It's the little things

I'm at a point in my sketchbook where I still have a few pages to fill but not enough to take it with me on a trip anymore.

Call me obsessive, but I don't like to have a few pages about the same trip spread over several sketchbooks.

So I'm slowly filling it with drawings of various little things from everyday life, trying out compositions, colours, techniques.

Wonky contour drawing and play with writing...

The wonkiness makes it fun

...illustrating a quote from Fabio Consoli from Sketchbook Skool...

Who doesn't like a good plate of spaghetti with tomato sauce?

...keeping a memento of delicious treats from Strasbourg.

I'll have to bring more next time.

It's the little things that fill the sketchbook.

All about the ballpoint pens

This week I have been thinking a lot about ballpoint pens. All because of Andrea Joseph and her klass in Sketchbook Skool.

She does amazing things with simple pallpoint pens, which is a great reminder that you don't necessarily need fancy tools to make good art.

One of the assignments was to make a drawing of a collection we have at home.

Apart from stamps and comic books, I don't actively collect anything, but I remembered that I have gathered quite a few pens with two friends of mine over the years. We always bring each other a pen from the places we visit.

So here is a little peek at all the pens I have gathered so far. I don't always remember where each of them come from (unless it's written on them), but there are quite a few fun ones. I might add some text later on.

I particularly like the Pinocchio pen

Andrea also showed us a fun calligraphy using just one line. Here are a few inspirational quotes I like.

Just one line

This week's klass was held by Brenda Swenson, whose watercolour art is just beautiful.

In her videos she challenged us to use the continuous line (continual line? - I've seen both, but don't know which one is correct) technique to really get us to see the objects we are drawing.

Homework consisted in making 3 sketches with the onle line technique: one sketch of one object, one with two objects and one with three objects.

The results are usually a bit wonky but also very lively, I think.

I noted the start and finish points in my drawings for reference.

The frame is another one of Brenda's tips and was added in the end

The teapot sketch is the one I'm most satisfied with from this series. Maybe it's because of the curvy lines which make the whole drawing look more flowing?

I also used a different pen, so the lines don't look so stark.

Fancy a cup of tea?

I was not very focused for this last one. I guess the subject was not very inspiring. And I don't like how stern the black looks.

Looks so messy...

Brenda gave us one more assignment: make one more still life with the continual line technique and then colour it with watercolour. I am still working on it and might update this post later on.

I really enjoy this one line technique. It forces you to draw differently and think/look at your subject in new ways. 

Some students even sketched their living room like this. Very impressive!

I'm happy to draw smaller objects for now, but I will definitely try moving up to more complicated subjects in time.

Me, myself and I

I have been a very bad student for the second klass, this time held by Koosje Koene again.

Our assignment was to make one selfportrait a day. Which I failed to do miserably.

Koosje suggested that we make 2 portraits from a picture, 2 looking at a mirror, 2 using one continuous line and one from memory.

And I thought: "Oh yeah, I've done that before, it will be ok."

Right. Only the problem was I somehow didn't find the time / energy / will to do one every day.

So here are the only 2 portraits I did, both looking at a mirror, one of them in one continuous line (I'll let you guess which one).

    

 

In spite of my lack of actual work, I think this is quite a fun assignment.

I will definitely challenge myself to one selfportrait a day at some point. It was just not the right time, I guess.

It's a piece of toast!

The second semester of Sketchbook Skool has just started and this time the theme is "Seeing".

The first klass was held by Danny Gregory again.

He gave us two assignments: the first was to sketch a piece of toast in as much detail as possible, focusing on its "nooks and crannies", not labelling what we see.

The second assignment was to use a fast and a slow approach in one single drawing. First drawing our subject in one minute, preferably with a very thick brush, and in a second stage drawing the same subject again in as much detail as possible.

The toast assignment was definitely an exercise in patience. I'm all for drawing in detail, but it was difficult to forget that the nooks and crannies were just tiny wholes in my bread!

However, I loved to slowly see the drawing emerge and develop on the page.

Who knew that toast could get so interesting?

The second exercise was a lot of fun. I find that starting off with the thick quick lines really helps to go to the essentials of the subject and gives the drawing a more spontaneous and vibrant feeling.

I didn't take as much time as I should have for the second stage of the exercise, but I definitely see the potential for learning from this technique and will try it out again for sure.

The colour is a bit off here. My editing skills need improving!

I enjoyed this klass as much as Danny's previous one. The videos are fun and motivational, at times even philosophical and almost touching to the metaphysical! Danny is a poet at heart!

Slowing down with Tommy Kane

It's already the last klass of this semester at Sketchbook Skool. I have to say I haven't been very dilligent these last couple of weeks... But I intend to catch up on that now!

This week it was Tommy Kane's turn to give us his insights and advice on sketching. I already knew his art and was very curious about this particular klass. I have to say his videos were probably the most entertaining of all so far.

His approach is very different from what is mine right now. I tend to be quite impatient and I think it shows in some of my sketches, so when he tells us to slow down it doesn't quite mean the same to him as it does to me.

His homework was to make one drawing of our kitchen. Nothing complicated with that. However, when he asks us to take AT LEAST THREE HOURS to do it, it gets slightly more complicated for me.

