January 2015 Sketches

A Special Dog Walking Bag
29 January 2015
Graphite Pencil
Winsor & Newton A4 Heavy Weight Sketch Book
29.7cm x 21.0cm (11.75" x 8.25")

So far, I have stuck with the plan to draw on every day in 2015. There are too many artists to ignore that identify drawing each day as being the key to improving.

Plug It In
1 January 2015
Graphite Pencil
Daler Rowney A5 Graduate Sketchbook
210mm x 149mm (8.3" x 5.9")

I've continued with the focus on accuracy from last month (see December Sketches), but I've started to reintroduce modelling into the drawings.

Kirsty Elson Driftwood House
20 January 2015
Graphite Pencil
Daler Rowney A5 Graduate Sketchbook
210mm x 149mm (8.3" x 5.9")

Marc Taro Holmes (Citizen Sketcher) recommends 0.7 mm propelling pencils as his graphite drawing tool of choice. He prefers them to normal pencils because they eliminate the mess and hassle of sharpening. I have been using 3 mm mechanical pencils with 3B and 6B leads. They are versatile, but they still need sharpening and are probably messier than conventional pencils. So, I've switched to a 0.7 mm propelling pencil and I love it. The 0.7 mm leads are much sturdier than the normal 0.5 mm leads - I haven't had one break yet. The pencil came loaded with HB leads which are bit hard and pale, but I have some B leads which I am looking forward to trying.

Mestle and Portar
10 January 2015
Graphite Pencil
Daler Rowney A5 Graduate Sketchbook
210mm x 149mm (8.3" x 5.9")

It is great to find things that work for you. This month I've also switched from case bound sketch books to wire bound sketch books. Richard E. Scott (Sketching From Square One) recommends them because they are easier to keep open and lay flat.

Mike Lythgoe Mackerel
28 January 2015
Graphite Pencil
Winsor & Newton A4 Heavy Weight Sketch Book
29.7cm x 21.0cm (11.75" x 8.25")

The two sculptures are both presents from Elaine. The driftwood house is by Kirsty Elson and the shoal of mackerel is by Mike Lythgoe.