Small TIP here: should you want to use some cross-hatching with this technique, instead of selecting the shapes one by one on the same layer, create one “cross-hatch” shape on a new layer, then duplicate it by Click+alt-dragging (or click+shift+alt to drag in a straight line) the amount of times you need it and flatten these layer afterwards.

Having the cross hatch on the separate layer will allow you to reuse it as long as you don’t want to change the angle of that layer too much – remember it’s pixels we’re talking so any transformations, except for “flip horizontal” or “flip vertical” will create fuzzy edges.
Enjoy

                          

Some sketching and colouring. Some vividness against cloudy and nippy outside… oh bow whatta gloom.

                          

Just some fun with a rhino-like creature running awkwardly… Sketch traced in photoshop and then shamelessly auto-traced in illustrator. I really like how some of the strokes turned out but some are just too obviously unprofessional. I will hand trace it, when time allows. Tonight it’s the figure drawing at in Portobello. Great exercise and different type of creature, I think…

                          

We went to a great place yesterday. Bodeans in Soho – the best BBQ ribs in London, apparently. I’ve not had much experience with London’s BBQ joints but it was really close to Carnivore’s Heaven, by my standards. I am sure I’ll be back there pretty soon.

So this morning I did this porca, I mean Posca-Pens sketch of fat baby piglets (whose ribs we had for lunch yesterday) surrounded by the BBQ sauce. I have got to buy more of those. Pens, not ribs.

These are by far one of the best drawing/doodling tools I have laid my hands on. The paint from Posca markers is completely opaque which means you can paint with lighter color over any dark areas color and it you’ll get results. It’s almost like having an undo button in traditional media. No line or shape is final. The stuff dries very fast so you can come back and make corrections as many times as you like (subject to material you’re drawing on) and add highlights at the very end not worrying about it in the initial stage. You can obviously see smudging on this particular drawing but it’s because I did it very quickly. Otherwise, if you give it a few minutes to properly set – there’s no stopping you. I understand my posca-pigs might not convince you but look here, at art by Mr. jontofski on flickr and tell me I am wrong when I say these are the ultimate doodling tools!

                          

Friday monkey project. I was just going to put a plain sketch up as I only had 10 minutes to do this update when I realised there’s so many quick ways to spruce the monkey up with a little help of a friend.

Three sets of levely splatter and watercolour brushes downloaded from brushking.eu gave it a much better, Friday vibe.

Enjoy your weekend!

PS. It is meant to be brushking.eu, not net. I will correct that later, promise.

                          

Sometimes it’s right to leave a sketch in the pad for a few days, give it some time to “mature” until it’s ready to be dealt with:) Also as you carry your pad with you, the pages naturally brush one against another smudging the lines and fading them slightly so after coming back and adding new strokes, you often end up with richer and more defined version as well as a chance of your eye to pick up on that unintentional rendering and come up with some new ideas…

So carry your sketchbook everywhere and it might just do some magic for you, folks:) In the worst case scenario – you’ll have to draw stuff yourself…:)

                          

I know it’s a quickie alright, but, man! – sometimes i just cannot draw properly…

Cheers and good weekend everyone.

I am off to see The Avatar tonight!

                          

A concept sketch from my pad. The illustration is in the making and it actually developed slightly into different direction (plus I corrected the anatomy issues;) ). I have been neglecting the daily doodle category for some time thinking that I should strive to deliver high quality only but what’s more enjoyable than sharing initial sketches? As far as art goes and In my opinion – not much:)

Cheers