COMPLETING THE INK PENS SELF-DIRECTED CHALLENGE, A COUPLE OF DRAWINGS IN MY SKETCHBOOK, AND A NEW EASEL

I have now completed the final project in the Ink Pens module – three small drawings. I did the third one first (the teddy) and then the first one (the padlock) and have now done the second one, a vase of flowers. The first photo shows the drawing after I had completed the ink outline and some shading.

As with the padlock, this was greatly improved, although not so dramatically, with the addition of some black watercolour.

Here is the final version.

Finally, the completed page in my sketchbook, with all three drawings.

I shall be sad to move on from the Ink Pens module as I love working with this medium. Not sure how well I shall cope with pastels – I am not very keen on stuff that has a tendency to smudge!

Tombow drawings in my sketchbook

At last I managed to find time to experiment with my Tombow Dual Brush Markers in my Coptic-bound sketchbook, in different shades of grey. This is something I’ve been planning on doing for a while.

The first drawing was inspired by a “draw along” with Karen Campbell on her YouTube channel. Hers was more stylised but I followed her general directions. I did not do a pencil sketch first, but looked at the values and built up the light and shadow areas with the brush pens. You can see the basic facial construction lines which I was unable to erase. It is far from perfect, but this sketchbook is not for perfect works of art but for practice and experimentation.

The second drawing was from one of Prof Clara Lieu’s Flickr collection of reference photos in the “hands” folder. I was more pleased with this one.

I love the looseness of these pens, encouraging one to move quickly and not to add any detail until the basic structure is down. I did spend more time on the hand.

In neither case did I use the proportional divider and I don’t think it’s too far off.

New easel

When we were drawing together the other day, I asked my hubby if I could borrow his small desk-top easel. I liked it so much that I asked him, “Do you use this?” hoping he’d say no, and that I could have it, but he said, “Yes, I do.” So I decided to buy my own! He says it looks as if it’s from the same manufacturer, but with some improvements. I am absolutely delighted with it. It enables me to draw sitting on the settee rather than on the floor – the large desk thing I bought is too big to go on the settee, unfortunately, and while it’s fabulous for drawing on, with room at the side for various bits and pieces, it’s not so comfortable.

Here is the new easel.

You can see that it has a hinged piece which stops the sketch book from slipping off in use.

The back view shows the clasp which holds the sloping top closed.

The sloping part set up ready for use.

This is what it looks like underneath. You can see that the slope is adjustable.

There is a drawer underneath to hold your bits and pieces. My hubby can get his small watercolour box in there along with brushes etc. The drawer is secured in the closed position with two clasps on the side of the box.

Underneath, it has four small feet to protect your surface, and you can see the finger notch for pulling out the drawer, and also the carrying handle.

It’s very neat and compact, and such a pleasure to use! Here it is with my sketch book in place, showing the overall size. It sits very comfortably on my lap, and I can get the angle just right for comfortable drawing, and to place the sketch book at the same angle as the reference photo.

I am more than thrilled with this. Amazon had a lot to choose from, and finding one so similar to my hubby’s was great, especially as it was at the cheaper end of the spectrum.