Mostly drawing

Skullduggery

Posted on February 13, 2015 by Ed Mostly

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 natural curves, single plane of symmetry and complex shadows combine to make a lovely tabletop challenge.

Lexington grey in fountain pen and water-brush, dilute Brown 41 in water-brush, water-colour, A5 – 30 minutes

Noodlers Brown 41 in fountain pen and water-brush, dilute Lexington grey and Platinum Blue Pigment ink in water-brush, watercolour, A5 – 30 minutes

White Gelly roll pen, dilute Lexington grey in water-brush, water-colour, A7 – 10 minutes

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 | Leave a comment

Bootylicious

Posted on February 10, 2015 by Ed Mostly

My trusty boots drawn last month after the first (very light) snowfall of the year. Below is an earlier sketch of them, showing the change in my approach over the last two years; moving from black felt-tip lines and watercolour, to fountain pen and dilute ink washes. The new way’s faster, but here I think I prefer the older slower bolder one! Maybe it’s just the more dramatic composition and higher contrast? Back to the drawing board…

Noodlers Brown 41 in fountain pen, dilute Noodlers Brown 41, Bad Blue Heron and Platinum Blue Pigment ink in water brushes, A5 – 20 mins1mm Pigma black pen, water-colour, A6 – 30 mins

Posted in boots, coloured ink, coloured paper, comparisons, from life, inks, kit, sketching, watercolour sketch | Tagged Brasher Supalite boots, comparing sketch techniques, drawing boots, fountain pen sketches, Nirvana and Destiny's Child, sketch of boots, sketching with inks, walking boots | 4 Comments

Monochrome flames

Posted on February 8, 2015 by Ed Mostly

A couple of mid-winter sketches, trying to capture the dancing shapes of a log fire. I drew ‘blind’, watching the flames to catch their individual fluid shapes, feeling out the lines with a pencil, and occasionally looking down at the page to get their location about right. They reminded me most of very fine cloth being blown in a breeze, barely there. I added dilute ink and very dilute white gouache later. We’ve always enjoyed staring into fires, entranced by the evanescent but unchanging patterns, like watching waves on a seashore, clouds in the sky, but cosier.

Pencil, Lexington grey in water-brush, white gouache, 20 minutes each – A5

Posted in blind drawing, coloured paper, fire, from life, inks, Lexington grey, line drawing, monochrome, night, pencil, sketching, watching | Tagged blind drawing, David Bowie, drawing flames, monochrome flames, natural forms, sketch of a log fire, sketching fire, sketching the evanescent | 2 Comments

Roll, with spam

Posted on February 5, 2015 by Ed Mostly

Another minimal sketch of a kitchen roll, last thing at night.

roll1 White Gelly Roll pen, Lexington grey water-brush, gouache, A7 – 10 minutes

And here’s the most charmingly odd message from the 240,000+ spam comments that the blog’s received so far: “Can I just say what a reduction to seek out someone who really knows what they’re talking about on the internet. You positively know learn how to deliver a difficulty to gentle and make it important. More individuals need to learn this and perceive this facet of the story. I cant imagine you’re not more popular since you undoubtedly have the gift.” I’m not sure what it means, but I like the sound of ‘delivering a difficulty to gentle’. And it makes a change from endless offers of Louis Vuitton bags and Christian Louboutin crepe satin pumps (?)…

Posted in coloured paper, domestic, from life, kitchen, Lexington grey, monochrome, objects, white pen | Tagged drawing of kitchen roll, kitchen roll, minimal sketch, odd spam comment, sketching in the kitchen, The Trammps, white gelly roll | Leave a comment

Open wide…

Posted on February 1, 2015 by Ed Mostly

I’ve tried ‘extreme sketching’ a couple of times before, drawing while walking along (see bottom of post), during a paintball session, in the rain, and while on a merry-go-round. I enjoyed the challenge and the resulting shaky lines, so last week I had a go at sketching the view from a dentist’s chair during a routine check-up… I managed to do the pencil line drawing while they were delving into my mouth, holding the sketchbook out beyond their hands and instruments. I added some shade and white when I got home. The dentists were slightly bemused by my request, but interested in the result, seeing a patient’s-eye view of their masked faces peering down at them! Further below is the object of the dentist’s fascination, drawn while grimacing into a mirror. Any suggestions for a new challenge?

