Drawings from Amsterdam

Drawings from a week spent in Amsterdam at the end of July, during the USk 2019 Symposium. Although I didn’t attend the workshops, it was great to meet up with many Urban Sketchers around the city. I used Stillman and Birn watercolour paper to make the sketchbook and really enjoyed working in it although scanning it was slightly problematic, hence the varying sizes of the images. 

My illustration process - Creating an illustrated leaflet

I worked with ‘Incredible Edible Lambeth’ again this year to produce a folded illustrated leaflet promoting all the wonderful Harvest events happening in their area.

The leaflet, which is A6 size when folded, is printed on both sides of an A4 sheet.

I needed to create a cover, back, middle spread and large central list based on the one from the previous year. The text was to be handwritten again and the first job was to write, scan and collate this together. 

Next I needed to change the text colour from black to a dark green using the ‘Colour Range’ tool on Photoshop. After this it was a case of adding the illustrations on a separate layer until everything looked about right.

The leaflet was checked, I made final amendments and the complete version was sent as a PDF, ready for printing.

It’s a lovely event, so if you are local, do pop along!

(Really) Old Sketchbooks

Having a bit of a sort out at home and thought it might be interesting to post some images from old sketchbooks. I’ve always loved working in them and there is something about them that allows me to work freely, much more so than with a blank sheet of white paper.

The drawings below were made in a very large ‘Bushey’ sketchbook, 20 x 14 inches. The pages were made of a smooth thin cartridge paper which took coloured pencil really nicely. Drawn from magazine photographs when I was at art college. I’ve just had a look online and the company that made them doesn’t exist anymore. That’s how long ago it was!

Most of the work is from art college days, when I mixed drawings, illustrations and collage on the pages. It’s quite surprising how I drew so many people/characters then when nowadays I tend to stick to architecture. 

Brighton Station, drawn on location.

Many of images of people were drawn from my imagination, which is something I doubt that I could do anymore. Materials were a mixture of coloured pencil, inks and pastels.

I was always fascinated and inspired by London.

Presents from Porto!

I set myself the challenge throughout August to just use the materials I received in the goody bag from USk Porto symposium as I thought it would be good to try something different. 

In addition to the materials in the bag I also used the bamboo pen and stick given to me by Imna Serrano in her workshop, adding a container of Indian ink. 

My other addition was a stick of glue as I was also inspired by one of the other sketchers, Ana Luisa Frazao, who used collage as part of her urban sketching technique. Luckily for me there was a small water brush and two watercolour ‘dot’ cards included in the bag, so I didn’t have to give up painting completely!

Swatches of the materials at the beginning of the sketchbook

I really like the size of the Leuchtturm1917 sketchbook, A5 opening up to A4. It took pen and pencil line very well. The colour palette of the pens and pencils was mainly blacks, blues and reds so that was a change for me. Unfortunately, the Leuchtturm1917 is not made for watercolour so I struggled a little when trying to paint. Still, I found that the ‘White Nights’ colours had a really nice quality even on a plain paper. Imna had stressed in her workshop to try and keep the joy of using new materials and I tried to keep that in mind not worrying about the end result. Hence the sketchbook is rather a mixture of pieces. My favourites so far are the ‘Zebra’ pen, which felt a little like a small brush pen and is able to give a nice variety of line and the ‘Cretacolor’ Nero Soft black pencil.

All the drawings I made in the post about my trip to Lyon were with the new materials and here are some more pages and details, along with the media used.

The 'Zebra' pen in the Leuchtturm1917

Winsor and Newton Water Colour Markers in the Leuchtturm1917

Winsor and Newton Water Colour Markers plus 'Zebra' pen in the Leuchtturm1917

'White Night' watercolours, applied with Faber Castell brushpen plus 'Zebra pen (on receipt) in the Leuchtturm1917

                                                                           

'White Night' watercolours applied with Faber Castell brushpen in the Leuchtturm1917

                                                                               

'QoR' watercolour by Golden applied by Faber castell brushpen and 'Zebra' pen in the Leuchtturm1917

   
 A big thank you to all the companies who supplied the items in the goody bag!

'Sketch Tour Portugal' website is live!

Some of the watercolours I made last year whilst being part of the 'Sketch Tour Portugal' organised by Turismo de Portugal and Urban Sketchers, are now live on a dedicated website! 

I was lucky to be chosen to be part of the team of 24, drawing and touring the country in 2017. I drew in the Lisbon area alongside Jose Louro, where we produced at least six drawings a day for a week. It was an intense but amazing experience! 

You can search by region, activity or artist to get a personal view of this beautiful country at https://sketchtourportugal.com/