So this is how it is going to go

Just the one image today, but one I am very pleased with it. On the left is the original pencil to pen inked sketch on the right is the Illustrator version. I am really pleased with how it has come out, it took about an hour to do but it was my first time tracing a sketch in illustrator so I spent most of the time learning. So I am happy I have the bots at a visual standard, so that I can now concentrate on the story. It is very amusing, I write my music on a guitar and then arrange it on a computer, I do the same with my illustrations.

Bots Compilations

I have included the pens in the shot to show you the scale of this picture, I am really pleased with it, I just wanted to put all the bot designs I liked the most together side-by-side.

I am not sure how it happened but most likely subconsciously the rounded dome head bot took centre stage and really stood out as one of the best designs, so I have been focusing on redrawing him quite a bit since.

So I have just been "fleshing-out" this bot on the left, and making up new friends on the way.

This one on the left was inspired by "Mousers" from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The feet of Mousers depending on which version you draw are either really difficult to do, or they just look awful.

And this bot, he end up next to the dome guy and looked like his friend. So I had to draw him and his "Machine Man" skul-cap and extendable arm.

That is all for now, I am craving more paper, I really like the paper I used for the large image it was Tesco Value Paper Roll? Anyway it was great and only £1.25 fro 5 metres. The only downside was that it was very thin so leaked through and tears easily.

Paper, card, board, board.

So last blog I mentioned I got some Bristol board from Windsor & Newton & Strathmore and some marker paper from Letraset and some presentation card from Tesco.

So I drew a bot on all of them using my standard Staedtler Triplus, Rotring Tikky 0.7 and Berol broad pens I do most of my sketches in. The one on the left was the Windsor & Newton Bristol board, it was lovely the colour is a bit grey, but fely lovely to use. The one in the middle is the Letraset marker paper it comes up a bit cream, but it has the bonus of being traceable, it didn't feel right with pencils though for the sketch. The one on the right was the Strathmore, by far the most expensive possible because of the size as well as quality, good with the pencils and well as the pens comes up a little yellow, but that is fine. None of them leaked through on to the next page not even with the Rotring which gushes ink out. All of these require extra waiting time before erasing pencil lines as the ink takes longer to dry on the hot pressed surface. If you look closely you'll see little pools of ink at the end of each line which is what takes the time and if you erase to early, this is where the smudging will come from.

The sketch below was done on Tesco presentation board which I have been using a lot it is very cheap to buy comes up super bright white, paper and pens are fine on it, it just is a that little bit coarser which takes away a little of the pleasure of sketching a little.

Overall I like the Windsor & Newton the best, good price, lovely to use. The Strathmore has the nice size, the Letraset the tracing option, and Tesco the super cheap price, but the best all rounder in the Windsor & Newton Bristol board.

So what next more pens? Probably.

More Bot Sketches.

I had quite a lot of spare time waiting over the last couple days while camping, hence the insane amount of "bot" sketches. However a nice surprise awaited me on my return in the form of several different types of paper / Bristol board from Letraset, Windsor & Newton & Stratmore. Nice. There was also a light-box so I will be writing about those soon.

Little sketches, big pictures.

Some sketches done while on a train.

Some sketches done while helping kids design characters for games.

New Pens, new style?

I originally ordered these pens ages ago, and they never arrived, and when looking around for new pens to try I suddenly remembered I hadn't received them. Luckily the Ebay Seller QuickDraw Stationary were very good and got a set out to me right away.

It is a Uniball Technical Pen Set 005, 01, 03, 05 & 08 they are different they feel dryer stiffer than the current favorite the Rotring Tikky but they are lovely. No smudges when erasing the pencil work and the 005 is so much better than other 005 which I often fear are just going cut through the paper.

All the line work in these picture are done with the Uniball pens except for the outlines and shadow which I just used a cheap Berol Broad. The quality of the pens allowed me to try something different using different widths and spaces for shading.

Overall a very nice addition to the ever expanding pen collection, Thanks QuickDraw Stationary for getting them out to me.

Get Your House In Order.

SoI felt I was neglecting the pencil side of things recently so I decided to test out a full set of "Royal & Langnickel" pencils they weren't too pricey either. It was nice to buy the whole set to really feel the difference between the different graphites. What I really like was the thick bars, which I used to just brush the graphite in to the sketches (below).

I also bought a set of these broad Berol which have been great as I have been enlarging the outline of my drawings more and more, again check out the sketches below. They are really quick to cover but often go through the paper or board I am using.

These arrived last week but they came after I blogged, ZIG black and a Small & Medium "Menso" brush, I'm not too thrilled with the brushes except for their weight makes them very easy and sturdy to control, may I will like them more in time. The ink however is amazing, you can see it dry very quickly after it is put down.

Here are some "lunch-time" sketched with pencil shading.

And finally here is an extreme pen/pencil case brimming with some of the pens I have been collecting recently.

I will get to paper soon, promise.