How I Do It...

So here is a bit of a how I do it post....

I often get asked what steps I go through

and what I use to get to a finished drawing so I took some photos and scans as I went

well I sort of did... I kept forgetting

but that is probably a good thing or this would have been 50 photos long

but this is a bit of a basic run through

I started with my pencil box

it has the dreaded, disgusting marmite jar on the front

which was a smart arse gift from Sandra 

who has been engaging in vegemite vs marmite wars with me for some time now...

and while I would like to not have such an abomination on my desk

it holds my commonly used pens and pencils perfectly

which perhaps means she is perhaps winning the war... for now

I worked in a Stillman & Birn Epsilon sketchbook for this one

though I often work on loose paper as well

and used my usual Uniball eye fine pen

which is called other eye related names , like Uniball Vision in other places

no clue why companies do that... seems unneccesarily complicated doesn't it

I use sizes 2 and 5 watercolour brushes

which I pretty much use for every piece of work that I do

I'm not fussy about brands as I tend to be a brush abuser

though one here is an Art Spectrum and the other is Winsor and Newton series 7

I  don't go for the really cheap ones... they never work as well

or stand up to the abuse so mid range brushes suit me

For paints I love the Koh-i-noor brilliant watercolour wheels

these are my everyday paints and I just blu-tak them onto an old plate to form my palette

this is a serious love too... up there with chocolate and tea type love

I have so many different types of watercolours

but these are my go to for pure pigment and ease

I add a splodge of payne's grey from a tube to the centre on one wheel

and a blob of permanent rose to the other

payne's grey has to be the most versatile colour ever

perfect for shadows, or deepening colours

and permanent rose is the ultimate pink and works wonderfully with colours like orange

so with those additions I am covered for almost anything I would want to paint

the Koh-i-noor's aren't lightfast in the long term

but for work in my sketchbook or work I am going to be scanning they work perfectly

you can't go past the clear brilliant colour

I start with a bit of an outline in pen

if I work in pencil I am a bit precious and tend to not concentrate and observe

so pen makes sure I don't drift off with the pixies mid drawing

I am looking for the correct angles like along the edges of the box

and once that is right then I have a reference point to line the pens up against

again I am looking at angles and work from the far left first getting in the first pen

then over the the far right and get the ones near that edge in

then back to the left if you know what I mean

If I work from just one side then I am likely to get the scale wrong

and run out of room with four pens left over

so I go back and forth and work towards the middle

in retrospect it might have been good to scan those steps to make it a bit clearer

but I am not great at the whole planning thing at times

Once I am happy with the general positions I strengthen the lines up a bit

adding a a few details as I go

at this stage I always start to see all the places I have done a dodgy job

but I have learned to like the dodgy bits

It took time to trust that it will turn out

and no it doesn't always work

but it is a bit of paper and some scratchy lines

hardly worth stressing over

my sketchbooks and drawers are filled with almost drawings, some of which are truly awful

but there are also drawings that I thought were rubbish

but with a bit of paint turned out just fine

I have learned not to judge them as I go

nothing could stand up to the sort of scrutiny we often apply to our art

First layer of paint is usually quite strong in application

I am looking for the strongest areas of colour and also putting in the main shadows

I am not too precious at this stage either

a lot of people get caught up in shadows

but I like to look at it in terms of colour

the colours are deeper in places, and lighter in others

and I try to get those basics down

I am constantly looking up from the page to the box

lots of quick looks

not lengthy gazing and contemplating

more subject , pallette, page... subject, palette,  page... 

and I am constantly cleaning my brush as I go... it is like a nervous tick...

swirl the brush and look at the subject

check the colour and get it on the page

the quicker the better at this point so I am not overthinking it

I then strengthen up all the colours a bit more and correct any glaring errors

basically by painting over them

and if it is really bad then I use some gouache

which is the magic eraser of the watercolour world

but there wasn't a lot of paint to add to this one so it was just bits and pieces

like on the left hand pen and the marker towards the back

but basically the paint is pretty much like the previous scan

once I am happy with the paint it is all about adding pen

I am looking at adding detail and shape with the lines

it isn't just an outline but more about finding the edges

and also reinforcing the shapes of things

the lines on the top of the clips have directional lines so our brain reads them as receding

and the slight curve in lots of lines on the pens gives them a bit of shape

I also make sure that the pens that are sitting behind others are a bit darker

so it is clearer that they are shadowed and it is at that point that the front ones always emerge

Finishing off is always about grounding it on the page

so I added the shadows to the right of the tin

and strengthened the shadows along the front, top edge of the tin

 which helped it pop forward a bit more

I then added some light washes of blue and purple into the shadow

which lifts it and adds a bit of interest to what would be a fairly bland drawing colour wise

which meant I added some to the background as well

but it was looking a bit flat

so I picked up touches of green in the background

which tied into the green on the tin

and it looked pretty finished so I called it done

I worked on all three of these at the one time

adding paint to one as another dried

and pen to another while the other two were drying

I love working on a few things at once

which may say something about my attention span

 and speaking of attention span

mine is being sorely tested by such a long post

so I am off to do some drawing

happy painting all...xx