Currently Browsing: Life Drawing 31 articles
Sharpening a Pencil to an Ultra-fine Point
If the above video doesn’t play, please view it directly on Vimeo at this link. I’ve often been asked how I get an ultra-fine point on my graphite pencils. Some time ago I promised to make a quick video to show people the process. I apologize to all my students who just had rely […]
A Line Is Enough
The caption says it all.
Protected: Project Friday: Working Quickly in a Series of Sketches
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
Get Something Down on Paper, Even if You Think You’re Too Close to Your Subject
This post was originally published on January 30, 2017 during my site transition. Above: A page spread from my 8 x 9.25 inch Shinola Sketchbook. It has 112 pages of 100 lb. (148 gsm) acid free paper. I purchased it for $28 at Wet Paint in St. Paul. I’ve written about these whenever I post from it, […]
Protected: Change Up Your Tools to Discover New Mark Making Possibilities
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
Family Members Often Make the Best Models
Above: Dark purple Prismacolor Pencil sketch in an 7.5 inch square handbound book containing Nideggen paper. You can clearly see the wavy laid texture in the background and clothing. I love this paper. This is CR, Dick's 94-year-old father, sitting quietly, posing for me. I had just given him a hair cut. It wasn't […]
Proportions and Features: Eyeballing vs. Systems
Left: Selfie made while looking in the bathroom mirror. A 7 x 7 inch, approx. journal (turned on its side so I could have a vertical) I made with Niddegen. I used a fiber-tipped brush pen containing Platinum Carbon Black ink cartridges. I'm wearing my favorite T-shirt—a 25 year old Lake Street Shirt design, given […]
Minnesota State Fair Dreaming…
Above: I walk into the Swine barn first, every time I arrive at the Fair. Faber-Castell Pitt Calligraphy marker on watercolor paper card. 8 x 8 inches. The first thing I do when I get to the Fair is walk into the Fairgrounds entrance near the Swine Barn, then walk into the Swine Barn and […]
Dove Chocolate Days and What I Think of Cheery Messages on Labels; Oh, and Another View of Richard
Left: Bienfang Watercolor brush (magenta; also red on the collar), Pentel Pocket Brush Pen, Montana Acrylic Markers in various colors. (There's that lilac I mixed and love so much.) Dick watching TV while I sketched him on a page in a 9 x 12 inch Strathmore 500 Series Mixed Media wirebound journal. "It's a '10-pieces-of-Dove-Day," I […]
Warm Ups Matter—Continued
Left: Pentel Pocket Brush Pen sketch of Dick as he watched Ken Burns' "Mark Twain." With Montana acrylic markers. (The light green background is Golden Green Gold High Flow Acrylic. And I did throw on a light watery wash of Indanthrone blue watercolor in a couple places at the end.) Strathmore 500 Series Mixed Media […]