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 more of that contrast.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I don’t know if this happens to you, but after I set this down (thinking I was finished), I found myself wandering around knowing I ought to be moving on to the next bit of work or chore or something but just going back and forth and peeking at this again and again. For about 30 minutes–nibble a bit of sandwich, look at picture. Let the dog in, look at picture. Tidy something up, look at picture….\u00a0<\/p>\n
But then I edited the person’s right arm (it’s rounder and a bit bigger now) and added a lid for the inkpot and little more shading here and there. Refined the shadows around the light a bit. Darkened more bits Put ink on the quill. Then <\/em>I was able to move on to other things to do. Brains are weird.\u00a0<\/p>\n In other July news, I’m slowly making all my Etsy items manually renewable so I don’t bother renewing things people aren’t showing interest in. if you want something from there, sooner is better…. \u00a0On my long-list, shopping from my site. \u00a0(This sketch is about 4″ x 5″, and is for sale too, sure why not. I should post the more final version, huh?)\u00a0<\/p>\n Oh the plans! Er, vague intentions!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ********************************************<\/p>\n *If you don’t already know, pencils are graded by softness, and generally a softer pencil makes darker and less precise marks. A basic set usually has 6 or so pencils from 4H (hard and fine) to 6B. I used HB (medium, good for everyday writing) and 4B (softer) in this because that’s what I had in my pockets. \u00a0And tooth refers to the bumpiness of the paper; a rougher tooth paper can grab the graphite better than smooth, all other factors being the same (although they often aren’t. Paper is weird and wonderful and I don’t know enough about it yet.)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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… <\/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-970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/phmexg-fE","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1030,"url":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/zoolyartchallenge-for-july-5-barn-owl\/","url_meta":{"origin":970,"position":0},"title":"#ZoolyArtChallenge for July 5: Barn owl","author":"Kir","date":"28 July 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm pretty pleased with how this one turned out. I hope the picture gives a nice enough idea of it.\u00a0","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1064,"url":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/sketchbook-battleaxe\/","url_meta":{"origin":970,"position":1},"title":"Sketchbook \/\/ Battleaxe","author":"Kir","date":"23 February 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Inspired by hubs\u2019 recent axe purchases, D&D, and various weaponry on various shows my family\u2019s been watching.Then my sister E said, \u201cThat picture looks like a mom quietly watching her children.\u201d\u00a0Should I worry?","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1623,"url":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/sketchbook-digital-bunny-with-tea-and-umbrella\/","url_meta":{"origin":970,"position":2},"title":"Sketchbook \/\/ digital bunny with tea and umbrella","author":"Kir","date":"17 November 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"I went to the Vermont Gatherings Steampunk Expo last Saturday. For not enough time (because there were events I\u2019d\u2019ve liked to attend that I missed), but enough to start feeling inspired. Oh the costumes! And the funky pipe lights! And the dragonflies! And the singleton airship! Even for just a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2058,"url":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/sketchbook-stacking-wood\/","url_meta":{"origin":970,"position":3},"title":"Sketchbook \/\/ stacking wood","author":"Kir","date":"10 April 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"I got a new little notebook. It's a wee lilac-bound Leuchtturm and it's got thin (80gm) ivory colored paper. Too thin, but it fits in my pocket and most of my other sketchbook and notebooks don't. It's easy to smudge the pencil. 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I cleared a few minutes and did so. Happy!\u00a0It's of course quite possible I misconstrued the invite\u2014how like me! Everyone else's is in her style! Check out all the lovely and cheerful art: https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/LegendOfKevin\u00a0Maybe I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":556,"url":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/more-cards-gratitude\/","url_meta":{"origin":970,"position":5},"title":"More cards + gratitude","author":"Kir","date":"21 May 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u2019m feeling super grateful this week, because shortly after I\u2019d posted the picture of lots of cards, someone ordered some! So not only am I just everso tickled that someone likes my art (that never gets old!), and I\u2019ve earned a bit of money, but I also wound up learning\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","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\/IMG_8916-e1528317973642.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.metasilk.com\/wpages\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_8916-e1528317973642.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.metasilk.com\/wpages\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_8916-e1528317973642.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.metasilk.com\/wpages\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_8916-e1528317973642.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.metasilk.com\/wpages\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_8916-e1528317973642.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/970","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=970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/970\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metasilk.com\/wd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}