A research workhorse
A boat parked on a trailer may not be as picturesque as the waterfront scenes that most people are drawn to, but living in the Seattle area, a land of beautiful lakes and waterscapes, has heightened my curiosity for ships…
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Process
Hot-dog stand sketch: a behind-the-scenes look at the process
I can’t believe it took me so long to try a cream-cheese-slathered “Seattle dog” from Betty Aklilu’s Deez Dogz stand at Fifth Avenue and Pike Street in downtown Seattle. Read the full column: For the owner of Deez Dogz, it’s…
From pencil to ink
If you aim to make ink sketches with a certain degree of accuracy, it helps to block out the composition in light pencil first. I like to use an H pencil for that part of the process. The pencil marks…
Sketching the University of Washington oceanographic research ship
A few behind-the-scene snapshots from a wonderful time sketching the University of Washington scientific research vessel Thomas G. Thompson and some crew members. Main sketch process: Light drawing with H pencil; ink line with Carbon Desk Fountain pen on 11…
Sketch of green house in Greenwood
Spending a few hours working on a big sketch can be very gratifying, but it’s the small drawings I make during unexpected pockets of time that I often enjoy the most. I drew this charming little house in the Greenwood…
Elephant Car Wash sign gets its own portrait
See full post in The Seattle Times: Passersby pay their respects as the beloved Pink Elephant packs its trunk.
Evening light on Montemolín castle
I can’t leave Montemolín without a mandatory sketch of “el Castillo.” The ruins of this medieval fortress, which is illuminated at night, are a point of local pride and a symbol of the town’s rich history. These days Montemolín is…
From sketch to illustration
I recently redrew one of my pocket sketchbook drawings to illustrate one of my Seattle Times posts. Here’s the sketch, done on location and colored afterwards from memory. And here’s the new version drawn on the iPad with the Procreate…
When a page is not enough to fit a sketch
The sketch doesn’t fit on the page? No worries. That happened to me the other day while I sketched longshore workers at The Port of Seattle. I drew the person quickly first, but made her too big in relation to…