Sketches 3-7-12

I've gotten back into the habit of sketching since I don't have as much time to work on other drawings while I'm at college (I can't very well haul around all my supplies from 9-5 everyday!). I've been experimenting with all sorts of new media and tools, andI feel like I've really branched out a bit but at the same time, returned to my roots where I used to just sketch from imagination and draw all sorts of critters.

I have 3 sketchbooks going right now: a Pentalic Nature Sketch, Aquabee Super Deluxe, and the good 'ol Artist's Hand Book I've been working on for a couple years now. I'm using the Pentalic as a watercolor sketchbook, the Aquabee as an all purpose one, and the Hand Book for a bit of everything as well.

Mostly, I've been playing with Derwent Graphitint pencils. They're excellent sketching pencils and make a lively alternative to a plain graphite pencil thanks to the calm, subd color... it's not full-blast like watercolor pencils or colored pencils, and it handles exactly like graphite. When you apply water, it turns into something very much like watercolor. Some of the colors are not very lightfast whatsoever, but they're too pretty to not use. I actually bought a pencil in one of the colors, Juniper, specifically because it's a really beautiful purple color and I wanted to do monochrome sketches with it... its lightfastness rating is a 1, meaning it'll fade in under a year if exposed to regular light.

A flying squid. Used an ocean blue and chestnut Graphitint pencil.

Another flying squid in ocean blue Graphitint.

A cuttlefish in steel blue Graphitint with an ocean blue background.

A grackle, drawn with a watersoluble sketching pencil.

Blue jay, in those two blue Graphitints.

One of the mocking birds I've watched grow up by my house this year. This one was drawn with colors from the Graphitint 12 pencil set, used dry.  The colors seem to be very well suited to nature.

A tufted titmouse, the first thing I drew with the Graphitint set.

3 mushrooms from imagination.

A wasp and a carpenter bee, drawn in the Aquabee sketchbook, no less. Top was with a Derwent onyx pencil, bottom was with one of my old Sanford Ebony pencils. They don't make 'em like those anymore... I've heard the quality is very poor these days. I'm glad that mom got me a few boxes of them years ago.

As you may notice, some of these are on small cards. I bought a few packs of pre-cut Artist trading cards and have been using them for small sketches. Friends seem to love having these little cards as collectables or for bookmarks and whatnot.

Me as Everything (pt.1)

Spiral



Lion


The Machine Spirit

A while back, I figured I'd try something different from regular self-portraits and start incorporating other elements into them. So the result is these weird amalgamations of me and various other things. They're kind of creepy.

The Machine Spirit & Lion are both 9x12" ink and watercolor paintings on Arches cold-pressed watercolor paper. The nautilus one is an 8x10" on an Arches hot-pressed board. Can't remember what all colors I used, usually it's a mix of Maimeri and Winsor & Newton. Mostly burnt sienna, cobalt blue, sepia, and thio violet.

I can't say enough good things about the Arches boards, they're the same great paper but mounted on an archival board that doesn't warp when wet, so it's more convenient than plain paper albeit more expensive per sheet.

Watercolor Swatches

Tonight I took the time to make color swatches of the 19 watercolor paints I have.
Make sure to view the full size image.


I labeled the brand and color beneath each sample, although my handwriting never improved past about a 2nd grade level, so if you can't read any of them and want to know, just ask.








My oldest paints are the Winsor & Newton Cotman paints, a student line but they seem to be of fairly good quality and have some nice colors. I've done at least a dozen ink and wash paintings using only the W&N paints you see here: earth colors. They work well together and are great for sketching/painting landscapes and fall scenery.

The Van Gogh and Grumbacher paints are also student paints that I pick up sometimes at art stores when they're on sale. You can find them extremely cheap and they seem to be very good paints for the money. For around $2, I can't find anything to beat them for cost/quantity/quality in a student paint for sketching or adding color to ink drawings.

I really like the Maimeri Blu paints. Their Cobalt Blue is completely awesome even though it's really expensive, and their Cadmium colors are very vibrant, the only fault I have with them (Cadmium in general as a watercolor pigment) is that they are so opaque. That does have its uses, though.
The blue is a bit grainy but really potent, it mixes up some nice purples or greens with ease.
The earth colors are good. I strongly recommend you at least try their blues and siennas. From what I've red, they make some good violet colors as well.
Viridian is a nice sea-green color and I've found it useful for painting plants.