A Very Lopsided Bottle

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Sketching beer bottles. Believe it or not (given the wonky perspective) done with a fair gap after drinking...

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Thumbnail Foxes

Some sketching and colour testing on an A6 Clairefontaine "Graf It" pad. Smoother than most sketching paper, but I like that. Holds up ok under light washes too, although I doubt it would take much more than that.

The Graf It pads are about £1 in this size, and worth picking up in my opinion.

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Ug Crappyfeet to Ug Cyclist

For reasons now lost back in the twitter timeline, I drew a quick sketch of a caveman cyclist, to taunt Nick (@aslongasicycle, and @vulpinecc supremo).

Ug Crappyfeet (Faber Castell 9000 (B) pencil, Moleskine Pocket Reporter)

I dashed this off, mostly to make a silly joke, but did like his expression, and posture.  I didn't like the positioning of his legs (the one nearest to us is all wrong, not where it should be on his body at all) and my lack of skill at drawing feet was cruelly exposed.

Nick was rather taken with it though, and as I was going to send the drawing to him, that gave me something of a spur to make more of the parts of it that I liked.  I gave myself a week to improve on it, and, as luck would have it, had a week with a bit more hobby time than is usual for me available.

Different media, faces.(Charcoal Pencil, Pastel Stick,
Moleskine Pocket Reporter)

The first thing I needed to do was recreate what I liked in the expression Ug had in the first image.  That's what I'm trying to do on this page, as well as trying a charcoal pencil and pastel stick.  I think the lesson we learn here is "stick to what you know".

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Colour testing using Derwent Watercolour Pencils (Koh-I-Noor 2B graphite, Centropen fineliner, Derwent Watercolour Pencils, Moleskine Pocket Reporter)

Once I'd got a handle on the character, I started to test colour blends.  The intention was to give Ug a Vulpine green cap and loin cloth, with the conceit being that they're made of some sort of fur or animal skin.  On the second page, you can see the different combinations labelled with their constituent colours.  At this stage, I still thought I'd use watercolour pencil, because they're more predictable than "proper" watercolours.

His stance and expression aren't great in this outline, but it was ok for a colour test.

Trying a different style of figure, and including the first iteration of his bike (Faber Castell 9000 (B) pencil, Seawhite A6 Sketchbook)

I tried one final attempt at a different style, which ended up like this, as I experimented with a more cartoon-like proportion for the figure.  I also wanted to work up the pre-historic bike idea I'd decided to include.  I hated this version - his expression is wrong, his stance is wrong, and the bike looks wrong.

The final figure/stance rough (Koh-I-Noor 2B Graphite, Moleskine Pocket Reporter)

This is my final figure rough, and it's probably the best iteration of Ug's stance that I did.  I like the posture and proportions here, and these are what I set out to transfer to the Seawhite book for the final painting.

Pencil outline of the final version (Faber Castell 9000 (B) Seawhite A6 Sketchbook)

So, I tried to recreate the stance of the final rough as best I could, and came up with a "Prehistoric Bike" - the idea being that it would have a frame made of branches (an earlier version had leaves &c sprouting from the tubes), tusk forks and ram's horn handlebars.

Inked, and ready to paint (Uni-Pin Fineliner, Seawhite A6 Sketchbook)

I debated whether to ink with my brushpen, but was a little worried about my ability to control the line over the fine details of this drawing.  The Uni-Pin doesn't have the vibrant line that the brushpen produces, but it does go where you point it, with a predictable line :)  It also comes out properly black, not the dark grey of the Centropen liners.  Note that I've missed inking the part under the twine "lug" between headtube and top tube. Cuh.

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First watercolour pass (Cotman 1/2 pan colours, Seawhite A6 Sketchbook)

I'd decided to paint this (rather than use watercolour pencil) well before I got to this stage, possibly as a reaction to my cowardice in not using the brushpen for inking :)  I used the facing page as a test page pretty extensively (see second picture) despite that, I think he's a bit pale for a caveman, even in the finished version.  Ah well.

 

Finished - Ug Cyclist.

The final version turned out ok, although I wish I was skilled enough to reproduce all the elements I liked of Ug's prior incarnations in one image!  As well as my misgivings about his skin tone, I'm not impressed with his legs, which still don't look right to me (the far leg doesn't look like the far leg, if you see what I mean...)  The inking is too heavy on his eyes too.

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Sketchbook - Monkey Dracula

Head detail of what should end up as a full length figure.Sometimes, you just have to get the ideas OUT OF YOUR HEAD.

Koh-I-Noor 2mm leadholder (2H), Seawhite A6 sketchbook. 

 

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Sketch Dump

Mouse in a Stetson.

Moleskine Pocket Reporter, Faber Castell 9000 (B), Uni Pin.

