Sometimes I remember to take pictures of the process.

And sometimes I do not:

There was fun playing with pastel pencils:

And an experiment with a lino cut and print:

And I got to hang out for a few weeks with this little chap, by blowing him up to unreal proportions (original picture from Carl Bovis):

All in all, I learned a lot and I can definitely see progress when I compare with my work from last year. It feels good to create in the old-fashioned ways on paper, for a million different reasons. Get your pencils out, now go draw something! (Free bookmark commemorating my 2023 relocation for the first person who gets that reference! Post your answer in the comments!)

Click through on the big pictures to see them on Flickr for Alt Text and some more detail

Phew! It’s been a while! Since I started my new full time (and awesome) job I have had time to draw but not to post. Enough of the excuses already, let’s have a look at some of the drawings I did since the last post

Art school finished in June, and I got a good report card The teacher kinda liked this, based on the feedback he gave

Below you see the original and some shots of the progress. It took me quite a few sessions (of 3-3.5hrs each) to get there, but I learned a lot.

I also entertain the vague hope that 500 years from now I may be known as ‘The Master of the Bottines’, like my late medieval heroes. Not sure how it happened, but at one point that was all I was drawing for a couple of weeks!

I’m starting to know what boots look like…

I can’t wait to see what the second year holds! But before that one kicks off, I’ll share some more drawings from the 100 day challenge – I completed that and it was a blast

Post script: The second year is good, too. Learning new things. I might even share some pics soon

I find facial expressions incredibly hard to copy. I am getting a bit better at copying likeness, but capturing the emotion or the intention of the character with a few pen strokes is a totally different level. Certainly something to strive for during this 100 days challenge!

Like last time: click to open the gallery and get a closer look at the individual pictures:

And the originals:

And here is the double page “spread” effect. You see how it bleeds through in the second photo… That’s improved in later pages.

Have you been inspired to take part in #The100DaysProject? Or are you contemplating joining an art challenge? In 2022 I joined Kick in the Creatives for Inky April. They have a few options every month if you’re looking to find a little art community online!

My chosen project? Copying faces from manga, inking them with sumo ink and a proper pen (Blanzy-Conté-Gilbert — № 423 Plume Atome) and touching up with two small brushes, in a Royal Talens sketchbook. I sketch the drawing with a B pencil first. Here are my tools:

At the moment I am re-reading Tezuka Osamu Buddha in the Dutch translation. I love his style: a clear line, exaggerated movements, emotion in spades, humourous details, and impressive landscapes that range from the harsh Himalaya mountains to make you shiver to the humid steaming jungles of the monsoon-struck Indian subcontinent. Oh to be an artist who reaches to his ankles!

I am not sure yet if I will do all 100 days from this series or even from Tezuka’s oeuvre, but he’s certainly not a bad artist to train on!

Here’s my first week so far, and below for comparison the original. The first week I still used Noodler’s ink, but the label has fallen off so I don’t know which one. It feathered too much on this paper, and I switched to the sumi ink shortly after. You’ll see those in a later update.

Click on each image for a larger, full view:

And for comparison, the originals:

I feel I’m getting more comfortable using the little pen, just from this brief daily practice. It does not allow for much variation in line thickness, but for now I feel like sticking it out with the pen I first learned to ink with back when I was 6 or 7. Far fewer blotches than back in the day, I call that progress!

As one person on Mastodon pointed out: Pancake Tuesday implies the existence of a Pancake Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, so feel free to celebrate whenever the mood strikes! Here’s Rembrandt to help you on your way. And why not check out the rest of his awesome prints held at the Morgan.

All images are hosted on Flickr – click through for a larger view, and for image descriptions (Alt Text equivalent).

First up: not Squirrel, but Mouse. She’s checking out the cheese section of somebody’s well-stocked pantry library.

Next up: Squirrel and Fox did all the tourist things in DC – in addition to and a drawing I posted earlier, there is this snapshot:

Squirrel enjoying some quiet time, while I experimented with Procreate:

New one! Like many mammals, food is an enormous source of motivation for squirrels. It will even make them do math and physics. How will this end?!?

