mike thomas
moleskine sketch 015
I spent longer on this sketch of a stand of bare Aspen trees than perhaps any previous Moleskine-sized sketch. It was done "from life" and took roughly 45 minutes.
On this particular sketch, I decided to do a bit of basic 2H pencil layout first just so I could get the relative positions of the trees, branch crossings, etc. set up. I didn't do any erasing, so perhaps I could have worked in pen from the start. However, it was somewhat relaxing to have the basic outlines established, and then to follow up with pen rendering. Once the pen rendering was done, I did erase the pencil guidelines.
Part of me wants to do some crosshatching behind the main stand of trees to provide contrast, but I'm afraid of losing fine detail in the smaller branches. I guess I'm a chicken.
I used a 0.1 Staedtler pigment liner for the major shapes, followed by more detailed line work with a Sakura 005 in the large Moleskine sketch book.
moleskine sketch 015
I spent longer on this sketch of a stand of bare Aspen trees than perhaps any previous Moleskine-sized sketch. It was done "from life" and took roughly 45 minutes.
On this particular sketch, I decided to do a bit of basic 2H pencil layout first just so I could get the relative positions of the trees, branch crossings, etc. set up. I didn't do any erasing, so perhaps I could have worked in pen from the start. However, it was somewhat relaxing to have the basic outlines established, and then to follow up with pen rendering. Once the pen rendering was done, I did erase the pencil guidelines.
Part of me wants to do some crosshatching behind the main stand of trees to provide contrast, but I'm afraid of losing fine detail in the smaller branches. I guess I'm a chicken.
I used a 0.1 Staedtler pigment liner for the major shapes, followed by more detailed line work with a Sakura 005 in the large Moleskine sketch book.