Mostly drawing

Winter crowds

Posted on December 22, 2015 by Ed Mostly

Bath’s Christmas shoppers filling the wet streets (a festive carousel in the far distance), battling the wind and rain, pacing the pavements, queuing for the bus home, and generally milling around town. All sketched using my new best friend, the Kuretake #8 brush-pen, filled with lovely Lexington grey. Sketching the top one was as hypnotic as sketching waves; trying to find patterns and individual subjects amongst the continual movement… Have a peaceful holiday!

Lexington grey in Kuretake #8 ink-brush, and diluted in a water-brush, watercolour, A5 – The one at the top took about an hour, the rest various times

Posted in Bath, brush pen, dogs, figures, ink brush, Lexington grey, people, street scene, urban, urban sketching | Tagged brush pen urban sketching, ink brush sketches, pavement, sketches of feet walking, sketches of people with umbrellas, sketches of shoppers, sketching in Bath, sketching street scenes, urban sketching | 4 Comments

Eye-lines

Posted on December 17, 2015 by Ed Mostly

Mid-winter tired eyes sketched on four consecutive evenings before going to bed. I think they improved, with the last one being the best? I definitely became more familiar with the key shapes and lines, ‘zooming in’ on the subject, making accuracy and details easier. The brush-pen loaded with Noodlers Brown 41 worked well, broad strokes at first for eyebrows, pupils etc, then very fine lines for eyelashes, veins, wrinkles, eye-bags… Time for an early night!

Lexington grey and Noodlers Brown 41 in Kuretake #8 brush-pen and water-brush, water-colour A5 – about 20 mins each

Posted in body, brush pen, coloured paper, crows feet, eye, faces, ink brush, monochrome, self-portrait | Tagged brush-pen sketching, close-up drawings of eyes, Haim, ink brush sketches, Kuretake #8, Noodlers ink for sketching, sketching own eyes, sketching self-portraits | 2 Comments

Drink?

Posted on December 15, 2015 by Ed Mostly

More wrestling with ellipses, reflections, distortions and translucency. Coloured paper and white water-colour’s a great combination for these late night studies.

Lexington grey in Kuretake #8 ink-brush and water-brush, watercolour, A5 – a range of times, but fairly fast as it was late and I wanted to get to bed!

Posted in brush pen, coloured paper, domestic, glass, Lexington grey, monochrome, objects | Tagged coloured paper and white water-colour, drawing mugs and glasses, LCD Soundsystem, sketches of glasses, sketches of mugs, sketching ellipses, sketching glass, translucency in sketching | Leave a comment

Tenby people

Posted on December 12, 2015 by Ed Mostly

The last few Summer sketches from Tenby. This time people-watching around the town, moving from fountain-pen to ink-brush for the key lines. I was using a fairly ‘blunt’ brush then (a well-worn detailer water-brush) filled with dilute ink, so the pictures weren’t as crisp as the ones done with pen, but I began to see benefits from the change – more expression in the lines, and speed, so I could start to draw people who aren’t sat down!

Lexington grey in fountain-pen and water-brush, water-colour, A5 – a couple of minutes per figure?

Posted in beach, brush pen, comparisons, figures, holiday, ink brush, monochrome, people, people watching, technique, Tenby, urban, urban sketching, Wales | Tagged brush pen sketches, Can, ink brush sketching, moving from pen to brush, sketches of people on holiday, sketches of people waiting, sketches of seated people, Sketching in Tenby, sketching people by the sea, using ink in a water-brush | 2 Comments

Barry’s book #2

Posted on December 9, 2015 by Ed Mostly

Another five illustrations for Barry’s book, all from life, illustrating various anecdotes and reflections. The holidays are approaching so there’s a fair chance I’ll get more done soon…

Lexington grey in fountain-pen and water-brush, watercolour, A4 – about 1 hour each

Posted in Barry's book, domestic, fruit, grisaille, illustration, line drawing, monochrome, objects | Tagged Andy Williams, domestic sketching, fountain pen sketching, grisaille sketches, Simon & Garfunkel, sketch of bookshelves, sketch of hand holding pass, sketch of lemons, sketch of suitcases, tyre tracks | 4 Comments

Baywatch, day and night

Posted on December 6, 2015 by Ed Mostly

Two more Summer seaside views, when I was moving from pen to ink-brush for the key elements of a sketch. The first is from a ledge at the top of the North Cliffs, looking across the bay to Tenby old-town, with tree-tops below me and the life-boat launch jetties on the left. Then the opposite view, looking from Castle Hill back across the bay to the North Cliffs (on the left), done that evening in almost complete darkness, a life-boat jetty below me, some lights on the boats and more along the very distant coastline.