What he wants us to do is to look as long and as intently as we can in order to put in as much detail as possible, work with crosshatching (which I don't master at all!), etc.

This drawing, which took me a bit over two hours to make, was as far as I could get right now. I think I managed quite a bit of detail in there, but I am not satisfied with my crosshatching at all.

I intend to give it another try soon. This exercise is teaching me patience and not to stop my drawing prematurely.

I'm quite proud of the reflections on my owen and microwave, though :)

One more very important piece of advice is to never abandon a drawing, even if we are not satisfied with it. Another important lesson that I intend to take with me along the road. I know that many of the drawings I'm not satisfied with are actually just not really finished.

Getting infected by Prashant Miranda

Prashant Miranda has to be one of the most contagious people I have ever seen.

His love for sketching is just so obvious and he communicates it so well that it is impossible not to want to at least try and keep a sketching journal.

In his videos for Sketchbook Skool he tells us about journalling, his travels, keeping a sketchbook as a way to remember things and how these sketchbooks have come to be his best friends.

Another thing I appreciated about his klass was his watercolour demo introducing a few techniques like wet on wet and wet on dry.

I haven't been very proficient this week, but I managed to try out the wet on wet technique for his assignment: sketching the sky.

I will keep making a few sketches of the sky in the future. I find it to be quite a lot of fun.

I couldn't help myself from making a portrait of Prashant. As I said, his enthusiasm just overflows and I wanted to capture that in my folded sketchbook (which is already full now, by the way ; I have to make a new one).

In one of his parting gifts, he sings us "Painting box" by the Incredible String Band. I had never heard this song before, nor about this band even. 

I think it was a very fitting choice and I keep hearing the chorus in my mind now.

New week with Koosje Koene

Our second teacher in Sketchbook Skool is Koosje Koene.

She is an artist from the Netherlands who shares her creativity and art tips in a fun way.

Her klass is about taming our inner critic, that little voice in our head that tells us that what we are doing is not good enough, and about finding the courage to go outside and draw.

As an urban sketcher, I am already a bit used to drawing outside, but the inner critic is definitely still there and needs to be silenced or at least distracted.

One of her assignments is to draw an object with pencils in the most realistic way possible.

It is a work of patience, as her demo video shows us, and it teaches us to really look at the object we are drawing.

I made this drawing with watercolour pencils, because the paper in my sketchbook is too grainy and the pencils just didn't cover the paper correctly.

The highlights don't show enough. I will have to leave more white areas next time, but what bothers me most is the red circle. It just looks too fake.

Then again it is supposed to portray plastic, so I guess that is a good thing?

What are these thingys called?

The second assignment from Koosje is to go outside and draw. I am not sure I will have time to do that until Friday, though.

However, the 43rd international Sketchcrawl is coming this weekend, so I can catch up on that then.

This other sketch I made during Danny Gregory's klass. It is my parent's couch. I just loved how the light fell on it.

It is getting old but it is still very comfortable

Last homework for the first klass

Here are my last sketches for Danny Gregory's klass in Sketchbook Skool.

This Ikea chair is one of my favourite pieces in my apartment and the one I have sketched the most so far.

I don't know what I like most about this chair: the vintage design or the colour

Yesterday I managed to sketch my breakfast. I'm quite satisfied with how the croissant came out (unfortunately the colour on this scan is not very good), much less with the cup.

Between the lovely smells and my demanding stomach, I lost some focus, which is quite obvious here, I think, haha.

These two kept enticing me to leave my sketch for them. Bunch of seducers!

Homework

I'm documenting my week for Danny Gregory's klass for Sketchbook Skool.

So far, I'm trying to focus more on composition, so I guess that is partly why I pick single objects for my subjects.

I actually wanted to sketch my breakfast as an extra assignment, but I was really too hungry to wait and focus on a drawing. So I just drew the empty bowl.

I don't know how people manage to sketch their food. Unless I'm not hungry or I'm sick, I can't resist the temptation. Plus I prefer my food when it is nice and warm.

This bowl is a bit wobbly and not straight, but I think I managed the shading quite well, so I'm happy with it.

Seriously, how do people do it?!

In the next one I made a few silly mistakes, both in the drawing and in the text.

I had already learned to be more patient with my use of watercolour, now I need to do the same for my writing.

Lesson hopefully learned. I'll do better next time.

Now I don't dare eating more, because that would mean there won't be any left... Dilemmas...

Back to school!

In my quest to be productive and sketch and learn more, I signed up for Sketchbook Skool. It's a 6-week online course to "help you develop a creative habit".

I like this idea: not to teach you how to draw but to help you find your inner artist, whatever your skill level and whatever your style.

The first class started on Friday and is held by Danny Gregory. He is an artist whose work I already know and admire. His warm personality just shines through his sketches and his videos.

Our first assignment is to document our week. And we are not allowed to rip any pages from our sketchbooks!

I didn't like any of the sketchbooks I had at home, so I folded my own, following a tutorial by Kathy Johnson I found on Youtube. It's super easy to make and I love that I can choose the paper I want.

Here is the first entry for the assignment.

A piece of domestic life