Cactus_v2

 Faber Castell Pitt S+B, 14,5 x 15,5 cm

Mercedes Benz Badge

Pen Drawing

190 x 190 mm

Canson 180 grs

"Just keep on drawing, I say"

Some drawings seem to last forever just finishing them. This drawing for instance keeps on giving me headaches. Starting off I had some very good ideas, I thought. But when I started sketching most of those splendid ideas didn't turn out the way I thought they would. And now I've finished the inking part, I'm still not sure which colourscheme I should use. 

VW Beetle

Illustration Friday - Zoom

Illustration Friday - Tree

You can chop off an old tree, but that doesn't stop it from growing.

Oyster

Sometimes it's just fun to make a quick sketch with ballpoint. This is a sketch of a Japanese Oyster. They can also be found in other parts of the world. They're named Japanese, but that doesn't mean they can only be found in the waters around Japan. They can also be found in the Mediterranean or in the North Sea. Even on the shores of a tiny little Chinese island. But that can cause diplomatic tension nowadays.

Windmills

A windmill is a nice subject to draw. It has an outstanding form which is very recognizable and gives it a presence of it's own. There are several styles to draw a windmill. It can be done in color, as you can see above, or in black and white with pen and ink. This last technique is my favourite, because it pays more respect to the subject in my opinion. Usually forms follow function, but in this case drawing style follows subject.

Both mills are situated in Leiden, a Dutch town. Molen De Put is a re-build mill in the center of the town near the house where Rembrandt was born. The mill is a replica of the one in which Rembrandt´s father worked.

The other mill, drawn in black-and-white, was build in the 18th century and once situated far outside the old towngates to keep the farmland dry. It is still operational, but only for touristic purposes.

Tools: pen and ink

People in different jobs use all different kind of tools to do their job. Drawing, for instance, can be done with a pencil, but my favourites tools are pen and ink. Mostly added with a splash of watercolor, using different colors or only black. As you can see in the drawing above.
I am a great admirer of craftsmen in general and I strongly believe that they must be more appreciated in what they do and stand for.

Mountainbike

Another fun thing to do when you're not at work or school: riding the mountainbike. Our kids cycled for the first time on a mountainbike during our holiday in the Alps. They had a lot of fun playing with the gears and developed quite an impressive speed! They can't wait to go back, but I'm afraid they have to be a little patience.
Pen and watercolor in black and white.

Illustration Friday - Remedy

A well-functioning lock is allways a good remedy against burglary. Sadly enough it is only prevention, not a cure.

This drawing is made with pen and watercolor in black and white, together with some fantasy about the looks of the lock. I haven't seen such a lock before, but when I was sketching it suddenly appeared.

African Masks

2CV in black and white

I noticed that I didn't have drawn a Citroën 2CV for quite a while. So I made this one: an old garage with a, perhaps, forgotten car in it. It was fun to draw and I made the drawing according what I had in mind. That's the fun part of drawing, especially when drawing cars. After all: they're men's favourite toy. Aren't they?

Boy On The Look-out

It looks like winter is finally gone. Spring is here to stay, so the time has come for playing outdoors. This little boy is already standing on the look-out.

The perspective in this drawing looks promising to me, but I still have difficulties in finding the right dimensions in, for instance, the little boy's arms, head and legs. I'll have to practice a lot on that stuff.

Waiting For The Bus

One allways wonders what's the story behind a picture. Actually, I don't know. I was just making some sketches and this became the result. Who knows why this boy is standing at a bus stop with all that luggage...

Subterranean

Everybody knows: treasures have to be kept in subterranean hiding places!

Brave

This week's topic on Illustration Friday is: Brave. It reminded me of the time I thought it would be fun to jump parachute. Well, the first jump was fun, because you don't know what to expect. But then, the jumps after the first one! That's a totally different story. Then you imagine what can go wrong. So, you have to be brave to make that second jump. And then another, and another, and another.

Ink with watercolor exercise

This exercise should actually have been a little, wooden boat. According to Michael Warr's book "Capturing texture", that is. But I've drawn a boat two weeks ago, so I choose a subject which is a little closer to me than boats.
The exercise is about how you can put texture into an inked drawing by adding watercolor. In this exercise it also had to be a monochromic study. I like black and white drawings most, so that's what I've made. I think it has depth and a certain "breadness", although it's in black and white.

Illustration Friday - Focused

My third camera ever, was actually the first one I really bought. My first camera was a price I won and the second camera I used was owned by my father.
At the age of twelve, thirteen I decided it was about time to buy my own camera. Due to a little hole in my hand I couldn't buy a really good camera, but the Agfamatic 100 was in mine opinion a good alternative. It worked well, using filmcassettes, flash cubes and a lens which stayed focused so every picture looked sharp. I remember I really made a lot of pictures with this camera.
It still works, actually, but when I look at the pictures with the knowledge I now have about how pictures should look like, I have to admit that they are more unsharp then sharp. But I had a lot of fun taking pictures back then and they bring back good memories of long forgotten holidays and events. And that's priceless.

Illustration Friday - Clumsy

...it mostly happens in the last stage of the drawing.