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., originally uploaded by John the Monkey.

A sketch made using the Noodler's Ahab, and Monteverde Burgundy ink.  

Black Paper

In response to this post over at "A Penchant for Paper", here's some different things on black paper.  The paper is from a Seawhite A5, wire bound sketchbook.

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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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Staedtler Lumograph & Faber Castel 9000 Pencils

I was in my local art supply shop today, and they stock the Staedtler Lumograph, a pencil I've seen recommended a couple of times.  I bought one, and here's a quick comparison with my current favourite Faber Castell 9000 (both pencils are 2B grade);

1) The Lumograph has the darker line - the Faber Castell is a noticeably lighter colour side by side.
2) The Faber Castell blends/smudges more easily - a series of vertical strokes is easily blended into a smooth patch of grey - the Lumograph strokes are still somewhat visible even after quite vigorous smudging.
3) Here, at least, the Faber Castell is cheaper (between 10 and 20 pence cheaper, depending on where you buy).

The difference between the two pencils isn't enormous, but the Faber Castell 9000 is the one I like best - it's slightly smoother, and I like the ease with which it blends.  The Lumograph seems to hold a point better, and I can see that its dark, tenacious line could be useful on occasion.

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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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A New Thing - Caran d'Ache Gouache Studio 8

Caran D'Ache Gouache Studio Set

I was mooching around my local WH Smiths when I found this.  It was on the clearance shelf, and marked down for being damaged (£10 rather than £15 or £20, depending on where you look for the rrp). 

Inside the Box

A quick examination revealed that nothing was missing, and that the contents were in good condition (the outer cardboard sleeve was a mess, and that seemed to be all). So, an impulse buy was made.

What you get (in a large plastic clamshell case) is a decent no.5 brush, seven cakes of gouache, and a tube of white.

With the Paint Tray Lifted Out 

The tray holding the paints can be lifted out, giving a very large space for mixing colours.  The paints themselves are student quality, apparently, which means they won't be hugely light fast, but by all accounts will provide a decent way to try out this type of paint.

Colour Test

I've not done much with these yet (the colour test is the only thing I'm comfortable showing off) - the appeal for me is the opacity - and also the reason I'm finding things difficult, having become accustomed to watercolour! Figuring out how much water to add is proving tricky too.  With that said, they mix nicely enough, and once I figure out how/if I can get the effect I want, I think I'll enjoy them.  If I fail, I'll just use them for adding to my watercolours :)

 

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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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