Just Drawing

Waiting for the Kurs to start

Jan 13, 2016Jan 14, 2016Stuart2 Comments

I’m waiting for my first ever Kurs to start over at sketchbookskool.com and I’m starting to get itchy and want to be kreative for a change. So why not draw a komic strip of myself waiting for my first ever Kurs to start over at sketchbookskool.com. 20160113-1

I took some quick photos and decided pretty quickly on the panel setup I wanted for the comic strip. I needed a few minutes to calculate and draw the panels’ frames, loaded the photos onto the PS3 (at least one thing it’s good for) and displayed them on the TV. 3 hours later, non-stop working, quick pencil pre-sketching (B lead) and making final marks with marker (Derwent 0.1) we have this result (DINA3, 190 gr/sqm).

(I believe, I have never done anything like this before.)

Learning from the Masters with R.B.Hale

Jan 2, 2016May 23, 2026StuartLeave a comment

A year back, I mentioned this book by Robert Beverly Hale (Drawing Lessons From The Great Masters). I’d read through it and was very impressed. But this time I’m not just reading, I’m even drawing the Masters’ works and really studying what Mr. Hale (an outstanding teacher) writes about them.

I know my results are not presentable, but the experience of concentrating on the Masterwork and attempting to see or feel what the artist was doing or where he (strangely enough, artists were all “he”s centuries ago) stresses a line (where one doesn’t actually exist … I mean, we’ve all heard this before: lines don’t exist, they are a technique to transport a change in light, orientation, colour, surface texture (in German: Oberflächenbeschaffenheit), form, and probably more to the audience) … where was I? … oh, yes, “Where he stresses a line …” Well, the experience is just really worth it, I feel a connection, I don’t mind if my result looks only similar to the Masters’, I’m pretty convinced something of the lesson will seek into my subconscious and improve my future Life Drawing results. Oh, yes, funnilly enough, these Masters’ works seem only to be of figures, they didn’t care much for drawing shoes, coffee perculators, bags of flour. Strange. But I don’t suppose there was much call for it back then.

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Practice makes Perfect!

Dec 16, 2015StuartLeave a comment

We had our last Life Class evening for 2015 yesterday.

And I’m taking the opportunity here to look back a few months at some comparable Life Class results.

Most of these are fountain pen drawings. I have really fallen in love with drawing with a fountain pen and I notice my progress, coming from scratchy lines and moving on to more convincing, clean and especially more decisive lines.

Here is last nights result and then the order is from oldest to latest drawings.

20151215_evening-1 — 2015/12/15, last night

The following drawings start in August 2015 and represent my Life Drawings progress of the last 4 months.

20150804_figure_class_4 — 2015/08/04, trying out pencils again

20150818-1 — 2015/08/18, same model as last night, but 4 months earlier

20151208_life_class-2 — 2015/12/08, last week

Master Of Life

Dec 8, 2015Stuart5 Comments

Carla: Stuart, Torsten isn’t coming today. Go get the stuff. Here’s the key.

[Stuart goes and gets the stuff]

Model:Ok, then. What would you like?
Stuart: (being as he got the stuff and also has a big mouth) OK, we’ll start with 3 times 5 minutes to warm up …

[and so the evening begins, with a new “Master Of Life” … me, me, me]

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[Two of my fountain pens ran dry while drawing tonight. A3, 190g paper.]

Carla: Stuart, take the key back to the restaurant and put the chain across the parking area.

[Ok, I must admit, Carla had her hand bandaged and I still have a big mouth.]

Don’t forget to check out my gestures.

blauw blau blue bleu

Dec 1, 2015Stuart2 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.

Sick Left Hands

Nov 28, 2015Nov 28, 2015Stuart2 Comments

[Sorry, Ed (author of Six Left Hands)]

Back in the times before Paris … <interlude> … you know, I follow a few great sketching sites on wordpress … and one of those are Suhita Shirodkar’s sketchaway … </interlude> well, a few days before Paris, Suhita published a blog entry with a tonal study of her left hand.
And I thought, hey, I’ve got one of those (i.e. left hand and even a blog, too). Here’s Suhita’s left hand: hand_shadows.jpg.

So I continued running a few days with 30(!) second gesture drawings of other peoples’ hands… Then Paris happened.

Yeah, well, anyway, and then Ed published his six lefties and I thought, Stuart, the time is ripe again, are your hand skills up to scratch? … do a few more quick gesture drawings and give it a try.

