Experimenting

I finally received my order of Fabriano Hot Press paper and took it out for a spin. I like it, but its an adjustment from using more 'toothy' paper. It goes 'smooth' way faster - which is not a bad thing, but its definitely something to be aware of and plan for in a drawing.

This little crouton was done with Polychromos, and the bulk of it was done grinding the pigment into an already smooth surface.

I want to do a series of these little guys, and this is my practice one. I may have to change my technique a bit, or work in less layers - or something. I'll figure it out.

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This week was very much about practicing and experimenting. I did a bit of that with some digital drawing as well.  Last post I had a rough sketch of an illustration ~

Then I fiddled with different drawing textures and pen sizes and styles a bit with my wacom and pen.

I changed the proportions of some of the characters as well as facial expressions.

This one's a really squiggly nervous line.

I'm not sold on any of them, really, although I like the 'life' in the last one. What I do like is knowing that I can actually draw now on the computer, and have to say its pretty cool. It soooo nice to not waste umpteen sheets of tracing paper, retracing and redrawing. But now I just have to figure out a good 'finish' technique. I do know how to do my colored pencil 'look', but I think that's overkill, to be honest.

So that's where I am this week. Lots of things in the planning stages. Lots.
My first magnolia bloomed, which is awesome.
And the world didn't end today so that's a good thing.