When you discover a tool that you like and enjoy using, you'll never stop using it. For me it is the Pentel brush pen and the Pentel pocket brush pen. These tools are so versatile as you can draw and paint all at the same time. If you are using them for the first time, there is some getting used to. A brush is unlike a fountain pen that gives you a lot more control over the lines. A brush is flexible, while you can draw with the tip of the bristle, you can turn it or press harder to fill or paint over a larger area. Drawing with the point needs practice as you need to hold the pen in a certain angle and holding it so the tip of the brush just hovers over the surface of the sketchbook. Sometimes you need to maintain a constant distance between the bristle and the paper surface for a longer span of time to maintain a certain level of line consistency and this would take some effort to do so.

But overall, you can get quite a wide variety of lines from a brush pen, ranging from very thin and delicate to thick and bold. It is always a joy to use the brush pen, provided you like that kind of lines that it can produce. To each his own. Not everyone loves the brush pen. Some said it's too inky, too stark, too difficult to control, or too limiting. Well I do trust that you will fall in love with it once you get used to it. 

The recent big hooha about strike and how it is illegal in Singapore inspired me to draw this silly comic.

[caption id="attachment_2367" align="alignnone" width="584"] Strike!! Strike!![/caption]

Is it "illegal" to draw from reference photos? Well it depends. If you are posting your sketches on Urban Sketchers blog or FB wall, it is :D). Drawing from secondary sources is not bad at all, but you must not be caught copying straight out instead of reconstructing from it.

Besides, a photo is also not a 3D representation of the actual location or object, or in other words, the photo is a flattened version of your subject. So drawing from it does not help you to train yourself to see and organize the 3D space onto a 2D plane. So flat out copying does not benefit you if you are trying to grow as an artist.

But it is not a waste of time drawing from a photo. As there are many things you can learn, unlearn and relearn at the same time: simplifying shapes, organizing tones, reconstruct chiaroscuro, shifting focal point, redesigning composition and so forth... I could go on and on....

Here's one I draw from a photo my wife took just before dinner. I sketch with a Pentel brush pen on Fabriano sketchpad... there is some tooth on the paper surface so the brush strokes have some textural quality to them.

I was there just a couple of days ago to meet someone, and then today to meet another. Tiong Bahru is always my favourite haunt. I visit the estate because it is always quiet and tranquil in those hours I usually go there. I would either sketch or simply have a coffee to chill in the traditional kopitiams, which are fast disappearing, either due to the owners getting old and retiring, or the shops are taken over by developers or chain coffee shops.



This is the infamous Chwee Kueh (steamed rice flour made in the shape of a small saucer not more than 5cm in diameter) stall because they serve the best Chai Poh (minced and braised radish in oil) in town. The stall owner, a lady in her 50s or early 60s went to the restroom as I was about to sketch her in... and I finished the sketch before she returned.



Tiong Bahru has all kinds of knicks knacks only if you keep your eyes open for them. There are many that have gone and sometimes I regretted not sketching them. Today I chanced on an unker prepping his durians, by scrapping the dirt from the husk, and checking for the unripe ones, for sale later. From the looks, he is already in his 90s, old but still going strong! At the coffeeshop where I sketched, I felt like I was thrown back in time, savouring every moment that has not been touched by urbanisation and modernisation. Not against these, but there are times when you don't want to progress too quickly.