Currently Browsing: Animals 471 articles
Journal Pages Just Happen: That’s Part of the Fun
One evening I found myself really digging in and overworking the black wool on the head of a sheep. It was one of those scribbly moments. A sheep flashed on the TV and I blocked it in (I’ve drawn hundreds and hundreds of sheep so I wanted to see if I could do a memory […]
Birds and Light
Crows and ravens have the most amazing colors in their plumage. They are so fun to sketch. This is in a Seawhite of Brighton sketchbook. This sketch is a quick one I made while watching some nature show, practicing quick color layering and hoping that I would be going to the Minnesota State Fair this […]
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 […]
In Context: Thinking about Westerns, and, Oh, a Chicken
I was watching something the other day (18 months ago!) and Jim Jarmusch said succinctly, what I’ve always felt about Westerns. And either that evening or on the next day there was a chicken documentary and I had to watch that too.
Sketching on Any Old Paper You Have At Hand
Sometimes we can get into our heads. We can spend time telling ourselves all the reasons we can’t take time right now and paint. As a teacher for over 30 years I think I’ve heard every excuse there is: no space to set up, don’t have the materials I want to work with; I don’t […]
Visiting Minnesota—A Drawing Student’s Question
Recently a former Sketchbook Skool Student wrote to me asking me what to see when she was in Minnesota. (Evidently she was traveling here to go up north in Wisconsin for a drawing class at one of the resorts.) Of course whenever you ask someone a question like that you are taking into account their […]
Making Neutrals with a Secondary Triad
Update: May 14, 2022. The paper used for this portrait was from a pad purchased in 2000-02. Magnani Portofino paper has been “revamped.” The current version of this paper is NOT one I would recommend for wet media work. You can see a post reviewing the currently available paper on this blog on May […]
A Different Sort of Wizard—Special Circumstances
Today seemed a good day to share another one of my wizard paintings because, well next month (April) on my Patreon blog I’m going to be sharing the full, realtime version of this sketch as a secondary demo. (You can already see the sketch silent and sped up to only 3 minutes long on […]
Another Sort of Selfie—The Doodle Selfie
This is a late-night doodle, which is also a selfie… It’s on Fabriano Hot Press watercolor paper that I made into a hand-bound book. After midnight my spelling is questionable, though at least I still usually question it.
Testing the Twone Sketchbook with Kraft Cardstock Covers
Do I actively seek out the most obscure commercially bound books containing non-art paper to test? No, it simply seems like that sometimes. I grew up with a small weekly allowance paid after the completion of standard house and family chores. That allowance had to stretch from candy to art materials. Let’s just say I […]