All posts by keith

technique tuesday

Technique Tuesday

Today I thought I’d give you all a look at some of the tools I use for sketching/drawing.

l -r HB pencil, 4B pencil, double tip sharpie, Micron pens 01, 03, 05, 08, a Kuretake brush pen, Pitt brush pen, bamboo pen, hunt 102 crowquill
l -r HB pencil, 4B pencil, double tip sharpie, Micron pens 01, 03, 05, 08, a Karatuka brush pen, Pitt brush pen, bamboo pen, hunt 102 crowquill
  1. HB is a hard lead that makes lighter lines when at equivalent pressure to the
  2. 4B pencil  there are softness in between them, and harder leads also.  Find what you prefer.  I tend to be very heavy handed, so I like the softer leads.
  3. Sharpies are great for doodling, and inexpensive.  I like the ultra fine point, but the fine point is great for filling in black areas.  Not archival, if you want that.
  4. The Microns come in various tip sizes.  The ones shown are what I use.  They make a nice solid non varying line, great for technical things.
  5. The Kuretake is wonderful, it is a brush that doesn’t need to be dipped in ink every few minutes, and makes some beautiful lines, as you can see.  Expensive , but worth it, I just wish the ink was a little blacker.
  6. The Pitt is similar to the Kuretake, but his a solid brush point, instead of individual “hairs”.  It has less give, and less variance in the line.  It’s a lot cheaper, but is not intended to be reused, although it can be refilled with some work.
  7. The bamboo pen I bought on a whim, and really liked the line I got with it.  It’s double ended with a fine point, and a slightly larger one on the opposite end.
  8. The Hunt crowquill is an old stand-by, and it starts out stiff, but the more you use it the wider the lines tend to be, so most people use a new one for fine lines, and a broken in one for wider lines.

I, also, use a #3 and #2 round brush for some inking , and various other size brushes for filling in black areas.

l - r Pink pearl eraser, gum eraser, kneaded eraser, plastic eraser, black india ink, F&W Acrylic ink
l - r Pink pearl eraser, gum eraser, kneaded eraser, plastic eraser, black india ink, F&W Acrylic ink

The plastic and kneaded erasers are gentler on paper than the others, and tend to et more use. The kneaded is good for getting into the deeper grooves from my heavy hand.
Those are a couple of the inks I use. I, also like PH Martin’s dye inks, which come in various colors.
So there’s a look at some of the tools I use for drawing. There are others, and I’m always finding new things to use, I find that whatever’s handy works at various times, so there’s no need to spend lots of money if you’re just doing it to have a good time, or whatever

technique tuesday

Technique Tuesday

Vitruvian Man
Vitruvian Man

Well I was planning a post on drawing the human figure here today, with links to some sites showing proportions/relationships of various parts of the human body. Maybe some videos showing how etc. Then I realized–all this stuff only shows you how one person draws the human figure, or shows some “shortcuts”, which is all well and good–who doesn’t like shortcuts (or is that shortcake)? So this is my advice to you, this is the tutorial for the day. Learn to draw the human figure by drawing the human figure. Find a figure drawing/life drawing session near you, and spend the few dollars a week it costs to take part. If you live near a big city there’s probably a Dr. Sketchy’s near you. If not, even small cities usually have an art club, or university/college that provides these opportunities. Otherwise, take a sketchbook wherever you go, and sketch people in bookstores, parks, wherever you happen to be sitting, and have a few minutes. If all else fails, draw from photo reference, it’s not optimal since photos distort proportions somewhat, but at least it’s a start.
In other words-draw, draw, draw. It’s the only way to get good at it.
Happy Tuesday folks.

Health, real food

How our meat is grown, and why it’s killing us.

Getting Real About the High Price of Cheap Food – TIME
Read this and be scared.

The U.S. agricultural industry can now produce unlimited quantities of meat and grains at remarkably cheap prices. But it does so at a high cost to the environment, animals and humans. Those hidden prices are the creeping erosion of our fertile farmland, cages for egg-laying chickens so packed that the birds can’t even raise their wings and the scary rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria among farm animals. Add to the price tag the acceleration of global warming — our energy-intensive food system uses 19% of U.S. fossil fuels, more than any other sector of the economy.

And perhaps worst of all, our food is increasingly bad for us, even dangerous. A series of recalls involving contaminated foods this year — including an outbreak of salmonella from tainted peanuts that killed at least eight people and sickened 600 — has consumers rightly worried about the safety of their meals. A food system — from seed to 7?Eleven — that generates cheap, filling food at the literal expense of healthier produce is also a principal cause of America’s obesity epidemic. At a time when the nation is close to a civil war over health-care reform, obesity adds $147 billion a year to our doctor bills. “The way we farm now is destructive of the soil, the environment and us,” says Doug Gurian-Sherman, a senior scientist with the food and environment program at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).

Then check out Food, Inc

and King Corn (if you have Netflix you can get it there)

General

Wacky Wednesday

Another Wednesday, more wackiness.
Museum of Broken Relationships
Weird woeful stories of broken relationships, like this one.


20 years
Ljubljana, Slovenia

The divorce day garden dwarf. He arrived in a new car. Arrogant, shallow and heartless. The dwarf was closing the gate that he had destroyed himself some time ago. At that moment it flew over to the windscreen of the new car, rebounded and landed on the asphalt surface. It was a long loop, drawing an arc of time – and this short long arc defined the end of love.