{"id":1056,"date":"2021-01-05T00:00:03","date_gmt":"2021-01-05T05:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/sketchbook-learning-to-use-my-secret-santa-pencils\/"},"modified":"2021-01-05T00:00:03","modified_gmt":"2021-01-05T05:00:03","slug":"sketchbook-learning-to-use-my-secret-santa-pencils","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/sketchbook-learning-to-use-my-secret-santa-pencils\/","title":{"rendered":"Sketchbook \/\/ Learning to use my Secret Santa pencils"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>My Secret Santa gave me Mars Lumograph black pencils. These are (I learned) heavier in the carbon, compared to Mars Lumograph (regular), which are more graphite. I&#8217;m assuming, until I look this up, that this is the way the carbon molecules are arranged. The result\u2014for me, at the moment\u2014is a rougher, darker pencil. So I&#8217;m just playing with those 2B, 4B, 6B, 8B&#8230;. (soft and getting softer, which means darkish to noticeably darker).\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Yay, play!<\/p>\n<p>I keep adding more shadows and textures to this sketch (on cheap hotpress waterpaper paper in a spiral 5&#215;7 &#8220;sketch&#8221; book from\u2014probably\u2014ACMoore). This was photographed with my iPhone in a darkish room while watching <em>Star Trek: Discovery<\/em>. (An advantage to drawing while streaming shows and such: it&#8217;s easy to not watch the discomfiting bits. A disadvantage: I miss some of the glorious set textures and lighting and visual palettes.) Anyway, so this image is kinda gray; the paper is more one of those random cream colors. But I do think it&#8217;s almost done as a sketch.<\/p>\n<p>I <em>might<\/em> wind up scanning it and printing it lightly onto bigger nice watercolor paper and painting it.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Then again, it&#8217;s not like I don&#8217;t have other projects too\u2014<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>working on the next 5 bird stamps (there will be a time-lapse on Instagram soon, just for fun);\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>learning why I won&#8217;t be able to livestream on twitch (hello, rural DSL. Aren&#8217;t you nice and&#8230;. relaxed);<\/li>\n<li>I still have some rainbow flower dragons to finish and some to start<\/li>\n<li>I&#8217;m still on letter Q of the Oddly Exotic Alphabet<\/li>\n<li>I have several stories I&#8217;d like to illustrate (varying from &#8220;get to it already you are taking too long&#8221; to &#8220;first, ask permission&#8221;)<\/li>\n<li>figure out revisions\/new tiers, with the poll I talked about doing one or more posts ago<\/li>\n<li>a commission for a pen and ink drawing (this should be highest priority, probably, but I&#8217;m just downloading the brain right now)<\/li>\n<li>business-y things like reports and taxes and ordering supplies and online shop management and auto renews or not and all that<\/li>\n<li>practicing with the <em>brand new whee! <\/em>\u00a0iPad my family pooled in on for Christmas<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And that&#8217;s just the art side of life!\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My Secret Santa gave me Mars Lumograph black pencils. These are (I learned) heavier in the carbon, compared to Mars Lumograph (regular), which are more graphite. I&#8217;m assuming, until I look this up, that this is the way the carbon molecules are arranged. The result\u2014for me, at the moment\u2014is a&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/phmexg-h2","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":970,"url":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/sketchbook-late-night-essay\/","url_meta":{"origin":1056,"position":0},"title":"Sketchbook \/\/ Late Night Essay?","author":"Kir","date":"12 July 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"So for this one I wanted to to practice some value and focus. This sketch only goes down to a 4B*. I think a paper with more tooth* and\/or darker pencils or charcoal could really bring out some of the contrast that I\u2019m thinking about. And I think it needs\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Art&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":107,"url":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/a-gift-for-the-hostess\/","url_meta":{"origin":1056,"position":1},"title":"a gift for the hostess","author":"Kir","date":"22 July 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Goblins GiftWhat I did for sketchfest (instead of sleeping) http:\/\/www.ellenmilliongraphics.com\/sketchfest\/sketchfestart.php?id=63534B and 7B pencils on 65 lb Canson sketch paper. Paper is about 5.5\" x 8.5 but the drawing doesn't fill it, more 5.5\" x 5.5\" roughly. I expect I'll upload copies elsewhere and make prints of one kind or another\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Art&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":259,"url":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/transmogrification-ink\/","url_meta":{"origin":1056,"position":2},"title":"Transmogrification Ink","author":"Kir","date":"12 August 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Transmogrification InkFor Sketchfest #39,, prompt \"Mermaid Witch\".Trying to work out an idea in my head... Not quite it. The warped bubbling framing is ok; the witch's face not so much... Need fish and lighting reference. Also needs more soft pencils but no more time in Sketchfest! :)Why yes, this is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Art&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":190,"url":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/two-juncos-aceo-atc\/","url_meta":{"origin":1056,"position":3},"title":"Two Juncos ACEO ATC","author":"Kir","date":"2 March 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Two Juncos ACEO ATC My stepmom noted she didn't have any of my art on her walls. I only had ACEO ATC-sized Bristol paper, graphite, and water colored pencils with me. But she had a recently-filled bird feeder. This was a good combination. I did three cards for her: this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Art&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1683,"url":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/sketchbook-chicken-practice\/","url_meta":{"origin":1056,"position":4},"title":"Sketchbook \/\/ chicken practice","author":"Kir","date":"7 March 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"For work\/professional development, I got video access to the Wild Wonders 2023 nature journaling conference. After the fact, so it's asynchronous and all that. I just stream the videos and follow along as my schedule allows. Got to get through four days before the end of April!Of course, between work\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Art&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.metasilk.com\/wpages\/wp-content\/uploads\/2838b46221fe393dc2409be60db9080e.jpg?fit=820%2C1070&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.metasilk.com\/wpages\/wp-content\/uploads\/2838b46221fe393dc2409be60db9080e.jpg?fit=820%2C1070&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.metasilk.com\/wpages\/wp-content\/uploads\/2838b46221fe393dc2409be60db9080e.jpg?fit=820%2C1070&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.metasilk.com\/wpages\/wp-content\/uploads\/2838b46221fe393dc2409be60db9080e.jpg?fit=820%2C1070&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1325,"url":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/sketchbook-fuzzy\/","url_meta":{"origin":1056,"position":5},"title":"Sketchbook \/\/ Fuzzy","author":"Kir","date":"21 April 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"A beastie from my heart. I was pushing skills (good but I need more structure to this learning) and feeling like I was making something not-me ao I stepped back and just drew a beastie.Thanks Michael for supplying the Staedler Mars Lumograph black pencils I was using. (Duplicate image for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Art&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.metasilk.com\/wpages\/wp-content\/uploads\/d3489d69498a66cb753d02c912cffc9a.jpg?fit=820%2C1059&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.metasilk.com\/wpages\/wp-content\/uploads\/d3489d69498a66cb753d02c912cffc9a.jpg?fit=820%2C1059&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.metasilk.com\/wpages\/wp-content\/uploads\/d3489d69498a66cb753d02c912cffc9a.jpg?fit=820%2C1059&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.metasilk.com\/wpages\/wp-content\/uploads\/d3489d69498a66cb753d02c912cffc9a.jpg?fit=820%2C1059&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1056\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}