Dilute lexington grey in water brush, watercolour, A5 – One hour for the first, and twenty minutes the second

Posted in boats, comparisons, ink brush, inks, landscape, Lexington grey, monochrome, sea, Tenby, Wales, waves | Tagged Belle and Sebastian, cliff-top sketches, coastal sketching, distant view of Tenby, ink-brush landscape sketch, sketch looking along the coast, sketches of Tenby, sketching at night, Tenby life-boat stations | 4 Comments

Beach life

Posted on November 30, 2015 by Ed Mostly

Two scenes of Tenby beach-life, complete with seagull drones, ice-cream van, and parasols. The first was from the cliff top, the second from rocks at the base of the cliff, and each is followed by their pre-watercolour version. Finally the same view as the first from last year’s trip to Tenby. Memories of Summer while wind and rain lash the windows…

Lexington grey in fountain-pen and water-brush, watercolour, A5 – about 1 hour each

Posted in beach, figures, holiday, people watching, sea, Tenby, Wales | Tagged beach sketching, sketch of busy beach, sketches of crowds, sketches of people on beach, Sketching in Tenby, Tenby beaches, The Beatles, urban sketching | 2 Comments

Barry’s book #1

Posted on November 28, 2015 by Ed Mostly

My friend Barry is writing a book about his recent experience of learning to use a wheelchair and the wider impact this has had on his life. He’s kindly asked me to illustrate it, so once a month I go round to his house and sketch objects and scenes. The book’s made up of reflections and anecdotes, some positive, some not so, and each illustration has a colour to match the mood of the piece. It’s interesting doing a series of pictures with such a specific and consistent ‘look’ (fountain-pen for line, ink-wash for shadows, and water-colour), especially as I now rarely use pen for line in my daily sketches. It’s also lovely to sketch a diverse range of subjects in such good company and in the comfort of someone’s home; instead of leaning against a wall, outdoors, I’m sat on a chair, eating freshly-baked bread and listening to great music!

Lexington grey in fountain-pen and water-brush, watercolour, A4 – about 1 hour each

Posted in Barry's book, collections, domestic, hands, illustration, Lexington grey, objects | Tagged illustrating a book, sketch of boots, sketch of car interior, sketch of Doc Martens, sketch of interior staircase, sketch of skin-care tubes, sketches of hands, Steve Reich | 5 Comments

Six left hands

Posted on November 24, 2015 by Ed Mostly

All the lines were done in brush-pen, loaded with various water-proof inks; Noodlers Brown 41 (the first four), Noodlers Lexington grey (the fifth), and Carbon black (the last). The warm brown ink suits the subject best, merging with the colour wash at times, and the blue paper adds a deathly hue… I’m trying to use stronger water-colour washes, as they always dry weaker, and not just relying on grey for shadows.

Kuretake ink-brushes with various inks, watercolour, A5 – about 20 mins each hand

Posted in body, brush pen, coloured paper, hands, ink brush, inks, Lexington grey, seasonal, self-portrait | Tagged brush-pen sketching, ink brush sketching, kuretake ink-brush sketches, Noodlers ink for sketching, sketches of hands, sketching at home, Visage | 5 Comments

Pencil landscapes

Posted on November 21, 2015 by Ed Mostly

As a break from ink-brush propaganda here are some pencil landscapes from the Summer. The first is on a lane in Lancashire during a light rain shower, the second and third on the Galloway coast (clouds over the distant Isle of Man, and a peaceful dusk near Kirkudbright). Pencil’s lovely for feeling out the lines in a landscape, and great for blind drawing the clouds and foliage. The way it smudges for tone is also useful, but not the way this then spreads through the whole sketchbook… A water-colour wash seems to fix the graphite to the page, so I’ve tried using just gum arabic as a portable and non-stinky clear fixative – fail! Any ideas?

5B Grafwood pencil, water-colour, A5 – 20/30 mins each