Today, in every free 20 minute slot, I jumped to the challenge. Lamy fountain pen in hand. Sometimes standing in front of the mirror. So some lefties look like righties. Enjoy.

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And here are some of the quick gesture sketches. You can see more of these gesture sketches in the gesture sub-menu.

Snow, Rain and Life

Nov 24, 2015StuartLeave a comment

[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.

Tea time

Oct 8, 2015May 23, 2026StuartLeave a comment

Spent the day in town with my wife and my Polychromos pencils.
Packed in a bunch of browns today, too (sorry, I just see it was ochres: Brown Ochre, Burnt Ochre and Light Ochre, and a Van Dyke Brown).

In the Tea Room after our Syrian meatballs and cold starters, I signalled to my wife it was reading time for her as I retrieved my pencils and Leuchtturm1917 DINA6 sketchbook from my mens’ purse. I’d decided to attempt capturing my last cup of tea.

I began with the background (negative space), outlining the cup and saucer with Van Dyke Brown, Scarlet Lake (red Teapot in background) and Burnt Carmine. Then I went for the shading with Light Grey (too light) and Sky Blue. Had trouble with the gold plated rims. The tea itself was built up slowly, whereby I had noticed the cup’s rim reflecting in it and that the colour had a somewhat consistent shade, but still managed to change tones in places.

What I can say is, it is simpler for me to work with the dry medium at the moment when out and about. I have noticed in one of the books currently on the top of my pile (Tommy Kane Sketches The World: An Excuse to Draw) that the author also seems to use coloured pencils a lot.

I haven’t turned my back completely on watercolours yet. I certainly heard more “Aaahh!” and “Ummm!”-ing when using the watercolours while in town.

Monschau in the Eifel

Oct 7, 2015May 23, 2026StuartLeave a comment

We spent a few days in Monschau.
I took along

Polychromos colour pencils
Albrecht Dürer watercolour pencils
Twelve Colman half pan watercolours
Da Vinci mixed hair paint brush, size 6
A Copic 0.3 fine liner
Small Moleskine watercolour sketch book
DIN A6 Leuchtturm1917 sketch book (190gsm A6)
… and a few other little things (pens, pencils, sharpener)

Well, it was too much. Perhaps it was the weather’s fault (mostly drizzly) or all the walking we did. I’m considering only taking one medium (probably dry) next time. Having so many possibilities, I felt overwhelmed, as if somebody was expecting too much of me. Had even taken some cheap paper and my George Bridgman “Bible” with me to do some practicing for figure drawing.

2 sketches came out of this trip.

A sketch of my wife reading at the Rur-Cafe. (Watercolours in Moleskine, 20 minutes) .. When I look at this, I realise I may have been watching too much rugby lately. No, seriously, I’d decided to paint my wife reading, and then her “salad on the side” arrived (what am I trying to say here? … I hope my wife doesn’t read this blog. Lena, are you reading this?).

And a sketch from the Kräutergarten on the slopes overlooking Monschau. Here you see Monschau castle residing above the old town centre. (Polychromos pencils in Leuchtturm1917) (20 minutes, with some colour “depth-corrections” in the following days.)

The last few hours, we spent on the Hohes Venn (High Fens). Beautiful yellow-browns with some violett-purple hints of bilberry bushes, ponds reflecting the complete bright-greyness of the sky. I’ll attempt to capture that tomorrow from memory. Some watercolour techniques could come in handy.

When we leave for our next trip, this Sunday, I’m just taking dry mediums with me:

Polychromos
Pencils
Pens

Or will the watercolours stray into my luggage again … ?

“Kontenklärung” at the “Deutsche Rentenversicherung”

Sep 10, 2015May 23, 2026StuartLeave a comment

Waiting room and queues.
Copic 0.3 metal nib and later at home some watercolour pencils.

The people here seemed to be nervous, nobody standing still for more than 10 seconds, no mobiles in hand … when leaving I noticed there was a sign: no mobiles. But when has that stopped anyone? Were all present just too old for mobiles? That’s why we were here, wasn’t it? Because soon, we will be drawing(!) a pension. Me, I only have to wait another 24 years.
—
Today, I had my appointment to help the fund managers clarify my pension fund account at one of Germany’s many pension fund service points (for me it is the “Deutsche Rentenversicherung” and clarifying the account is a “Kontenklärung”).