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Notebook sketches (1 Viewer)

Julian H

Julian H

Well-known member
Well, it's been a while since I did any artwork, but seem to have found some motivation recently to get back into it, more on a personal level than anything else.

There's some great work on some of the threads which I've enjoyed looking at, so here's some pencil notebook sketches - ripped from the archives -of a trip to Gambell, St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Straits. Brunnich's Guilly and Red-necked Stint.

If anyone uses colored pencils and blending sticks, I'm interested in learning any techniques or methods they've found works best for them.

best

JH
 

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Who doesn't love notebook sketches with first hand observation? Great to see & I even like the ringbinder & page edges!
Sweet work:t:

Paul
 
good to have you with us on the art forum, I remember enjoying your line drawings in various magazines when I was a kid.
Great set of pages.
 
Terrific work Julian - really has the lot; ornithological interest, artistic quality - a real connection with the natural world. Superb - now don't be keeping them to yourself anymore.
 
I wish you would come draw in my sketchbook, your drawings and notes are actually useful compared to my scribbles and unreadable handwriting:-O

love to see some more,

re the pencils Derwent has a nice set of wettable watercolor pencils or there are some sketch and wash pencils that you use like a pencil then apply clear water to make it a wash, if you penciled heavy the wash is dark, if light then light wash, or you can pick it up off the pencil with the wet brush and apply. A local art store should have it, or try www.wetcanvas.com and go to the colored pencil forum, they are really nice and very helpful
 
notebooks deux

Thanks for the comments guys...I spent a lot of my youth tearing around the UK and have notebooks from the days where I just wanted to draw and learn my birds.
Nowadays, I just don't have the same amount of time and don't sketch or draw, or note take as I used to. It's a shame because you quickly forget stuff you see in the field. If you don't write it down and just rely on memory, it often lies to you more than you'd like. I know I'd rather trust the written word of a 20 year old notebook, rather than my memory!!

Here's some more..Black-faced Bunting at Penneington, Black-headed Grosbeak, vagrant here in CT, USA - this was done from field sketches but is a more worked up version for submission to the rare records committee and finally a notebook sketch of a Booted Wobbler on ST. Martin's on the beloved Scillies - what memories!!
 

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Julian.....superb drawings..! There's something very aesthetically pleasing about seeing sketches in actual notebooks....quite 'gripping'...!

ps...especially 'gripping' the black faced bunt which i didn't see coz i was not in the country....[i always tease mates who saw the thing that it was an obvious escape]...kidding of course...;)
 
username said:
ps...especially 'gripping' the black faced bunt which i didn't see coz i was not in the country....[i always tease mates who saw the thing that it was an obvious escape]...kidding of course...;)
Click to expand...

Even I saw the Black-faced Bunting - and I'm on sub-300 for the uk ... :eek!:

;)

Excellent notebook sketches ... about a million miles from the blobs I tend to draw, if I actually try and do so.

:t:
 
dantheman said:
Even I saw the Black-faced Bunting - and I'm on sub-300 for the uk ... :eek!:

;)

Excellent notebook sketches ... about a million miles from the blobs I tend to draw, if I actually try and do so.

:t:
Click to expand...

Flippin buntin....!;) My mates love retelling the story of how they 'by-passed' all the queuing folk to see this bird...sneaky but 'needs must' n all that....;)

ps..glad you saw it Danthe...:t:

pps...my sketchbooks resemble bird forms not of this planet...[Julian is far more adept]..!
 
Pen and stinks..

Yeah, the bunting was nice..especially since I was lucky enough to be involved in the debate over its id. and one of the lucky few to be able to see it the first morning after Peter Alker had caught it and thought "Hmmm..this is odd...". The rest is history...

Here's one more I have..a pen and ink, my favourite and oft used medium which I love. Initially inspired as a teenager by Richard Millington's exquisite stuff in Twitcher's Diary, I started using pen and ink. This Boney's drawing was done many years ago and was inspired by a painting of another favourite artist of mine, Killian Mullarney, of two Little Gulls that was published in a book of wildlife artists (can't remember the name..something like 21st Century Wildlife Artists, or something daft). I liked his composition that I adapted it to be two Bonaparte's Gulls, which I hope he won't mind!

In case anyone's interested there's a few of my pen and inks in the recent Rare Birds Where and When, by Russell Slack, a great book, and illustrated by other great artists, including Ray Scally. Was that a shameless plug? ;)


Best,

J
 

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I use coloured pencils and blending sticks but in the face of those notebooks, I wouldn't dare to offer any advice.
They are beautiful, how to turn a simple notebook into a treasure :)
 
A pleasure to see and read Julian. It sounds like you really miss drawing, though maybe you're just talking about how enjoyable the entire time period was. In either case I hope you'll go back to sketching. These are beauties.

I've used Derwent watercolor pencils and hated them. But I think that's just the odd nature of watercolor pencils. There are a number of people who've done some nice color pencil work over the last 6 months though they haven't been on recently. Hopefully some of them are still reading the posts and can answer you. I'm sure that there are some people out there who can give you some good advice on color pencils. Looking forward to seeing more work!
 
Thanks Ken...I used to use Caran D'Ache pencils and liked them, but never really like the washes I got with water...I couldn't control them.

I'm looking at some Prismacolor, non-soluble crayons that I can use some tortillons (blending sticks) and turpenoid to blend. I assume for some areas, I'll use straight watercolor to get some nice even colors (backgrounds etc).

We'll see...just have to practice!
 
If you'll be doing things in watercolour anyway, just go for the whole thing in paint - pencil crayons can then be used to rectify anything that's gone wrong. And painting in black and white with pencil crayon over the top makes some nice gloss.
 
Nice work, Julian. I love notebook sketches. I just wish my notebooks turned out like this, despite my best intentions mine end up full of bald, practically unadorned lists, maybe with a few notes and no illustrations.

*Mental note - must do better!*
 
the use of pen and ink always just blows me away, and the invention used to make greys and textures here is just lovely, plus you manage to avoid what sometimes happens, a certain stiffness....I bow to the master!
 
Julian H said:
Thanks Ken...I used to use Caran D'Ache pencils and liked them, but never really like the washes I got with water...I couldn't control them.

I'm looking at some Prismacolor, non-soluble crayons that I can use some tortillons (blending sticks) and turpenoid to blend. I assume for some areas, I'll use straight watercolor to get some nice even colors (backgrounds etc).

We'll see...just have to practice!
Click to expand...
I have to say, I started with prismacolor and dislike them intensely now because they break all the time. The quality is really poor, they really do not sharpen too well.
I have now tried Caran D'ache, Derwent in various forms and Faber Castell Polychromo's. They can all be used together so I confess to buying small quantities of Ebay, using them and seeing what I thought...in my mind they all have advantages/disadvantages.
I do use a blender, I like to blend in some area's...not others, I never blend fur or feathers, perhaps a personal thing.
I have used turpentine based solvents, mianly in backgrounds but hate the smell so now use Zest-it which does exactly the same but smells of oranges. I also use blending crayons...
Perhaps when I post up some of my CP work, I will endeavour to provide more explanation..I never think that anyone will have an interest.
 
Hello Julian! So great to see you here, and to see your fantastic sketches. I'm replying to your thread because I am hoping I can pressure you to post more...GAME ON.

Catherine
 
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