Currently Browsing: Popular Culture 53 articles
Television: The Big Bang Theory
For various reasons I’ve been rewatching shows I watched when they first ran. These days with all the streaming possibilities it’s hard some days to remember what TV used to be like, with the three networks and seasons, and summer re-runs and everyone in the office watching the same top shows. Then of course we […]
Another Grid
Lots of grids lately—something I like to keep coming back to. I’m including this grid, of sketches from Earth’s World Fairgoers, today because it will lead up to something later—a project post I’m taping for the end of the month. My point is to encourage you to look for patterns in your journaling and see […]
Kuretake Ai Liner Brush—Sepia Brush Pen
I’ve reviewed the original Kuretake Ai Liner brush with black pigmented ink before on my blog. Recently I saw there is now a sepia version. Who doesn’t like sketching in sepia ink now and then? I ordered up a sepia Kuretake Ai Liner pen from JetPens. (They run around $7.50 and I typically buy enough […]
Beard Alert—Death by Lightning
OK, if you’ve been reading my blog for even 10 minutes you’ll know I enjoy sketching men with beards. And I enjoy sketching faces when I watch TV. So it’s no surprise that I loved every moment of “Death by Lightning.” It didn’t hurt one bit that along with beards aplenty to draw there was […]
Sketching Throughout the Day and Eating Steak Again
The other day I wrote about “sketching anyway.” I’d meant to follow up with another post about this topic. On this day I was sketching squash and chefs. But when I pulled up the file I was reminded that those pages also documented my jaw failure. (September 2024). I wasn’t quite ready to revisit that in […]
Stippling, and Sketching Stubble with the Pentel Fine Brush Pen with Pigmented Ink
For contrast, after seeing how the Kuretake AI Ultra Fine Brush Pen (KAL) works, here is the Pentel Fine Brush with Pigmented ink (grey squeezy body) in a 9 x 11 or so inch Canson 180 Sketchbook. The pen just glides along, and thin to thick lines are easy to accomplish. Sure the Canson 180 […]
One More Look at the Kuretake Ai Liner Ultra Fine Brush Pen
We have been looking at what the Kuretake Ai Liner Ultra Fine Brush Pen (KAL) can do. Here’s a portrait of Matty from “The Great British Baking Show.” (Season 11 Episode 9) This was done with the KAL on Strathmore 500 series Mixed Media paper. This paper has as a slight tooth so fully saturated […]
Doodle Portrait as an Aging Literary Character
I don’t paint a lot of selfies. But now and then I start to doodle and some braids emerge on the page… Regular blog readers know I’ve had the same hairstyle for decades, almost half a century at this point. What some don’t know is that there was a period in my childhood when I […]
The Dynamics of Hair
I’m also interested in the dynamics of hair not just as in beards, but in hairstyles. This brings me back all the time to the 1960s. (I collect old school yearbooks.) Here’s a page spread from a book I bound using the now defunct Zerkall Nideggen— toned paper with a wavy laid pattern and delightful […]
Get Some Sketching Done This Weekend
After reading yesterday’s post you all dialoged with your favorite painter RIGHT?! Or engaged with a new artist you’re not comfortable with perhaps? You’ve got a study sketch or sketches, lots of notes, tons of ideas, maybe even some big plans for your art going forward. Great. Really, that’s great. But now it’s time to […]