Things I learned from a year of drawing squirrels and other animals:

• I still need to work on a consistent style for my squirrel, if I want to present him as a single character. It’s ok to switch between a more anthropomorphic and a more realistic/animal representation, but they’re not the same squirrel throughout.
• Some squirrels look more like a kangaroo I need to work on the face.
• Finding the balance between enough detail and sufficient simplification is really hard. Cartooning is a real skill and takes a lot of practice to develop.
• I’m loath to give in to the trend of 3 fingers + 1 thumb for cartoon characters, but drawings get crowded with 4+1.
• Squirrels are fun to draw, but so are mice and foxes!

Would you like to see more cartoon-style drawings of Squirrel and friends? Let me know in the comments!

I’m not even asking the question if art should engage with current affairs. To me, it’s a given: if art is about self-expression (we can debate that question), then it will end up reflecting the world of the artist. And yes, cartooning is art. It takes considerable skill, especially when it looks easy.

1. “These haunting underwater photos portray climate change in a new way” (CNN, Nov. 4)

Haunting images.The article also describes how the artist worked with the local community to create this project. Here’s the most chilling part of the entire piece, to me:

“Somebody said it was quite post-apocalyptic. And I said, ‘No, it’s pre-apocalyptic.’ Because it hasn’t actually happened to these people yet.”

Nick Brandt, photographer

2. Cartooning that Oxfam report on billionaires

Oxfam published a report on the impact of billionaires on emissions. Part of the problem is their lifestyle, jetting around the globe in their private airplanes and consuming a disproportionate amount of … well, anything, to be honest. Big new angle in this report is the research on the impact of their investments. That shows their impact is far worse than you’d think. With COP28 on the go, this report now has gained traction, so you’ll see lots of stats bandied around. If you’re confused, remember your friendly cartooning and illustrator friends are always ready to bring clarity in complex affairs with a light touch, and First Dog on the Moon is no exception. Head on over to the Guardian and read the full comic!

• choose different paper with a bit more tooth/bite
• track more clearly what pencils I use for which shades
• stick to the same direction throughout for the tiny dark lines (they’re little stripes, not just a line)
• put up a note at the very start “Do not move towel and lighting!” The lights were shifted a bit between second and third session.

I guess I’ll just call it an extensive study before executing the master piece, someday. At least I feel a lot more confident in knowing my way again around a set of pencils (9B-H) and a series of erasers (I used 3 different types). Put the brightness of your screen up to see these pics properly, because the lighting in the studio is anything but conducive to iPhone photography.

Yes, I ended up erasing the bottom part and adjusting the length of the towel: as I got into the details, I realised the proportions were off, and the little squares were not lining up properly. My classmates assured me I didn’t need to do them, but I wanted them for the drawing I saw me complete. That’s where I messed up the paper and could have done with better quality. I didn’t know at the start I’d be going for this kind of work or I’d have chosen (and my teacher would have given me) a better quality paper. Tbh, it still wasn’t perfect when I was done but it was convincing enough that that towel is real and very crisp. Check it out! Click on the image to go to Flickr and zoom in there. I’m still figuring out what the best way is to give you high quality images without crashing my allowance here. Tips welcome!

Ok, that was the nice picture. Next: rant incoming. Warnings:

1. it’s long
2. I tend not to do these online, but perhaps I’ve been inspired after reading a few of Ludicity’s blog posts on the IT world. It seems it’s good to let it rip sometimes, even if I don’t have their online anonymity. So here’s fair warning: stop reading if you’re not into diversity and can’t handle me ranting about what amounts to gatekeeping and institutional/systematic racism.

but :

if I don’t do it, perhaps nobody will?!?

I have no skin in the games the art world plays, I’m just an observer and spare-time artist/illustrator, and I’m white. So for once I can use my privileged position to say what others may want to say, but perhaps can’t if they want to build a career in art after observing what I saw. Here we go!

Who’s it for?

What the heck, people? Have you looked the world and its people recently, and in particular twenty-first Europe? And have you thought about how it’s represented in and through art? If yes, can you explain to me why the visitors, art gallery folks, and the artists on display for ninety percent (and I am being effing generous!) look like a replica of a 500 shades of white paint catalogue? I know I’m one of those printer paper people myself (shade: library white) but blimey! I’m not sure when I’ve recently seen this large a collection of flour fleas in real life, considering I don’t attend anything Flemish nationalist. I think I can count the amount of Black folks I saw there on one hand. Two if I am being generous again. 

