I haven’t finished a sketchbook in…well, ever! I’m such an art materials addict (is there anything as satisfying as an art shop and money to burn?) that I always grab a shiny new sketchbook before I’ve quite finished my old one. Not this time! Nope, this time I actually managed to scrawl my way right to the last page. Now I’m working in a lovely new Moleskine sketchbook - that notebook of kings, propounded by such luminaries as Van Gogh and Neil Gaiman. I’m wondering why I ever used those rubbishy old spiral-bound student things because, in the Moleskine, my red Col-Erase just glides onto the page. Mmm.

I haven’t posted any sketches for an age - due to me not actually sketching for an age - so I’ve scanned the last couple of pages of my sketchbook. The top image is thanks to the current Illustration Friday topic, ‘Moon’, and I’m vectorifing ™ it as I write (well, not as I write, because that would be a feat worth boasting of, but you know what I mean.)

Outdated Flash 8 Tip Probably of Use to Nobody but Me:

I’ve been using Flash 8 for client interface design work recently and, as I’m used to MX 2004, I was completely confuzzled by the new drawing modes. I’d draw a line, and it would automatically be grouped on-stage. This meant that my drawing process in Flash - 1. draw a line, 2. curve it - had two additonal steps to it - 1. draw a line, 2. break it down, 3. click off it to deslect, then 4. curve it. Argh! I knew there must be something in the preferences to stop objects automatically grouping and, after some rummaging, I discovered the new drawing modes - well, new if you’re a couple of years behind in software updates like me! Just clicking on this little button:

…in the tools palette enables you to switch between ‘merge’ drawing mode (the Flash we know and love) and ‘object’ drawing mode (scary, Illustrator-like Flash).

Random sketchbook nonsense from the past while:

I feel I’m sort of on to something with that last drippy woman; I’m going to blow her up and transfer her onto bristol to see what I can make of her, cuz it’s about time I started actually doing something with some of these rough doodles.

In other news, I got onto the Black Church Print Studio’s screenprinting course (by the skin of my teeth—those things are popular!), which starts in April. I’m really excited! I’m not entirely sure what I want to print yet, but I’m working on some illustrations that I’ll hopefully be able to make a small print edition of during the course.

Please, somebody tear me away from Open Canvas—it’s addictive. I’ve previously attempted to digitally paint in Photoshop, and the plethora of brush options always sends me into a spiral of indecision and frustration. OpenCanvas is an amazingly lightweight digital painting application; it has a teeny footprint with just the required amount of options, and somehow painting feels far more fluid and natural than it does in Photoshop. Part of the fascination is the option of exporting an ‘event’ file, which contains a complete playback of your painting process, and is totally fascinating viewing. I’ve been looking at event files from various artists and it’s a brilliant learning experience to see how they work. There’s also a networking option, which enables you to share the same canvas with other artists online - my crappy cup-on-a-string dialup negates this possibility for me, but I can’t wait ’til we get broadband and I can have an OC sketch session with someone.

Here’s an unfinished work-in-progress (Vulcan, the fire god, to be precise):

1. Original sketch:

2. Inked lines in OC.

3. Colours in progress.

The colour isn’t even nearly finished, but isn’t it crazy how much the drawing improved in OC? The original pencil sketch looks bizarrely awful to me now. The event file shows me running through about five mouth and eye permutations—I think I need to fill a couple of sketchbooks with mouth and eye ref drawings.

Speaking of digital painting - here’s another sketch I’ve been working on, but this time in Photoshop:

This is all making me realise how much I miss the process of painting. I’m seriously thinking about digging out my oil paints again.

Christmas was a frenzy of cooking and gorging and comfort telly, so I didn’t actually get much time to draw anything; all I have to offer are a few paltry doodles from the sketchbook pages.

The last two are from reference: Tivka the white tiger from a crumpled copy of ‘Hello’ *cough* magazine (it was free!), and Hagrid’s hut, quickly sketched from Cuarón’s gorgeous ‘Prisoner of Azkaban’ on Christmas teevee. I grabbed the concept of the hut, and then….made up the rest. I’m not at all happy with it, but I’m trying to draw more than just the same old 3/4 view portraits. I’ve always loved layouts/backgrounds, and they’re something I really want to work on. Baggio is incredible at backgrounds, so I always get a bit discouraged when I try them, but I’ve decided to pick his brain, grab some books on perspective, and work my way through a box of pencils. Lots more in the sketchbook, but our cheapo scanner is hacking and wheezing and clutching at its metaphorical chest.

I don’t generally go in for resolutions but, for this coming year, Mr Baggio and I have made a pact to draw something every day.