Camping sketch

Real pen on real paper :)

It's good for the soul.  This was one of the most peaceful hours I've have spent in a long time ... just me, sitting in my tent, drawing what I could see, while the rest of the world slept. 

I love the challenge of a pen drawing on paper.  

Using a very fine tip pen makes anything possible though, because each line is just another hatch in a mess of hatch lines :). 

digital portrait sketch

... these sketches keep me sane some days ...

The danger is that I can become completely wrapped up in a piece once I start, which can make it a bad idea for doing while at work.  Yet, it also provides an exciting kind of a break that doesn't have me surfing the net, checking facebook, etc. etc.

This is a sketch of myself and a friend.

 

... another meeting

I find it difficult to sit still for an extended amount of time sometimes.

This little sketch was made in ball point ink pen, then photographed with my i-phone, and finally digitally corrected (painted) in SAI. 

it's a study :)

 

work meeting

hahaha

Well, we ARE a studio ... I was seated on the ground (it's more comfortable there sometimes) and I had an excellent view of the chair in front of me.  I like to doodle while I listen, and it struck me as a great little challenge to see if I could get enough of this chair down before the end of the meeting.  

... and in pen. 

:)

add a little marker, and voila

the base of an office chair.

 

I like these little studies.

 

just keep drawing

My family is camping, and I could not make it to join them this year.

I am really looking forward to seeing some of their photos though!  I had been planning to do a lot of sketching in all of the wonderful leisure time that camping affords ... 

Instead, I will sketch from photos.  Any drawing is good practice you see :).

And this is how I like my sketchbooks to look: 

This is the same drawing, photographed twice (i-phone photo)

I think I liked it better when it was just pen.

The values were added with copic markers - a couple of grey tones.

Portraiture ... an evolution towards digital

This is the drawing / painting with photo reference right next to it. I began with a sketch (pen) in my sketchbook, and then used Copic marker to add skin tones and shadows (colour). 

Then I scanned the drawing and brought it into SAI, and added the darker values of the background (and shirt).  I really love the flexibility and accuracy that I can achieve using a combination of both traditional and digital media :).