Currently Browsing: Commercially Bound Journals 366 articles
Johnny Vegas—An Autobiography in Multiple Voices
Readers of RWU will know that sketches of Johnny Vegas make it into a post every now and then; and onto my instagram. I watch a lot of British TV. He’s on a lot of shows that I enjoy watching. I pick up a pen… Then the other day “the algorithm” threw out that Vegas […]
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 […]
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 […]
I Liked Dried Out Pen Lines
Here’s another of my Fair Goer sketchers from a photo Earth’s World captured at a West Coast Fair. (See #earthsworld, @earthsworld on Instagram and Flicker; Earth permits artists to use the photos as sketching reference with attribution!) I was using a very dried out pen. I have replaced it since then (May) of course, and run […]
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 […]
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 […]
Things Happen When You Sketch Directly In Ink
Things happen when you sketch directly in ink and you just have to learn to live with them. (Though you can do another sketch, or put in correction marks if that suits your purpose, I’m just saying…) It doesn’t bother me that this sketch of a character actor gave him a cross-eyed view. I love […]
Quick Brush Pen Portrait
Here’s another quick brush pen portrait. Something fun you can do: Click on this image so it blows up on your screen. Then in a new browser window, open Sunday’s post which included a brush pen portrait, but on a different type of paper. Blow that image up by clicking on it. Look at both […]
In Context: More Watercolor Sketching on Drawing Paper
Rounding the week out with another short post to balance Monday’s. Here’s another brush pen and watercolor sketch in my last Hahnemühle Travel Journal. I was patient this time and there was no paper pilling. This is an actor from one of my favorite shows “Brokenwood Mysteries.” I sketch “Frodo” a lot. There is […]
In Context: Painting on Drawing Paper
After Monday’s long post, just a short post, with another painting on drawing paper. I just finished the journal with this quick sketch and now I get to start a new one! It’s sitting on the drawing table waiting. Below is a detail of the scan showing an area at the temple on the […]