Saturday, March 15, 2008

Magazine inspiration


This evening I did a small page of drawings inspired by a few pictures found in my April issue of Outdoor Life. Haven't done any fishing in a number of years so I am not sure why the idea of doing this came to me. It started as an experiment in drawing with ink. I used a Uni-Ball Vision with Fine point that I found in my drawer. I discovered that I have to be careful with it as water will cause it to run. So much to learn. After drawing the sketches I pulled out my tubes of water colors that have been sitting in a box in the drawer. My intent was just to put a little color here and there to highlight. The next step will be to do an actual watercolor painting.

17 comments:

Lin said...

I really like this composition, Alan -- the pieces are fun-filled and work so well together!!

Laurie said...

Great sketch Alan, I love your line work, composition and coloring. It's a happy lively piece. fullmoon923

Debbie said...

I love the rod and reel! I love fishing. I enjoy looking at your drawings. That says it all :)

Have a great Sunday, Alan!

Quilt knit said...

Yes! So do the permanent Sharpies. How do I know this. I was doing and finished a large abstract drawing for my Son. I used the pens Uni-ball for the main drawings on 11-17 inch good paper 3sheets. Well, I used the new color Sharpies for the color I put in. Now, even though this work has been in the basement and not exposed to light- The colors have faded and the black lines are not black but washed out brown. I use no watercolors.
drawings are beautiful.
Sherrie

Ann said...

Great drawing! I like the way you composed the page too. You have some wonderful work here - I also really like your painting of the light house.

Lisa Adams Reed said...

Alan-You are really onto something! I think the ink drawings really unleashed your personality! Hope you do some more!
Lisa

Quilt knit said...

I love the green fish. Reminds me of fishing off the Biloxi Bay Bridge. I got a whopper. All He had to do was twitch His tail and would have been gone. I had a good 3 to 4 inch hook on my line. Got lots of crab with chicken necks and string.
I like the pictures more when I click on them and they get big.
Sherrie

andrea joseph's sketchblog said...

very nice, Alan.

Scarlett said...

I love this, you really rendered the lures accurately. I am new to watercolor too, and learning to keep control of the water.

Bill said...

Nice work. You seem to have a natural ability at organizing things on a page. And I think you're wise to do small pieces, as well as occasional more complex scenes. I have tried a lot of pen's. But for a couple of years I have used Noodler's ink, mainly black that works for me well. http://www.pendemonium.com
Best to really test any pen you want to use, especially with watercolor. Draw something, let it dry thoroughly (so it's a fair test), then paint it to the wet side (not stingy with the water), and see what happens.
B

Shelly McC said...

Excellent little sketches!

Jim Bumgarner said...

Nice job on these fishing sketches. You have captured in one attempt here something that seems to elude me after quite a few years of work: loose, free, and easy. I think the bleeds work for you.

Anetka said...

your drawing is full of life and energy, makes me want to go fishing tough I have never done that before.
I like the composition and colours.

Terry said...

Can't wait to see where you take this talent of yours! Looking forward to more.
Terry

Teri said...

Aw, fishing! We will be doing that a lot when we return to Wisconsin. Love the layout and I love working with Sharpies also.

thermion7 said...

Alan-
My favorite sketch by far. You should use the pen more often! With the pen, all of your lines seem bold and committed. When drawing with a pencil it's so easy to be sketchy and light handed. This style suits you... it would be cool to try and adapt some of the technique into tour pencil work.

Anonymous said...

This is my favorite of yours so far as well. I like the look of the pen (I think it takes more courage to draw in pen), and love the colors, as well as the arrangement of the sketches on the page. Great job!