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Quick Look: Seawhite A6 Sketchpad

I was mooching around a local art supply shop on my lunch hour yesterday, and spotted these - this is part of a larger range that includes cahier and "mole-a-like" type books, as well as a handy looking square sketchbook. 

The range is reasonably priced (this hardback, 46 leaf A6 book comes in at £3.29) and what interested me was the claim that the paper was suitable for "all media". As I've been dipping my toe in watercolour lately, I thought it would be worth giving these a try.

I've not used watercolour in it yet, but here's a quick ink test;

I'm impressed to see that even usual suspects like Waterman Havana Brown, and Diamine Amazing Amethyst exhibit no feathering.  In fact, the only criticism I'd level at the paper is that it's a bit "toothy" for use with fountain pens, that's to be expected in a sketchbook though. 

The covers are a firm, cloth covered board, with a "Seawhite of Brighton" logotype debossed into the rear cover.  The signatures are stitched, then glued into the binding.  The cover overhangs the paper slightly, by what looks to me to be 3 or 4mm on the bottom and side, and 2 or 3mm on top.  The book needs a little encouragement to lie flat, but at this price, I can put up with that.

The pocket size "mole-a-like" book is slightly more expensive, at £4.39 (I think) but I'm very tempted to pick one up after trying this sketchbook - I particularly like the look of the half blank/half lined version of the moleskine style too.  Unfortunately they're not "reporter" format (they're bound portrait style), but again, for the paper, and the price...

Seawhite only sell their products directly from their factory shop (otherwise selling wholesale only) but you can find stockists at their website.

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Watercolour Doodling

Fifteen minutes or so of messing about with watercolour pencils, drawing a little fox playing in the rain.

 

Quite pleased with the colour blending, the tones &c less so (the darker parts of the wash are a bit random).  Also, I shouldn't have added highlights to his tail with a gel pen, it looks wrong.

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I Misunderstood "Draw Something"

But it seems a shame to waste this Monkey in a Top hat.

 

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Sketchbook: The DIY Badger

Poor old Badger. Mrs Badger is at her mother's, and she wants that carpet down, and those skirting boards up by the time she gets back. Is it any wonder the DIY Badger is stressed?

Inspired by my daughter's Maths homework, on area and perimeter. (All the problems were based on Badger laying flooring in his rooms, centred around how much material he'd need to shell out for).

Took about 30 minutes (I think), drawn in a cheap A5 sketchpad from "The Works", with a 0.7mm Staedtler Mars Micro pencil.

(Sorry to anyone who saw this on Tumblr as well - this is a (better) scan rather than a cameraphone shot).

SKETCHBOOK - A Magickle Sheep

So, the day before yesterday there was some discussion about sportwool, and its amazing ability to keep you comfortable in both warm and cool weather. I think it was photography's Guy Collier who mused on how it could do this.

And the answer that sprang into my head was "...because they use the wool from MAGICKLE SHEEPS." I was unable to get that out of my head, so sat down with the sketchbook for half an hour last night.

Self Criticism Dept:
The head is too blocky, overly large & not oval enough.
The rear legs are flat out weird.
The Paul Daniels Sheep would have presented more of a challenge.
I really should start scanning them instead of taking pictures of them with my N97.

STUFFE will be back tomorrow, all being well.

STUFFE

MESSENGERS
From sashae's Flickr stream comes this interesting New York Magazine piece on bicycle messengers, originally published in 1986;

"Fast Company: Wheel Tales of Manhattan's Bike Messengers"

"...they are fast becoming folk heroes - the pony express riders of the eighties."

GAZZETTA JERSEYS
La Gazzetta Sportwool Jerseys now available. Made in the UK by the EXCELLENT folk at Shutt Velo Rapide, La Gazzetta's jersey is now available at a special pre-order price. If you've never tried a proper merino jersey, you're in for a real treat - synthetic jerseys will never seem quite as good to you again.

The Pre Order Page is here;
"La Gazzetta Sportwool Jersey"

ADVENTURE CYCLING
I believe there isn't really such a thing as a "do it all" bike. This is why it's ok for me to have three, and be thinking about the purchase of AT LEAST another two.

Fortunately, Salsa disagree, and showed some interesting takes on the idea at the recent "Sea Ottter" show.

Singletrack World has a good run down of the new stuff coming our way from Salsa. The attention to detail is really nice in their new line - swinging dropouts on the bikes (allow single speed or geared setups without the use of half links for the former), and rack beds contoured to hold roll shaped luggage like karrimats or sleeping bags are the standouts for me.

There's a nice looking seat stay/seat post mounted rack too that would make an ideal support for a large saddle bag. Interesting stuff. Road.cc has a "first look" piece on the "Vaya" road bike too.

Is "Adventure by Bike" a better slogan than "Ride and Smile" though?

SKETCHBOOK
It's Marcelle Holt's birthday today. She's splendid, and deserves a large cake, SO I DONE HER A PICTURE.