Recent sketches (1 Viewer)

timwootton · Jun 5, 2011

Phenominal work, Russ - just look at these! An object lesson in just 'letting go' - it would be so easy to wait for the right pose, but that never happens - does it! Even without ref to the pp. I could see these were willows - I wish my corned beef were quite so tasty! Nice uppie doonie blackies too - even that way up.

mattybohan · Jun 7, 2011

This is a great series of sketches!

Woody · Jun 7, 2011

Great stuff Russ, I don't think I've ever got any decent views of willow warblers, just fleeting glimpses! You're a braver man than I!

Mike

phil baber · Jun 7, 2011

Stonking sketch work Russ! Of a difficult bird to pin down...
Superb loose style. With just the minimum of lines you are truly capturing the essence of the bird.
Very impressed and delighted by these!:t:

solitaryVSong · Jun 7, 2011

timwootton said:
Phenominal work, Russ - just look at these! An object lesson in just 'letting go' - it would be so easy to wait for the right pose, but that never happens - does it! Even without ref to the pp. I could see these were willows - I wish my corned beef were quite so tasty! Nice uppie doonie blackies too - even that way up.

Look very good to me Russ, though I've never seen the bird. Had I, and had I known how hard they seem to be to see, I'm sure I'd be even more impressed.

As far as 'corned beef being tasty' well as I've often said Tim is just as much an artist with words as he is with pen and brush!

ospreyscotbird · Jun 7, 2011

I have only just looked at this last page of your thread, will have a look at therest later. Just wanted to say that I love these sketches, aspirational work. You have captured the essence of the birds. I love this kind of sketch work, so much life. I'm in complete awe!!

phil baber · Jun 10, 2011

Again. Always inspirational. Always superb, and delightful in their honesty!

RussB · Jun 12, 2011

Cheers guys.
Ospreyscot....., I'm humbled by your comments, sir. Can I say if you had a good look at my sketchbooks you certainly wouldn't be in awe of most of the rubbish what's in them!

A few indulging efforts here. Although I'm trying to get away from this type of work, I do love to take the oppo when birds perform very obligingly, so I shouldn't feel guilty of not concentrating on the things that I really struggle with i.e moving birds. Sketches done on the patch: curlew that quickly became an excercise in restraint - not long ago this would have been an over-worked mess; lesser black-backed gull studies (the 2nd bird needs half and inch erasing from its bill!); red-legged partridge is a sketching tick and was, unusually just sat there saying 'draw me'; a couple of male blackbirds and three atempts to capture a carrion crow balancing on a branch in a strong wind - no it's not Orville learning to fly!

Cheers

Russ

RussB · Jun 12, 2011

Five more...

solitaryVSong · Jun 13, 2011

All very nice, esp. the first and last. I was about to ask for the ID of the last but I see you've already answered that.

I can remember when I would have fallen out of my chair if I'd seen a big area of dark in one of your drawings as in some of the gulls. But now it seems perfectly natural to you and I think looks very good.

Woody · Jun 14, 2011

Another great set of sketches Russ. RLPs make great subjects don't they!

Mike

Lykos · Jun 15, 2011

yes...very good sketches :t:

timwootton · Jun 15, 2011

The 2nd lesser-back is an absolute winner. The observation of the shadows around the face and head is acute and deftly described. Lovely piece of sketching.

RussB · Jun 16, 2011

Cheers,
I've just made a brave step forward, well actually a couple of drunken steps forward after several pints of strong french lager!

Frustrated by my crap illustrations in recent bird reports (my drawings rather than the printing) I've tried using different strengths of watered down indian ink. This is the first time I've seriously tried to get my feet wet, so I'm fairly pleased with the results, considering I don't really know what I'm doing.
Very little idea about composition etc so I've gone with my instincts.

I've used watercolour paper here rather than stretched cartridge paper, so I don't know if Ive made life easier or harder. I found it rather tedious, and by no means fun. A couple of really 'titanic depth' basics here: is it possible to attain smooth washes with ink? will masking fluid work with ink (I'll find this out soon as getting clean edges seems very difficult), and how do I get a nice gradation of tone without it looking awful and blotchy? Impossible questions, eh!

All traced from field sketches and the habitat stylised a bit. Avocet is my best effort. Not sure if the the egret needs a very dark tone to the water in front of the log to bring it forward or back (?) I almost lost the will to live trying to create a nice even wash for the gull - so just left it like it is. Waxwing needs a bit of 3d, smew's ok.

Any feedback on using ink would be most appreciated. I might be best trying payne's grey instead. Sorry, but I'm fascinated with monochrome, and thought it might be a good place to start with using something other than a pencil.

Great White Egret, Avocet, Smew, ring-billed gull and waxwing, hopefully appearing in the 2010 local bird report.

Cheers

Lykos · Jun 16, 2011

and this are all perfectly drawings

nickderry · Jun 16, 2011

haha - now we've got you using a brush, you won't go back - beautiful tones here, I find linework aboslutely impossible and do all my b&w illustrations with black paint watered down. Also those lbbs are excellent and the best of all - that three quarter view blackbird's face on the first blackbird sheet - just needed to point it out in case it didn't get the recognition it deserves amongst all the other quality drawings.

Woody · Jun 17, 2011

So we've finally pushed you close to the colour edge have we! Nice going!

The heavy tooth of the watercolour paper will always make it difficult to keep washes smooth. I may be wrong (?) but what you've used looks like a fairly cheap paper too and that's not going to help either. I'm not a watercolour expert like others here but I think the secrets to smooth washes are, mix enough colour before you start, keep wet, wet, wet, and lastly, speedy. Again, I'm happy to be corrected on this.

If you use Payne's grey and dilute it enough it may start to separate and you'll get some nice, unexpected patches of blue appearing. I've never tried it but masking fluid will work with any water based medium I should think.

I think it's great that you're feeling brave enough to have a crack at something new and the results are speaking for themselves. Your confidence should grow every time you pick a brush up and it won't be long before you'll be carrying a little field watercolour kit wherever you go!?

Mike

nickderry · Jun 17, 2011

if you're feeling adventurous - get a rigger brush and start drawing with that, it won't produce accurate results and can be frustrating, but it is certainly a good exercise and can make for some very interesting surprises.

Strandman · Jun 17, 2011

Woody said:
So we've finally pushed you close to the colour edge have we! Nice going!

well done you (and us)- next stop just a hint of blue brown purple to take you to the farthest edge of monchrome

solitaryVSong · Jun 17, 2011

nickderry said:
haha - now we've got you using a brush, you won't go back - beautiful tones here,

My thoughts exactly, especially as you're happy with these: you won't go back. I don't know much about ink or at least I don't remember much. I think if you also just took Payne's Gray and use more water for lighter washes you'd get a similar affect. But the important thing is that you're happy with it, even if it wasn't fun. That should lead you on to further explorations. And then the 'not fun' part will disappear. Well more or less. There's always some struggle I fear. I liken it to a continuous series of plateaus.

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