I’m an Urban Sketcher…
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Category Archives: death
Turn the other cheek
Left and right profiles of the same model skull, sketched on two consecutive evenings using a thick white pen for initial lines, then dilute grey ink to add form/shadows, and water-colour for background. This skull’s been a favourite and familiar subject since I started … Continue reading
Posted in death, faces, Lexington grey, monochrome, skulls, white pen
Tagged Lexington grey, memento mori, memento vivere, model skull, Sakura white pen, shade and form, sketch of skull, The Clash, white pen sketch
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The quick(ish) and the dead(very)
Two double-page spreads from yesterday’s USk Bristol/South West sketchcrawl at Bristol Museum (15 sketchers, our best turn out yet!). Here are passengers at Bath railway station, a recreation of the Dignitas flat and the reconstruction of an ancient Egyptian face (both … Continue reading
Posted in Bristol, brush pen, cafe, death, faces, figures, museum, people watching, urban, urban sketching
Tagged Bristol Museum, brush pen sketches, David Bowie, Dignitas, museum sketching, sketch of hippo, sketch of people in cafe, sketch of skull, urban sketching, USk Bristol/South West
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Return to Arnos Vale…
After our sketchcrawl I returned for another go at sketching the old crematorium oven. I tried an oblique angle this time and used the acetate grid to get the angles right before starting with the ink (see below). I entered the … Continue reading
End of the line?
I love a good memento mori, and this is the most striking one I’ve sketched so far. It’s a decommissioned crematorium oven (!) in the museum at Arnos Vale Cemetery in Bristol, found while on a sketchcrawl there with the Bristol/South … Continue reading
Posted in Bristol, brush pen, cemetery, death, figures, Lexington grey, monochrome, museum, urban sketching
Tagged Arnos vale cemetery, Belle and Sebastian, Bristol South West Urban Sketchers, crematorium oven, fountain pen sketching, graveyard sketching, memento mori, pareidolia, sketches of graveyard statues, urban sketching
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Grounded
Stuffed and numbered birds on display at the small but wonderful Stewartry Museum, Kircudbright; I didn’t have time to paint all their glorious colours, so had to settle for ink-brush monochrome, concentrating on feathers and form. Then the head of a dead Gannet found while … Continue reading
Posted in animals, beach, beachcombing, Birds, collections, death, exhibitions, fauna, museum, sea, skulls
Tagged beachcombing sketch, fountain pen sketching, Gannet beaks, ink-brush for shading, monochrome sketches of birds, sketch of gannet head, sketch of stuffed birds, Stewartry Museum, The Byrds
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Stone faces
Twelve of the fifty stone heads that gaze down on an original Magna Carta in the Chapter House at Salisbury Cathedral. They were carved in the 13th century, seem to be based on individuals, and capture a range of expressions that … Continue reading
Posted in collections, coloured ink, Cordoba, death, faces, monument, sculpture
Tagged fountain pen sketches, Manolete's grave, medieval portraits, Salisbury Chapter House carvings, sketches in cathedrals, sketches of sculptures, sketches of stone carvings, The Only Ones, tomb of Bishop of Wells
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Skullduggery
Some more of a favourite subject. This time the skulls are from a sheep (I think), and a fox (possibly). Whatever animals they used to be they offer beautiful mini-landscapes to sketch, with lots of hills, cliffs, valleys and caves. Their … Continue reading
Posted in animals, coloured ink, coloured paper, death, from life, Lexington grey, monochrome, sketching, skulls, white pen
Tagged animal skulls, drawing skulls, fountain pen sketch, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, noodlers inks, sketch challenge, sketch of sheep skull, sketching skulls
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In Memoriam…
Tombs, memorials and statues are another great source of patient models for sketching, so here are seven monochrome examples spanning three thousand years to finish 2014. ‘Memento Mori’ or ‘Memento Vivere’ depending on your mood in the run up to the … Continue reading
Posted in body, collections, coloured ink, coloured paper, death, inks, line drawing, monochrome, monument, sculpture, skeleton, urban
Tagged Bath Abbey, Bronze age skull, dog at feet of knight, drawing of skull, Edwin Starr, Hugh Lupus Grosvenor, memorials, Prince Albert, Robert Recorde, sketching in churches, sketching statues, St Mary's Tenby, statue of dog, tombs, urban sketching
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Ow, my head hurts
Two bisected heads; first a pickled crocodile at the Grant Museum in London (tiny and old but very lovely), and then an anatomical model human at the Tokyo Museum of Emerging Science (large and modern, where I saw all the … Continue reading
Posted in animal, body, coloured ink, death, exhibitions, from life, inks, Japan, line drawing, monochrome, museum, skulls
Tagged anatomical sketches, bisected heads, crocodile head, fountain pen sketches, Grant Museum, Rage Against the Machine, section of crocodile head, section of human head, sketching in museums, sketching with coloured inks, Tokyo Museum of Emerging Science
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Skulls
A bit late for Halloween, but here are some recent skull sketches. The first is of the full-size medical model that I’ve drawn many times before. I love its tricky curves and deep hollows, and the brown and blue inks combine to … Continue reading
Posted in animal, body, coloured ink, death, fruit, inks, Japan, Lexington grey, monochrome, skulls
Tagged ape skull, different views of an object, drawings of skulls, fountain pen sketches, human skull, macaque skull, monochrome sketches, Noodlers inks for sketching, sketching in ink, skull netsuke, The Kinks
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Mostly drawing 