Currently Browsing: Watercolor 409 articles
Demonstration Review of the Pilot Shunpitsu Pocket Brush Pen
Sometimes when I’m under the weather the best thing I can do is test new tools and materials. I find that it takes my focus aways from any aches, pains, or in the current case coughs and general systems failures. (I don’t have Covid, I just have a bad case of bronchitis which even with […]
Commit to a Line or Correction
A couple days ago I wrote about accepting wonky lines. Here’s a sketch I haven’t posted, but just came across in organizing my files. Sometimes I have so much fun with the ears I don’t reach quite high enough for the head—but I commit to the correction and just start adding the hair, or in […]
Embrace the Wonkiness
Too many of my students fuss and fuss over a wonky line, or worse, stop a sketch altogether because a likeness is lost. But I think there is great fun in diving in with a bold pen and feeling about for the features, one wonky line after the other. Finishing something leads to something else […]
Ink Wash Portrait: I Miss Gelatin-Sized Watercolor Papers
This is another comic guest from “As Yet Untitled with Alan Davies.” I’m sorry I don’t remember his name, the book is in storage. A lovely 8 x 7.5 inch journal that always seems a perfect size to me. I used brush pen and ink wash on this sketch. And I did pause the TV […]
In Context: Some Relationship Advice from Ronny Chieng
Great advice from Ronny Chieng, when something goes awry and you and your partner have to get on with things— and then some pears, because there are always pears around to sketch.
I Knew Very Little About Prue Leith Until…
Last December, already a fan of “The Great British Baking Show” I knew very little about the host Prue Leith except her love of wonderfully colorful glasses, wacky jewelry, and her kindness to the bakers. While poking about on Amazon Prime one evening I found, “My Greatest Dishes.” Each episode features a famous chef going […]
Another Dog Portrait…
As we leave July and my Patreon discussions about dog portraits I simply wanted to make a case, through one more portrait, about contrast. It’s vital, it draws the eye, it’s fun to build up. Here’s a sketch from 2018. I liked the textures (and suggested textures) so much that all I wanted was a […]
The Case for Not Finishing a Sketch
I’m the first person to encourage people to finish what they start. In fact I encourage people to push past the point where they think they have finished, because until you “break” a few sketches you don’t really know where that point of finish resides. But I also wanted to put a word in today […]
The Puzzle of Starbuck
Look, I’ve read Melville’s “Moby Dick” three times in my life—I’m not about to read it again. But that doesn’t mean I stop thinking about it. Growing up all I could think about was Queequeg, his coffin, his ability to see what was coming, sort of. Lately I can’t stop thinking about another character: Starbuck. […]
A Little Bit of Collage Can Be Your Friend
You know how I like to paint on drawing paper? Sometimes the paper complains. That happened when I put in the Montana Marker background on this page spread. The marker ink/paint saturated and roughed up the paper at the top of the page. I didn’t want the paper to be weak there because it would […]