June 14, 2009

Moving on

Some of these are from my personal studies, some were for class. I have recently come into acquisition of gray scale Pitt Pens, as well as basic colors. They're really nice pens, especially considering the price. I've always wanted Copics, but it's a bit too rich for my blood. These Pitt Pens still achieve kind of the same wash effect. My only gripe on them is they only come in limited hues.

Protip #1: when your Pitt Pen tip gets a little too "brushy", grab a some tweezers, pull the tip out from the trunk; new tip at the other end! Just push it back in with the new tip facing out.

Protip #2: Utrecht brand sketchbooks (even the hardbounds) are not that great for studies in pen, no matter what that label tells you.
























































4 comments:

Elizabeth McMahill said...

wow, mega post!

I've never head of pitt pens before...
yeah, copics practically cost your soul. They do make these huge wide chisel markers though that are kind of like using a wash brush, only a marker. I got a couple of grays and a black. I believe you can refill them too but I don't know if you can do anything about a nib once it goes...

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qPFu6QWJEb4/SjWZuXdDr8I/AAAAAAAABRk/SvjsEEnNNJI/s1600-h/IMG_3881.JPG
despite the musculature, the proportions and abundance of curved and rounded forms give it a soft friendly feel not unlike the fisher price line of figures. The zebra, however, has a lot more straight/curve contrast yielding a stronger more dynamic form.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qPFu6QWJEb4/SjWZuQOHZmI/AAAAAAAABRc/buurnwDGwco/s1600-h/IMG_3880.JPG
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qPFu6QWJEb4/SjWYdFr8o3I/AAAAAAAABRU/U1FnZnTtg7U/s1600-h/IMG_3729.JPG
watch lines and levels with the facial features, especially the nose (bridge and very bottom), lips, and eyes. I think It's a natural tendency when drawing to flatten, twist, and realign the angles of features in out mind before translating them to paper. It's a subtle thing to catch. Like, on the structural page, the tilted back head, the nose looks like it should be twisted clockwise some to line up with the angle of the face, and on the lower right head, the right eye looks like it should be brought up some to match the level tilt of the nose, or that the nose should be brought out and over more to match the subtle tilt of the head as indicated by the current line of the eyes.

nice hand and feet studies
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qPFu6QWJEb4/SjWUt0Loq4I/AAAAAAAABPs/EAlMQ2s4Bok/s1600-h/IMG_3721.JPG
the top left one here, in particular, has a good sense of space to it and a really fantastic energy.

the following horse sketches in general look stiff and unbalanced.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_qPFu6QWJEb4/SjWUEid8CbI/AAAAAAAABOU/S5eOTCRuSbE/s1600-h/IMG_3709.JPG
they start to really pick up with this one though. The flowing interlocking forms are nice and convey simultaneously flexibility, life, and strength. The horses at the bottom in particular have a fantastic sense of energy and life. And drawing horses is so hard to do.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_qPFu6QWJEb4/SjWSSQmlkDI/AAAAAAAABK0/VYL7BuNCF4I/s1600-h/IMG_3680.JPG
Your figure work has some of that energy. I really think you could ramp it up though by taking what you've learned from all those horse studies and really applying it to the figures. They've show that energy but they're structurally lacking. They don't have that same level structural quality, or even that richer line quality and confidence, or spacial existence. It's like you're not confident with the structure and end up feeling your way around the edges more than you should rather than drawing through the form, building it up, a living UNIT forth from the page. Don't doubt so much, and even if you do, don't tiptoe around so much with them. Make decisions and don't look back.

Michael Barquero said...

Try them out, they're pretty cheap and produce a nice effect.

I do agree with everything you said, in fact, brought to light many uncertainties I had. I think the problem lies in the fact that I am merely copying and not really analyzing.

I think more life studies and skull studies are in order.

Andrew said...

My favorites are the hand studies and gestures. Thanks for sharing.

Elizabeth McMahill said...

don't forget to sight measure!