Still playing around with ballpoint pens in my sketchbook. I put down a preliminary pencil sketch on this, but used a soft graphite. The paper in my sketchpad is pretty soft and toothy, too. I tried to ink on a windy day, and this brand new Uniball that I'm using just wanted to do little more than skip, skip, skip. It frustrated me, but I kept on. I fumbled with the idea of finishing the lines using a pen nib, and put a little bit of Hunt #108 in there. Then tried a fountain pen which I didn't know and which also had its own challenges. Today I went back to the Uniball, this time in a closed environment, and it flowed super smoothly. I realized I was going very slowly and just taking my time, two benefits of using a ballpoint pen. And sometimes those skips add a bit of character to the line, I feel, but I REALLY just enjoy putting down a solitary line slowly. It's kind of zenlike. At the end I realized my frustrations at the pen skipping also could've been due to my impatience and just not slowing down and enjoying the line.

~T

I wasn't intending for this to be a finished sketch or even remotely thought it should be something to submit for Illustration Friday. But as I kept going, and it kept groovin', I kept smiling. I originally started this as a test drawing, just to see how a Uniball Gel pen would work for me. I'd previously done a quick sketch using this pen and later ran it under the warm tap to see how waterproof it was (pretty dang good, was my finding!). But since the figure and a couple of props were going so well, I thought it should be added to my sketchbook. So I cut out the original sketch, glue-sticked it in and kept going. Since I was playing with the gel pen, I used it for spotting my blacks as well. All in all I'm pretty dang happy with the results. Since my materials were primitive, I thought this was a fitting entry for this week's theme in IF.

~T]]> http://www.sketchcharlotte.com/2008/04/gelin.html http://www.sketchcharlotte.com/2008/04/gelin.html Thu, 24 Apr 2008 12:11:12 -0500

Our last few meetings, as sporadic as they've been, have really been excellent. Last time out Joe put me on the Podcast spot and the group hammered at my sales pitch for the comic I'm creating and will unveil at the Heroes Con. I didn't even know I needed one (thanks, Nuri and Joe for the illumination). :) It was an awesome meetup. Learned a lot. I even took notes, hence the sketch paper. I uncharacteristically forgot to bring paper and pen. Fortunately a visiting Cat and Gina loaned me pen and paper to sketch. :) I look forward to the next round!

~T