Just a reminder: #OneWeek100People2019 starts April 8th!
Just a reminder: we have around 1000 artists in the Facebook group ready to help each other cross the finish line next week.
My friend E was doing a double-model the other day – something you don’t get so often – so I jumped at the chance for a warm-up.
Some tips on Direct-to-Ink sketching: (No pencil, straight to ink).
- Just redraw weaker figures or missed lines right on top. Usually, you can save the drawing. The misplaced lines don’t detract if you don’t think they do :) I find the pages with all the over-drawn figures more interesting.
- Use a small nib for finding contour, and the biggest nib you have for shadow shapes in contrast. I have a steel brush but you might also like a Parallel Pen if you don’t want to carry bottled ink.
- I use dipping nibs so I can change ink color on the fly, but you’d can always just carry more pens. I like a red line for variety from the black ink.
- Think about placement on the page – and scale – make some figures much bigger than others, for variety, and to include portraits in with full figures. Use the direction of the figure’s pose – and even the direction of gaze – to influence the composition.
I like to use ‘disposable’ paper. These are pieces of Aquarius II folded into little booklets. I feel so much more relaxed about bad drawings if they’re not in a sketchbook. It’s a phobia I have about ruining a book. People say, don’t let it get to you, but if you can’t let go of the pressure to have a ‘perfect’ book, this is how I side-step that whole thing.
I’m starting to love this little stack of folding paper I’m building up, just as much as my sketchbooks that I never finish anyway :)
Okiedoke! See you guys next week for #100Week100People2019. I’m looking forward to see what everyone gets up to :)
Citizen Sketcher 
It’s intimidating to look at what artists like you can do!
Well I hope I can be inspiring not intimidating :) My message always is – you can do it too – it just takes practice! It’s much faster than getting into shape or learning violin for instance :) (lol that probably didn’t help – but really – we can all make art and enjoy :)
Duh…I thought it was this week. I was off to a good start on Monday, but almost nothing since. So I guess I actually have a second chance. Wish me luck. It’s really hard for me, but I suppose something is better than nothing.
I won’t be joining the FB group, but I’ll be hashtagging on IG! Thanks for initiating this again … it’s one of my favorite annual challenges!
– Tina
Fantastic tips and amazing drawings. Thank you for sharing .I feel motivated to try your method of folded paper..it makes a lot of sense and in the end if I am happy with the result I could always sew the pages together to make a nice sketchbook…
Hello, I am new to Facebook….what are the steps to join the group?
No problem – Follow the link (at the end here) and there’s a blue button + Join Group, under the picture at the top /center of the page. That’s it!: https://www.facebook.com/groups/OneWeek100People/
Beautiful sketches…I like your sidestep!!! See you next week!
…blessed be
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I also make little booklets except that I decorate them beforehand. I like to have a background for my sketches. I will post on FB. I carry them around and bind them in an accordion-style book with a cover when I am done. My 12-year old granddaughter likes me to make them for her but likes the pages left white. She prefers because she is intimidated by sketchbook and wanting perfection. I like because of the portability and less weight to take around.
Weight is absolutely true. It’s surprising how much it saves. I’ve never stitched mine, but I’ve watched Anne Laure Jacquart do it – something worth trying someday!
This is an accordion sketchbook and not stitched. I add as many “booklets” to it as I want. Currently I just make a hinge with washi tape enforced with double-sided tape underneath.
I used to make ‘temporary books’ out of single sheet watercolor pages with little tape hinges. So I had a way to show all my loose sketches at the USK conferences :)
Have you ever tried using plain rolls of various thicknesses of lining paper that paperhangers/ decorators use, I find this a cheap way to make up sketchbooks that cost next to nothing and if you really don’t like it you can always get rid of it, and the heavier weight of lining papers really accept watercolour & inks well, 😎👍