Quarantine Sketchbook

Unless I have a specific assignment that I'm working on I really don't know what I will be drawing until my pencil touches the paper. I pencilled out this scene last night not sure if I was going to take it to final art or not. I was looking for something to simply try out some new ink and watercolors on. It is definitely open for interpretation. Is he a grumpy old man? Is the woman about to poison him with a bowl of soup? Is she the daughter of an old lover of his? There must be a story in there somewhere. Right?! MW

I started this piece last night and just finished it. Well, I think I have. I'm still pondering over it. He's a bit of a strange chap don't you think? Ink, watercolor and gouache on paper 12x16. www.markweberart.com

Last night I was doing some mindless sketching while watching tv. Just pencil and paper at that point. This morning I decided to ink and color them for the fun of it. They are not bad for what they are, quickly inked and colored as it was just meant for something to loosen me up before I go into some serious work. They are a bit on the sloppy side but they served their purpose and I think of them as just another way to explore possibilities. Customarily I usually give a client three to four preliminary sketches which in the publishing industry are known as thumbnail sketches. These can run from very loose pencil drawings to tight colored sketches to give an art director an idea of what the final art will look like. This process can go back and forth a number of times until both the art director and the artist have nailed down a solid composition. It's work. The first two shown here have a point to them while I have no idea what the last one means!  I just named it ...

It's Sunday and yes, I am feeling lazy. Besides doing the things that must be done such as dishes, walking the dog, brushing my teeth etc., etc., I don't seem to have a ton of ambition today. That being said, I grabbed a magazine and browsed through it looking for something to sketch. There was not a lot to choose from but I felt I had to do something to warrant me lifting my butt off my chair from in front of my laptop and into the studio. These were sketched out in pencil first then painted in watercolor and gouache.  I added shades and a man bun to the saxophone player and the figure to the left has a bit of a bend due to me not flattening out the paper before I photographed it. Not the most imaginative of efforts but at least I did something today. I just hope I can share something a bit more intriguing tomorrow.  Well, I think I'm ready for a nap now.

I started my day by cleaning the gutters on the house. It's not something I look forward to, reaching into a bunch of muddy pine needles, leaves and who knows what else. But, it must be done and it comes with the whole home owner business. After lunch and a nice bicycle ride I finally had a chance to sit down and play a little with some new art supplies. I am still on my quest to "loosen up" and drew this figure off the top of my head with a ink dropper, sepia ink to be exact. Yard work must have still been on my mind as you can tell by the subject matter. The color was done with a mix of watercolor and gouache. I tried to us my dip pen to add some detail but it was being temperamental and I finally gave up on it. I'm fairly pleased with this piece and would like to try more in this manner. However, the next time I would like to pick a more interesting setting with more figures. A social gathering of some kind which during these days of social distancing is not ...

I grew up on Lake Erie and perhaps that's one of the reasons that I love to draw and paint nautical themed pieces. The dock was only a few miles from my house and the memory of the boats and the characters who worked on them has never left me. The very first children's book I was commissioned to illustrate was Little Toot and the Lighthouse back in 1999. It is still in print and was written by Linda Gramatky, the daughter of Hardie Gramatky who wrote and illustrated the original Little Toot in 1939. Mr. Gramatky was not only a great illustrator but his paintings are fantastic as well and a great inspiration over the years. His work looks effortless. The maritime muse must have been whispering in my ear this morning as this is what I came up with. I wanted to show the scale of the piece so I took a photo of it on my work table. The second photo is the same piece cropped while the third photo shows a few little layers I added in photoshop. In this I added some flesh tone t...

One of my favorite mediums to work with is gouache. When I mention this medium to some students they look at me with a blank stare as I envision a bunch of dancing question marks above their heads. Gouache has been used by artists and designers for years. I think it's best described as a heavy body watercolor paint. It can be used opaque or transparent and is used primarily on a heavier stock paper or illustration board. Many of the backgrounds in some of our favorite animated movies were done using gouache because of it's diversity. Here are a couple pieces I did last night using gouache along with some watercolor. There was no planning involved, I just started to doodle. Just playing. I added some type to the Hercules piece in photoshop just for the fun of it. In 2005 I illustrated a children's book titled The Pirate Princess for Arthur Levine Books and all the illustrations were done using gouache. Please check it out if you get a chance. Well, time to paint. B...