I know skin colour of attendees isn’t everything, but the art on display was not particularly diverse either. I know I’m spoiled: I lived close to New York City for a good while, and “they do diversity differently there”. I visited the 2022 Biennale from the Whitney and I was floored by what I saw. Really hard stuff that made me think about the planet, about the fragile moments of peace, the many moments of war and inequality, the anxieties of migrants in a foreign country, the joys of being alive, the strangeness of being alive in a weird universe,… The art itself was sometimes cute, sometimes humourous, some of it I didn’t get until I read the info, but all of it creative enough and technically accomplished that even if I had come up with myself, I couldn’t have executed it that way. 

What I saw in Cologne left me underwhelmed, by and large. Yes, there was cute, and well-executed, and technically accomplished art. But I am not sure what much of it was supposed to tell me that I haven’t already seen or heard. Nicely executed blocks of oil there, sure. Oooh, nice tesselations. Hm, ok, neat colour combo that I’d like in my dining room. Oh hang on…. I’m in the pre-contemporary section. I like the OLD stuff?? Yeah, I’m a dinosaur. Ok, this explains why a lot of these things are the size of a postcard, framed, and cost and arm and a leg (of an original Louis XIV furniture set at least), because they’re collectors’ items for an artist whose first choice stuff is in the museums/private collections already and not really for sale anymore. So we’re fortunate somebody has gone through their workshop and rescued their scrapbooks, first drafts and thumbnails for every idea they every put to paper with a crayon, stick of charcoal or dry brush. I didn’t quite see anything on the back of an envelope but I swear it’s only a matter of time before somebody comes up with the luminous idea that we need to spend more money on a nicely framed set of postage stamp-sized doodles on the back of an envelop by a famous dead white guy so somebody with more money than sense can say during that expensive dinner that costs more than the GDP of the ten poorest countries on earth combined, after one too many libations with an expensive chateau migraine they didn’t let  properly breathe, that they own an original by [fill out your favourite dead white male artist].

The art is nice and cute (I liked those cows on that postcard, but they were too expensive for the size tbh, and the big blue oval thing wouldn’t fit on the wall even if I had €62,000 going spare. It was a steal at that price, I must admit) but clearly I’m not where the action, where the NOW is at.

I go upstairs to the contemporary section. Aha! This is where it should be happening! Except, I can assure you that it isn’t. I know this is the oldest art fair in the world. And I know that for many old things, it is difficult to change. But babies! Europe has had Black people present here since just about forever: check out the Romans, and have you got any idea how diverse we were in the Middle Ages? So no need to worry that you’re doing something new, you’re just going back to your roots with diversity if you just open up a bit more to a wider spectrum of pixels on the skin colour cards, mkay? I’m pretty sure there are more artists of non-white, non-European background that produce top work than were on show. Don’t tell me it’s because buyers don’t want them. I’m sure you haven’t tried hard enough. It’s about time for a change: show them something new, tell them it’s all the rage up in NYC or LA, and watch them want it. I’m sure it works something like that: make them want it, sell it, sell more. White artists needn’t worry: the table is not only big enough, it’s expandable and we can create extra space for more folks to fit around and get a piece of the extra pies that are coming out of the oven. (How many metaphors shall I mix in here?)

But seriously: Where are the artists among the refugees that came from Syria? Why are they not represented? If we need to stay with Europe-based artists, I’m sure refugees from Africa do interesting art I’d like to see…. About three galleries came from Seoul (or were one location of multiple), but one of them did not show Korean artists – to the point that I double checked I was actually at the right location. Aren’t there exciting Korean artists to bring to the European buyers? My word, there are! I saw them 20 years ago when I studied there for a year, and the country hasn’t magically or mysteriously stopped producing them. Just throw a rock over your shoulder and you’ll hit one, or somebody who knows one. Try it! (Use a small rock, maybe, not encouraging you to injure people). Look, I’ve got you a little list to get you started: art galleries in Seoul. There was a big Ai Weiwei stand right outside entry to the actual fair, but not much from China IIRC. Hm… interesting. I know there are interesting Chinese contemporary artists out there doing amazing stuff that earns them the label of dissident, but maybe galleries don’t want to court controversy with politics? Even if they want to avoid art that is overtly political, there is just a freshness to showing artists from other continents, as I found out on the few occasions I did find it. Proper “frisson running up the spine” moments.

