Currently Browsing: process 31 articles
Different Drawing Approaches for the Same Subject
Just this week I was asked by nine people how I start my drawings. I use different approaches to start my drawings depending on what pen I’m using, the paper size, and even just how I feel my eyes are doing on any given day. For a more detailed response I explain that I have […]
Coming Up in July on Patreon
During July I’ll continue my discussion of dog portraits. Subscribers can watch me sketch this ink portrait. I’ll also look at minimal line and wash approaches to sketching a white dog. I hope you’ll come and join the conversation.
Giving Yourself Feedback
Recently on the blog I wrote about how it’s important to ask yourself questions in your journal. It’s also important to give yourself feedback in your journal. I find it useful when I’m making portrait studies to write short notes to myself about the angles that need correction, proportions, colors used and so on. I […]
On Deciding Which Version of a Sketch You Like Best…
Here’s the final version I did of this brush pen and watercolor sketch on toned (tan paper); with a little bit of white gouache for the highlights. (The cheek is actually the paper color.) Sometimes when I’m sketching I enjoy the plain sketch, or some early version of the sketch so much, that I stop […]
In Context—It’s All Grist for the Mind Mill
Ever since childhood I’ve been the type of journal keeper who has visual elements in amongst written elements. It doesn’t matter if it’s something that I hear on the street, or in this case on the TV. It doesn’t matter if it is something that I’m reading. Everything is fair game, and I get down […]
Bookbinding and Journaling, I Can Be Contrary In My Choices
I started the new year with one of the journals I bound in the fall of 2017. (I made 50 plus journals in a month while in a cast [foot and ankle] due to a fall down some stairs. Another contrary choice I see in hindsight—but the orthopedic surgeon had cleared me for activity.) It […]
In Context: Acceptance
This is from my 5 x 8 inch or so Hand•Book Watercolor Journal I was carrying in my purse at the time. I was sitting in the eye doctor’s office for the umpteenth time, sketching people in line at the counter as I wanted for my appointment. (I am fascinated by winter coats and so […]
Accepting Changes in Your Process
I’ve written quite a bit about accepting changes in your process throughout the 11 years of this blog. It is a common theme in my teaching. One of the things that seems to hang students up the most is the notion that there must be one “right” way to do something. I’m constantly telling crop […]
The Right Pen with the Right Paper?
I have spent years telling students that there is no perfect paper. There is no perfect pen. That’s still true! Why write today that there is a right pen with the right paper? Because sketching, if you’re going to do it all the time, should be, in fact needs to be, fun. And one of […]
What Are You Waiting for? Go Ahead Paint on Note Paper
“What Are You Waiting for? Go Ahead Paint on Note Paper” pretty much says it all. Here’s a spread from one of my green lined journals. You can find non-art journals in any bookstore on earth—typically with botanical sketches or pink covers that will appeal to 16 year old girls. (Well actually to […]