pocket Brush Pen, both hard and soft versions, both producing very nice thick and thin strokes, with the soft one producing thicker and heavier lines than the hard one. I also ordered the Tombow Hard and Soft Fude Brush Pens, these are ok, but I like them the least of the brush pens that I've tried. I have used the Pentel Fude Brush Pen for a number of sketches and find I can control the thin and thick lines I get with this brush pen very well. It is a a little larger in the hand than the other brush pens, feeling a bit more the size of a brush than pen as the other ones do. The line art sketches above were made with the smaller Pentel Pocket Brush Pen with available cartridge refills. This pen is more expensive than the Pentel Fude Brush Pen but has the capability to be refilled with ink cartridges as the Pentel Fude Brush Pen does not.

The third watercolor sketch continues my fascination with drawing skulls, but we all know that I love skulls, skeletons and anatomy and have a small collection of anatomy models, some of which I've assembled and painted myself. This skull was a yard sale find and features green glowing light-up eyes in a skull head made of a foam like material. 

Lunch Time Watercolor Sketch

Today's sketch was completed during my lunch break using my Sakura Koi Pocket Water Colors and Niji Waterbrush. The little Koi waterbrush that fits inside the pocket water color box is pretty nifty to have in a pinch, but I prefer the Niji Waterbrush. The bristles seem to hold their shape a little better than the Koi. I'm using the small tip Niji Waterbrush, but I'm planning to get the other sizes in the line to have a little more variety. Last night, I picked up another pocket watercolor kit to try out, the Windsor & Newton Cotman Water Colour Sketcher's Box. This one is just a bit smaller than the Koi and includes a nice little brush in a metal case. I'll be trying that one out later this week. Today's sketch is from a photo of my front porch that I originally had planned to paint from life, but Sunday got away from me before I knew it.