Conte Pastel chalk on newsprint - colorized digitally.
Watercolor on printing paper
It has been 2 months since I got my iPad, that has been a new addition to my sketching tools. However it doesn't replace my pens and inks and watercolors and sketchbooks. Its only when I want to carry as little as possible, I would use my iPad as my sketchpad.
These are sketches done while chilling in DOME Cafe at Parkway Parade (a neighborhood shopping mall), while waiting for my wife to complete her nails routine. Each gestural sketch took roughly 30s to complete. When I finished a 'sheet' i would paint it. Then I started another sheet. Since it is quite hard to get details in, sketching with the stylus is a joy as I would focus on just the gestures and the general shapes of the figures.
iPad & Stylus with Procreate.
This is painted on a China-made sketch paper I bought from a friend. Surprisingly it takes in watercolor very well without loosing the quality of transparency, tearing or color fading when the paints dried. I painted the first coat of transparent watercolor with the paper mounted vertically on the easel, so the paint dripped across the paper. Then as I added the shadows and the dark areas, I painted with the paper lying flat and slightly elevated. Throughout the one hour and a half, Peer (the model) sat at the desk playing with this laptop without changing his pose much. I test the paper with different techniques, dry on wet, and wet on wet. The latter did not work too well as the absorbency of the paper is not not comparable to that of the watercolor paper. So when the water or paint puddles dried, they leave a water stain marks like what you see at the back of the painted chair. Overall, its a cheap paper to practice on - SGD7 for the entire ream.
[caption id="attachment_2005" align="alignnone" width="584" caption="Sepia Conte Pencil, A2 Size on Charcoal Paper"]
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[caption id="attachment_2006" align="alignnone" width="584" caption="Sepia Conte Pencil, A2 Size on Charcoal Paper"]
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Recently I am hooked on drawing big... on at least A2 size and bigger. It allows more freedom of expression as you are involving the entire arm to draw. Good exercise also! I m still drawing on my sketchbooks, some are even smaller than A5, measuring about 13cm X 13cm. In any case, the principle of drawing follows whether you are drawing big or small. I do have a problem storing the bigger format drawings then.
Today's class is all about painting. Everyone is encouraged to try out or to further practice on a new medium besides the usual dry medium we have been using. I set up the skull as a still life to paint, for the students as well as for myself to practice.
Size: A2
Tool: Soft Pastels (Earth Tones)
10 min pose.
