Currently Browsing: Pentel Brush Pens 57 articles
Doodling: Let Your Mind Play—Remind It of the Value of Play
I’m often doddle and draw on non-art papers—simply because I’m sitting at my desk working and all that I have immediately around me is office supplies—bond copier paper and Post-It Notes™. (You see both of those types of paper in the first image today.) I wrote earlier this month, and many other times in the […]
Brush Pen and Ink Wash Meet Hair
Hair, wavy hair. I find it fascinating. It can be on the 1910 era women I’ve been sketching lately, or on actors playing gangsters on crime shows (which this actor was). Look about for what interests you. Draw that. The pages literally fill themselves.
In Context: A Brush Pen Portrait and What I Was Reading
You can click on this image to see what I was reading about on this day. This is from a journal I bound using the now defunct Nideggen toned paper.
Revisiting the Ultra-fine Tipped Pentel Artist’s Brush Sign Pen
This is sort of an “In-Context” post. You can read the text and see what I was thinking about. Yes I am having trouble getting out of “teacher-mode” and still making notes to myself about the various choices I’m making in art. (Well in life too.) I thought this portrait sketch was particularly contrary and […]
Do It Again
Anyone reading my blog knows how important I think practice is. Too often people make a drawing or painting, get halfway (or more) through, and give up. I hear from students who’ve done this. Typically they don’t draw after such a session for several days or more. The better action is to have another […]
My Favorites Are Not Your Favorites; It’s a Good Thing
It always momentarily amazes me which paintings I post on Instagram get the most likes. Paintings I absolutely love usually gain low scores. Dogs and chickens are popular. I understand that. I offer this comment here for past students who may wonder why people are not falling in love with the painting they just posted […]
Thinking about Ink Wash
Last week I started another one of these notebooks with printed ink lines. I always have a book like this near the TV so I can sketch if the mood takes me. This sketch is from spring 2021. It seems a lifetime ago. Back then Niji water brushes were what I was used to when […]
Adventures with Unknown Paper
A few years ago I stopped in at Wet Paint and there was a box of 22 x 30 inch paper on the paper counter. “What’s this?” I asked. To make a long story short it was a mystery paper sent by a mill by mistake. When they called the mill to fix the order […]
Lines: Achieving a Likeness with Different Approaches
I love working in a series just in an evening—sketching the same subject over and over to see how I can approach it with different tools, media, or even just something like line which is infinitely variable. I’ve posted three sketches of British actor Robert Morley in this post. I became a fan of his […]
There’s Something Marvelous About Brush Pen on Bright White Paper
When you need a break I think you can always squeeze in one or two quick brush pen sketches. I think the crispness of a brush pen line, even when it drags to dry-brush lines, is cheering against the white of the paper. The lines say, “This is the boundary, this is the texture.” […]