Colour

Some small class results with colour

Lanzarote, February 2016

Stuart4 Comments

Or, “How much can you sketch in 1 week?”

I was on Lanzarote in Costa Teguise for 9 days and took along 4 sketch books.
I used 3.

  • 1 Hahnemühle DINA5 sketch book soft and rough paper (good for biros and colour pencils) 40 pages (10 sheets), I think it cost 1.99€
  • 1 Moleskine pocket size watercolour sketch book, 60 pages (12.99€)
  • 1 Moleskine DINA6 journal (cahier pocket), 96 pages (three for 6.90€)

I had a travelers’ pack of watercolours (12), a mixed hair paint brush, waterbrush, colour pencils, biro, Derwent Graphik Line Maker 0.1.

And I drew and drew and drew.

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A Brace of Models

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Stuart: Oh, look we have two models tonight!
Torsten: No, she made a mistake, it’s ok, she’s going now.
Female Model: Hi!
Stuart: Hi, Female Model! Great, two models tonight!
Female Model: Yeah, I don’t mind. But it’s too expensive.
Stuart: Well, if it’s only about the money … we have enough.
[Stuart approaches Torsten again]
Stuart: She’s willing to stay. We can afford it, can’t we?!
Torsten: Hmm, but some of our artists already have enough on their plate with one model.
[3 minutes later, Female Model is undressed on the little stage]
Stuart: Hey, Female Model, you can thank me for this!
Female Model: Yeah, you can call the poses!

Oh, I love my Life Drawing Classes, but tonight was my last one for months. I haven’t registered for the next course, because SBS and “daily” gesture sketching is taking up enough of my precious time.

But here are the results of tonight’s “brace of models” and also a sneak peek into my second week at SBS.

So, what’s this with the paper … looks like a calendar. Yes, it is a half price Moleskine weekly calendar. I wanted something that feels and looks great, but is not too “precious” and can still, just about take watercolours (it was still expensive, for half price: 10€) .

One last pic tonight in a small, absolutely lovely Moleskine watercolour booklet (10 minutes):

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OK, this is the stuff I took to Life Drawing Class tonight:

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Oh, look, there’s even a picture of me in there.

Now to SBS. Well, I am absolutely blown away. I can’t believe how much of my hidden creative seam has been mined in these 12 days.

I’ll just give you something of mine to look at from this last Klass with Jill Weber … it’s all about telling stories and making books.

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The Tools of Kreativity

Stuart4 Comments

Well, the first week of SketchBookSkool (SBS) is well underway.

I’m very impressed with the channels of creativity it has already allowed me to explore. The videos are short, but wow!, they are incredible. I’ve had a sneek peak of Felix Scheinberger painting a little comical bird in 3 minutes with a water brush (and lighter!/Feuerzeug). I’ve been hand-lettering (thanks to Koosje’s lessons) at work during meetings.

I just sat down and did this (hey, why am I doing all that gesture drawing practice anyway?):

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Tools in use:

  • pencil (B)
  • handcrafted (turned) nib holder (from the Siegburg Weihnachtsmarkt)
  • Heintze&Blanckertz “G” nib
  • “Dirk Weber, Bonn” Indian Ink wasserfest
  • Koi water brush
  • rag (old vest of mine, sorry, I was sure you wanted to know that)
  • Winsor&Newton Colman traveler’s watercolour set
  • 1917 Leuchtturm sketchpad

Since the course started on Friday, I sketched all of this:

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I wonder what Ed (mostlydrawing.com) will say about my interpretation of Hokusai … ?

blauw blau blue bleu

Stuart2 Comments

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I’m not sure, what to think of these pics from tonight’s Life Class.
Lamy fountain pen on 190gsm, A3, and Faber-Castell Albrecht Dürer pencil.
I’m sure my pen has moved more fluidly on past evenings, but building up tone with the Albrecht Dürer pencil was very therapeutic, even if not always too easy, what with the lighting conditions we have in our Life Class room.
It’s interesting to see that I only have 1 1/2 hours of drawings but the evening is 2 1/4 hours long. So we spend 45 minutes chatting and relaxing somewhere along the line.

Snow, Rain and Life

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[Stuart arrives at Life Class]
[Outside it’s raining, snowing, and sleeting]
Richard: Hi Stuart, the tutor called, he’ll be late, but the model’s already here.
Stuart: No heaters? No Life equipment?
Model (teeth chattering): I need those heaters, I’m soaking, need to get out of these clothes.
Stuart: Well, bad luck, get on that stage now … 10 minutes ok for you?

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[Tutor arrives]
Tutor: Ok, hi folks, let’s do a pose and then I’ve got an idea for you.
[Heaters are set up]

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Tutor: Hey, the next half an hour, we’re drawing blind.

Stuart: Yeeees, this is what I’m talking about. What a great experience! The result isn’t important, but the act of looking at the model becomes so intense.
Tutor: Now see if you can use anything you learnt in the past half an hour.

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Stuart: Well, I’m not complaining, that was really fun. Used my Lamy Safari “F” nib, Blue/Black ink, in a rough surface, 110gsm, A4 sketch book. The paper really soaks up that ink.

Life Class Impressions

Stuart2 Comments

Another evening and an attempt with a slightly different tool set:

  • Faber-Castell PITT artist pen “big brush” COLD GREY
  • Faber-Castell PITT artist pen “B” COLD GREY
  • Faber-Castell PITT artist pen “S” BLACK
  • Faber-Castell Albrecht Dürer watercolour pencils
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The “big brush” was a bit unhandy and hard to control for me. Later in the evening I moved back to the Albrecht Dürer pencils, which I enjoyed working with. It’s time for me to return to the daily gestures.

The Sustained Study

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Before I left for Life Class I picked up my copy of Kimon Nicoleides’ “The Natural Way To Draw”. I read through the section “The Sustained Study” (section 13, pretty far into the book). OK, I’m not going to see any sustained poses in the Life Class, but this section mentions:

“Make a decision as to what you will consider the main source of light [..] and attempt to use only the one set of shadows which indicates the one source of light.” – Kimon Nicoleides

So today I thought, I’d go with my wax crayons and Albrecht Dürer colour pencils and give this shadow and light source choosing method a go.

In Class, the teacher gave us some additional ideas to make things more interseting. We were to add lines, boxes or whatever to create the sense of environment, perspective and play with it a little.

20151110_evening-1 20151110_evening-2The wax crayons are not easy to control once the tip has rubbed down, which is pretty much straight away. But it was fun, if a little challenging to try a new tool out.

Keep It Small and Simple (KISS)

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Just back from figure drawing class. Using A6 sketchbooks and the A5 Moleskine concertina sketchbook.

Also accompanied by:

  • Winsor&Newton Colman watercolour travelers’ set
  • My waterbrushes (Pentel and Koi)
  • The Da Vinci RedSable/BlueSable/Squirrel/Synthetic brush size no. 6
  • Lamy fountain pen with Lamy Royal Ink cartridge
  • Copic Multiliner (black, 0.3)
  • F-C. Albrecht Dürer watercolour pencils

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Moleskin concertina (approx. A5) (everyone loves this, get one for yourself) with Lamy and waterbrush. 2 x 15 minutes.

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A6 sketch book, Copic + DaVinci and Colman paints. 15 minutes.

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A6 + Lamy and waterbrush. 10 minutes.

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Moleskin A6 journal (cahier). Copic + Albecht Dürer pencils and waterbrush. 3 x 5 minutes.