I Tried Doing Some Automatic Drawing With Different Pens. I Dont Really Know What I Drew, But I Like

I tried doing some automatic drawing with different pens. I don’t really know what I drew, but I like them.

Clockwise, these are: fude pen, fountain pen, pentel pocket brush, fountain pentel.

Here’s a video on automatic drawing if you want to give it a try: https://youtu.be/MJYGFwGhHnA

I had a notion years ago that it might be instructive to compare different methods of inking the same picture as a sort of tutorial. I never did make a tutorial, but on a whim I drew the comparison pictures a few days ago.

The top row is all fineliners, and compares three different choices a person might make about where to place their thick and thin lines. The bottom row is comparing water-soluble ink, a metal dip pen and a paintbrush.

One of the biggest disappointments of 2020 for me was failing Inktober for the first time since 2013. I even did most of my pictures at half size to make it easier, but I was so worn out by day 8 that I had to give up. I thought it would be nice to post the ones I did finish before the end of the year.

I marked out all the pages in my sketchbook at the start, so I’ll try to finish the rest before next October.

From a ‘witch generator’ that went round ages ago: Sarah, the moss witch; magic: shapeshifting; broomstick: shovel; familiar: a literal cat fish.

The first page is the original design, then on the second I tried painting her with a limited palette of yellow ochre, sepia and intense green.

I have 3 of these witchsonas now, maybe I should draw them together?

I made a Redbubble shop!

Lately I've been wanting to make some non-postcard products like stickers and things, so I set up a little shop on Redbubble. Now I can try all sorts of things! To start with I've just picked a handful of my recent pieces and set up basics like prints and stickers, but please do make a request if there's something you want. The possibilities are vast, they have so many products.

I'm pretty excited about the spiral notebooks, maybe I'll be a horrendous narcissist and buy notebooks with my own art on them.

Here’s the rest of them! Right at the end of this month I decided I had run out of time, so the real life sketchbook has a few pages painted flat black between these.

I feel a lot better this year, but I have a couple of strategies planned in case things go badly again. I might go as small as A7 if a whole page is too daunting, and in the limit if I really can’t do anything on a given day I’ll paint it black again. That way I won’t have a backlog - either it’s done or it’s not.

Inktober is may favourite art event of the year so I hope this time goes better!