Buttnekkiddoodles

 
Wel, well, well. I had been truly saddened by Faber-Castell’s decision to discontinue the Big Brush Pitt Artist Pens. I raised a fuss. Actually contacting the company to share my thoughts about losing a tool I regarded as essential in my array of drawing gear. Capable of laying down a broader swath of pigmented ink, it not only provided greater, faster coverage than the original Pitt Artist Pen, a tool those of you familiar with my work know I cherish, but a much wetter stroke that was then easily smudged, wiped, smeared and blotter before it dried and then became waterproof. I was….well, I was pissed!!
But, I think it was clear a large brush was crucial in filling more page and working live in dynamic settings. When I’m in a hurry and drawing a scene that could change, I need the efficiency of laying down lots of tone, color and including my fingers to get as much texture and descriptive marks as possible.
so Faber-Csstell has come out with a Dual Nib Marker. As you see in these photos, one end has the big brush I referred to and a new, .8mm nib. Shown next to the PAP medium nib which is a .7mm nib, the .8mm gives a strong line which is a good compliment to the flexible big brush.

Looking closely at the two scans of the masked woman in the blue coat, drawn while I was on the bus with her, you can clearly see not only do I use different size nibs,a medium fountain pen nib, a 1.5 bullet nib PAP, a regular brush nib PAP, but also a Big Brush nib. On her coat I’ve even put to use an Ice Blue #148 on the collar, and the Sky Blue #146 for the folds and the main parts of the coat with successive lays to deepen the hue. In addition I use my fingers to smear and blot wet pigment as evidenced on her ball cap and the shadow behind her hair bun. On her cheeks and on her hat fingerprints create micro hatched. Those were easily added by sweeping my thumb across the bigger brush nib then quickly stamping the page.

 
In the lower left corner of the above page is a sketch I did while watching a YouTube video interview. My principal tool was a Faber-Castell .5mm Warm Grey IV Pitt Artist Pen. See how many individual strokes I had to use, and how many times I had to keep going over some areas to fill in and darken areas such as her cheeks, eye sockets and hair. Resembling a #2 graphite pencil in value and hue, it took a lot of work to build up the image. Again, all while she was, listening, smiling and talking. I finally went over the hair with a Warm Grey V PAP which helped deepen the value and solidify her hair.
One little detail to note: the few Dark Naples Ochre you see that were my initial lines to minimally lay in her proportions.

Gosh, I miss life drawing. I draw from life on a regular if not daily basis. But to draw the human body, uncovered, to really slow down and take an intense accounting of this marvel of the world. To see the structure and the substructure while capturing the play of light over the form. In the past two years I’ve barely drawn the nude and have stopped attending live sessions. I gave the virtual, online live session a go but there is a subtle spatial difference of drawing from a screen, a two dimensional surface filmed from the singular perspective of a lense and standing before a figure. When drawing live, in the same space before a model, I feel the negotiation between my two eyes. The very tricky play of parallax which creates the jostling of binocular vision.
And the craft of translating the third dimension onto a plane. Dealing with the slow fatigue of the model holding 15 and 25 minute poses, where the greater the difficulty of their pose, the more the wrestling match with gravity creates settling of the body, and the not always slight twists which may ease the strain of the pose but tease the artist to accommodate new profiles and morphing negative spaces. I miss it and I love it. All that and the accounting of lights nuanced play over the form. Again, each minute shift means light edges and slips to new real estate.
I enjoy looking at this marvel that is us.
Every sleek contour, every wrinkle, crevice, bulge, scar, wart, hollow, hump, jut, droop, dimple. The heft and hang, the flab and fold, the sheen and shade, where there’s hair, where it’s spare, the stretched and gathered, the glint of light on pout or snout or knuckle or nail.
Ah and skin. That marvelous organ which wraps and conceals all that writhes and wriggles beneath. At times dry and cottony, other times it more resembles satin or warm alabaster where one can literally see light penetrating it’s surface.
And the extraordinary dance between the hand and eye, and the mind and the heart that is the craft of drawing. The Thesaurusian challenge to describe as simply as possible or with as wide an alphabet of marks as one may, the same features again and again and with tireless return, again with no loss of delight.
Know thyself.
I’ve been missing it.

 
Drawn with a variety of fountain pens – usually with water proof pigmented ink or water resistant inks some of which are dyes, white grease pencils -aka White China Markers, my trusty Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens, on the rare occasion a color pencil, on various papers.

 
Sometimes a drawing just doesn’t seem compelling, or finished, or is enough of a disappointment that you just want to go back into it. A self portrait I did bugged the hell outta me and then, as I sat down to have lunch, I was looking over recent work, including the aforementioned selfie when my lunch arrived. The grilled salmon. I had also been looking a friend’s drawing of a captured warrior who would surely be tortured. The rest just fell together or conjoined.

 
Drawn with fountain pen and Pitt Artist Pens on a Stillman & Birn sketchbook.

 
Stopped into the corporate coffee station at North & Wells wherein pitched battles of chess are in heated swing and sway. The observant among you will notice the gent on the right is playing with the black chess pieces but appears to also be holding a black pawn as if he captured one of his own. The reason being the games were very rapid and would quickly conclude then these two combatants would switch pieces. So as I sketched they were alternating who opened. Anyway, their intense postures didn’t vary much throughout their set.

Fountain pen and Pitt & Artist Pens on a Stillman & Birn sketchbook.

 
Grabbed a sketch between bites.

Drawn at Cupitol with fountain pen and Pitt Artist Pens on a Stillman & Birn sketchbook.