Pencil, Lexington grey in water-brush, white gouache, A5 – 10 minutes, when I got home

Pencil, A5 – 3 minutes, while in the chair

Pencil, Lexington grey in water-brush, white Gelly Roll pen, A6 – 15 minutes

Pigma 1mm pen, A6 – 1 minute

Pencil, dilute Lexington grey in water-brush, A5 – 1 minute

Posted in Bath, coloured paper, eye, from life, hands, Lexington grey, line drawing, monochrome, pencil, people, self-portrait, waterbrush, white marker pen | Tagged dental work, extreme sketching, faces staring down, Nico, open mouth drawing, patient's eye view, sketching at dentist, sketching teeth, sketching while walking, Velvet Underground, view from dentist's chair | 4 Comments

Drink?

Posted on January 29, 2015 by Ed Mostly

A glass of milk, mugs of tea, and a glass of water; late night drink sketches (more here). I’m still fascinated by the way that something so simple can be so tricky to get right; the combination of ellipses, curious lighting effects (the light patches in the glass shadow, internal reflections), and the opacity of the drink. Familiarity with the object makes it obvious when it’s wrong!

Lexington grey in water-brush and fountain pen, gouache, A5 – 30 minutes

Posted in coloured paper, domestic, from life, glass, gouache, Lexington grey, line drawing, monochrome, objects | Tagged cup of tea, drawing cups and mugs, drawing ellipses, fountain pen sketches, glass of milk, glass of water, mug of tea, Rolling Stones, sketching at home, sketching drinks | 1 Comment

55 passers by

Posted on January 25, 2015 by Ed Mostly

I’ve added a new page to the blog, sharing books that are currently inspiring my sketching; the first is Hokusai’s Manga (‘manga’ originally meant ‘light drawings or sketches’). After copying some of his very simple but individual faces (bottom of post) I sat outside a cafe and tried to sketch the faces passing by using a water-brush filled with grey ink. The brush was much faster than a fountain pen as it applies line and shape at the same time. It was very hard to remember all the different aspects of the faces, they were gone in seconds, but very satisfying when it worked (about 1 in 10); great visual memory training! I’ll try whole figures next…

manga3 manga1

‘Detailer’ water-brush with Lexington grey ink, water-colour, A5 – about 30 seconds for each face…

Posted in Bath, brush pen, figures, from life, inks, Lexington grey, monochrome, people, sketching, street scene, urban, waterbrush | Tagged Bath streets, brush pen drawing, brush pen sketches, Hokusai manga, inspired by Hokusai, lexington grey sketch, quick face sketches, simple face drawings, sketching passers by, street sketching, urban sketching, Van Morrison | Leave a comment

Wiry views

Posted on January 21, 2015 by Ed Mostly

Drawn at dusk, sat on the bottom steps of The Shrubbery (previously), looking down Harley Street in Bath. My eye was caught by the telephone wires and chimneys silhouetted against the winter sky. I was sorry that I didn’t get round to drawing the amazing overhead cabling in Japan, (see the photo below of a street in Kyoto); ours is very delicate and restrained by comparison!

Lexington grey in fountain pen and water-brush, watercolour, A6 – 30 minutes

Posted in Bath, buildings, cars, coloured ink, from life, grisaille, Lexington grey, line drawing, monochrome, sky, street scene, urban, vehicles, waterbrush | Tagged Bath sketch, Bath street, chimney silhouettes, drawing cars, fountain pen sketch, Japanese cabling, overhead wires, rooftops sketch, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, sketching in ink, street scene sketch, telephone cables overhead, telephone wires, urban sketching, winter sky | 3 Comments

The life of stuff

Posted on January 18, 2015 by Ed Mostly

I’m looking forward to more outdoor sketching in Spring, but in the meantime here are some well worn shoes (previously), a phone recharging, utensils hanging in the kitchen, and a bag waiting by the door… Everyday domestic scenes, the stuff of life.

Bad Blue Heron, Brown 41 and Lexington grey inks in fountain pen and water-brush, watercolour for the table-top under the phone, A5 – about 20 minutes each

Posted in coloured ink, coloured paper, domestic, every day matters, from life, home, inks, kitchen, Lexington grey, line drawing, monochrome, objects, waterbrush | Tagged domestic sketches, fountain pen sketching, ink in water-brush, James Booker, kitchen sketch, monochrome sketches, sketch of phone charging, sketch of shoes, sketch of shopping bag, sketching with Noodlers inks, waterproof inks | 1 Comment

Two Dogs

Posted on January 13, 2015 by Ed Mostly

First there’s Skip, who sat beside me while I sketched people on a beach in Tenby. She was poised and alert, watching a gap in the fence where a rat had just appeared and vanished, but I had to be quick! Then there’s 3 pages of Queenie, my parents’ dog, best drawn when resting. She’s a bit more active in the final set of drawings, sitting up and having a good scratch…

Pencil, fountain pen with Lexington grey, water-brush with Parker blue, Noodlers Brown 41, Bad Blue Heron and Lexington grey, water-colour, A5 – 5 mins per dog