The Freedom of Quick, Loose Sketches for Your Drawing Skills
Over the last 35 years and hundreds of students have confessed to me that they “don’t have time to sketch,” or that they “were physically too ill to sketch.” I always respond that you can always find time, and even if ill you can get something down on paper that will be useful to you […]
Journal Galleries
Sketching
Sketching Fair Goers without a Fair
I spent the year sketching Fair Goers who Earth’s World had captured at Fairs and Festivals. (See #earthsworld, @earthsworld on Instagram and Flicker; Earth permits artists to use the photos as sketching reference with attribution!) Even in May I kept thinking I’d better practice just in case. No Fair for me this year, but I […]
The 2022 Great Minnesota State Fair Sketch Out Is Almost Here!
Yep, it’s that time again to sketch at the Minnesota State Fair. Artist LMNOP is hosting. A map showing the meeting place (the same outdoor food court between the Food Building and Ag-Hort Building that’s been used before) and other details are in the linked post. There will be a 9 a.m. and 3 […]
Sometimes Even A Fun-to-Draw Beard Isn’t Sufficient Inducement to Watch a TV Show
I watch a lot of TV. This has always been true. And I often sketch while watching TV. The other day, before I canceled Comcast Cable TV (because for over 6 months they had been sending technicians to fix a pixelation and no-picture random-reboot situation) I caught a brief few moments of “Mud, Sweat, and […]
Book Arts
Book Arts
Thinking about White Hair on Toned Paper
There’s nothing finished in this study of a man with white hair and a beard. It’s me noodling around experimenting with how to get the values of white hair on toned paper. I’m working in a handbound journal made with Zerkall Nideggen (it has a lovely fiber fleck of texture throughout). I guess paper nostalgia […]
Breathing Room on the Page (or Page Spread)
One of the most important compositional tools you have in a visual journal or sketchbook is the breathing space on the page (or page spread). The negative space around an image helps define the image through silhouette, and shape recognition. The space will help you correct angles and proportions when you go off—or— if you […]