It seems Australian Aboriginal Art has arived: that was the one type that was clearly present in a few galleries, and not only from Oz. It was a breath of fresh air to look at. Two other great moments that stood out were the Shanghai/Hongkong based gallery Pearl Lam, where I immediately spotted a different vibe. Not because of Chinese work, but because they brought artists of African origin. One of them a young lady born well after me who paints with such a vibrant pallet, I wish I had half her wisdom in understanding colour (Check out Deborah Segun), and it exuded a hopefulness that brings a different story we sorely need today. Another was the sole African gallery I found (Whatiftheworld, Capetown), where again there just was a different vibe – even if the artist that drew me in was white (I couldn’t figure it out based on the name), the work just was different, and the whole booth had a different vibe courtesy of the use of metal surfaces. 

There may have been more galleries with non-Western, non-white art, but I feel that at this point in the 21st century at a fair that doesn’t bill it self as Western Art specific I shouldn’t go looking for it like an exoplanet astronomer looking for water in a nearby solar system: with special detection software and purpose-built instruments to alert me to the smallest morsel of possibility of a trace element that something, somewhere near me might be of non-European origin. I am not sure what art is supposed to do for other people, but for me, it is not about being pretty. It’s about making a connection with people, about telling a story even if it’s a still image or abstract “thing”, about inviting thought and contemplation, about forcing you to sit with something. That can be a contemplation of beauty and wonder, and it can be comfort and fun, but I would love to see more of the diversity of humanity representing the myriad of stories we can tell and share, and the many different forms these same basic stories of longing, belonging, loss, and love can take. If it all looks like it came straight from the whites page of the paint catalogue (yes, it’s different from the previous one I linked), we’re missing out on the whole bloody rainbow.

I remember distinctly my friend whispering to me at Maryland Sheep and Wool in 2015 “Yes, it’s really nice, but where are all the Black people?” Queue 2019 with the big reveal in the yarn and knitting world that gasp it was racist AF and now, in 2023 there are a lot of improvements, with a lot more space for Black, Brown, Indigenous, and other people of colour taking part as dyers, designers, vendors, and consumers. They are part of the conversation, and the knitting world I know is better, more fun, and more exciting because of it, and there is still room for more.

Art world, I’m waiting for you. When is your wake up call?

• PSL
• Spooky things and Hallowe’en
• rainy days and/or cosy autumn/fall days with crunchy leaves underfoot
• days getting shorter and an increase in comments like “It’s getting dark early now” or “I can’t believe it’s still dark at 8am”

(If you’re in the southern hemisphere, those last 2 don’t apply, and possibly the first two neither. I never visited the southern hemisphere!)

But if you peek inside the world of art and illustration, you’ll find that we have our own equivalent of #Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month), just a month early so the very creative types among us can do both. All it means is that every day, you do an illustration with ink, and at the end of the month you have 31 illustrations, or several large ones, and you’ll have improved your craft significantly.

I took part last year, and it was a significant time commitment to come up with ideas and execute them. You can scroll back in my instagram feed to the copies I made from Tang dynasty tomb mural paintings. I lasted about 20 days and then I couldn’t keep up.

This year I didn’t even try, and I only got two inky drawings.

Use the slide to see how my drawing compares to the original photo. The uploaded formats didn’t quite match, and neither did my drawing. JuxtaposeJS is still a nifty tool from Knight Lab!

My second inked up drawing was an assignment in art class: pick some stuff from your pencil case and draw!

Slide and compare, pls! Photo and drawing don’t quite align because I took the picture on the first day and then had to re-create the scene on the second day. I know there is something wrong with my roll of tape. Still not too bad for a quick sketch.

How was your #Inktober?