An Illustration Sequence

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For Rent (detail)

Mixed media (pen and ink, brush and ink, white acrylic gouache, acrylic inks; on brown paper).

This was a sketch done for a workshop demonstration a few years ago at Foothills Art Center. I'd brought it to a convention a few weeks ago, and a curious fellow asked about my thought process and sequence. Here is a step-by-step of the thought and work behind this picture:

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1. Gesture. 

This was done on a scrap of paper--even before I had the complete idea for the finished piece. I was just trying to get a lively stance for the tree. At this point I knew I wanted a bowing Ent-like tree in the picture, but not much else. I like to let details emerge as I work.

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2. Choosing forms

This is what's inside my head. After the gesture, I try to visualize the forms that will make up the picture. The idea for the bird arrived after the gestures. ( Again, I don't actually draw this onto the paper; here just trying to show my thought-process.)

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3. Thinking about connection of forms

More progress inside my head as I piece the thing together. Sometimes I will actually draw this part--lightly--onto the gesture, especially if I'm unsure of the forms.

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4. Pen and ink.

I draw it out with light pencil--I like H leads--then I often use a fine brush to outline the piece. Next, I begin cross-hatching the values with the crow quill pen.

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5. White highlights.

When most of the values are established, the highlights are added with white acrylic gouache. In this case I wanted the light to come from the egg.

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6. Colored acrylic inks. 

I thin them down a bit with water so they don't ruin the highlights. After the color dries, I go back in with pen and ink to deepen the dark areas if needed.  

Feel free to email me if any of this needs clarification. I definitely don't mean to leave out info or be purposely unclear or ambiguous.

Coming up: 

I'm doing a watercolor workshop in May--great for children's illustrators or anyone who wants to learn new watercolor techniques! Check it out here:

Sarmo Watercolor Workshop

And thanks for reading!

Pen and Ink (Plus a Franken-Creature Sequence)

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Frank-in-Progress.

I'm smitten with pen and ink. Always have been. Nothing gets me to the state of 

total creative awareness like the zen act of making repetitive lines with pen and ink. 

Time stops, the outside world disappears, and I don't care that my studio is in chaos.

Really, most times the studio is pretty neat, 

but working towards a show deadline has me more 

concerned with production than clutter. Plus, it's not fair that in some 

past posts, the studio has appeared mostly organized.  

This messed up work-space brings me to the real point of this post: Pen and ink!

On the drawing table is this book:

This version, published in 1930, was found it in a used book store a few months ago, and it is stunning! My go-to volume when I want to explore and revitalize my pen-work. I've owned the newer edition of it (titled Rendering in Pen and Ink) since art school, but this old fellow trumps that one with more illustrations and thorough discussion.

Sorry about the phone pics, but I wasn't about to cram this onto my scanner.

Here are the end papers. Yes, admittedly, I am an old-book nerd. 

As a kid, fascinated with line, I studied Tenniel's illustrations for the Alice books, Dore's illustrations--especially those from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and the works of John Leech. Like Franklin Booth, I mistakenly thought those engravings were pen and ink drawings. Unlike Franklin Booth's beautiful renderings, my resulting works are far from elegant and controlled. Random and spontaneous they are, and quickly drawn...

 ...like this detail shows.

Still, revisiting Arthur Guptill's book put me in the mood to explore, so the following 

Frankenstein's Creature-sequence shows a bit more self-control. Not that I like it any better, it's just different.

The extent of my thumbnail output for this one.

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An in-progress detail.

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Same detail with a warm acrylic wash and some highlight-lifting...

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...and some strengthened highlights with white gouache.

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Finally, a bit of acrylic ink for color.

Granted, the ink-line application is only slightly less random and unruly than usual, but it was a blast to do, 

and I learned a lot.

Thanks--as always-- for reading!