Thursday, September 30, 2010

The Sketchbook Project #11 - Ooh La La! C'est Bon!


 So the other day, I talked about how I need to get more doggies into my Sketchbook Project sketchbook! Here is my latest -a really cute little Boston Terrier. I love this breed! This one also speaks to my desire to go - Ooh La La - to Francais, the city of lights, the city of love! Oh I must get over there before I'm an ol' lady (hopefully WAY before).



Anyway, I did end up picking up more Moleskine sketchbooks to allow me to paste sheets on top of sheets in my Sketchbook Project sketchbook. It will solve the seepage issue and allow me to create work on both sides of a page. So for the time being, I have switched to doing art in one of my "extra" Moleskines. It not only will make up some of those empty, seepage-enhanced (..ha ha) back pages, but it also allows me a little bit more freedom to sketch as dark as I want to in pencil, without having to worry about inking over it and erasing the lines later. Now, I can just do a whole 'nother piece of paper with just the inked-in art!

This is what I did, above: The pencil art (bottom) was my first free-form sketch, and the ink drawing (top) is the post-lightbox-trace, and then I inked from those pencil-line clues I drew along with the sketch reference.

I like them both, and I'll paste the ink one in my Sketchbook Project sketchbook. But I really love the energy of free-form pencil sketches. I generally like my ink to have a tight line in a finished piece, but I just love the loosey-goosey freshness of a pencil sketch (or even a free form ink sketch). Sometimes, I don't know which I like better!

It's my feeling that overdoing the stages of a sketch suffocates all the "magic" right out of it.. So I try to keep the re-sketches lean, mean and to a minimum!

Ah, back to Gay Paree... sigh... So where do YOU want to go?

6 comments:

Kim Morin Weineck said...

Ah, Kathy, there is no place like Paris. Your drawing is wonderful! (I especially love the boots!)

Laura said...

Cute, cute Kathy! Yeah those wimpy pgs are awful to work with, I ended up rebinding my journal going quality over quantity - now I don't have a huge journal to fill hehe! And yes to Paris, first stop: The Louvre, also London, and definitely Cairo to see the pyramids!!

Anonymous said...

Great idea to paste pages Kathy...my sketchbooks are all graph paper. Maybe I'll outfit mine with the grids. You're doing awesome job with these!

Tamara Henderson said...

She looks fabulous and I love all the little details...she also has nice shoes!!

Renee Kurilla said...

I looove your sketches for the project so far.... the little birds clinking wine glasses - priceless :)

Heather said...

ah, Paris....love the sketch!!!!