I want a replicator now

[sami]

Something I hadn't realised, until I started sketching and drawing constantly, is that standard pencils don't actually have quite consistent density in their graphite leads. The softer spots that are momentarily darker and smearier, the harder spots that catch on the paper and are momentarily harder and sharper - they're not really noticable if you're using the pen for writing, or even if you're sketching in lines.

If you're using it for shading, though... it's noticable.

Staedtler Mars Lumograph pencils (at the steep, steep price of AU$1.94 inc. GST each, bought separately) don't seem to suffer from this problem, but I only have one, a B, and the extras I ordered in a range of grades haven't arrived yet. So for all my other grades I'm stuck with a mix of Columbia Copperplates and Staedtler Traditions, which just aren't as good. (Previously, I have selected pencils on the basis of: "It's a pencil, other than softness rating, what's the difference?")

Also, Lumographs are awesome because they have the grade stamped on *every side* around the base end of the pencil, so you don't have to pick them up, find the side where it's actually written, and peer at the tiny letters to work out which one it is.

Meanwhile I need another icon for art-related posts where I remember to change the icon. This one depicts a random doodle on a page of Linguistics notes, all done in ballpoint pen. (Even if the keyword I'm using is "creativity!".)

But then, I need to clean up my existing icons and make a bunch more at some point anyway. Seriously, this is a seed account, I get all the shiny DW features, and I basically never use them...

Comments

[sqbr]

Now I want some fancy sketching pencils to see what the difference is like! Though I mainly use pencils as the base layer for digital art.

[sami]

Heh. I should have a spare B, when my new ones arrive - I'll lend it to you. ;)

[sqbr]

Or I could stretch the budget that extra $1.94 and buy my own :) (Assuming I get around to it before I next see you...)

[sami]

Which would perhaps be the issue - I know it would be for me, except for the part where I go to Jackson's disturbingly often.

Also, A DOLLAR NINETY-FOUR :O :O :O :O THESE ARE THE *EXPENSIVE* PENCILS

I remain slightly amused by the degree to which expensive pencils still... aren't. I mean, you could pay $60 for a paint brush without trying that hard (I haven't done this, btw, because... seriously) and then you have the ultra-pricey Artist's Pencils that are a tick under two bucks per.

Pencils are clearly more awesome than all other artistic media.

[sqbr]

While it's obviously way more expensive to set up, one thing I like about digital media is avoiding the sense that I should use cheap materials unless I'm sure this is going to be a Proper Picture. But that's just my specific neuroses :)

[sami]

Oddly, given that normally I'd be terribly prone to it, I've mostly avoided that with my foray into art. I think because I tend to use canvas boards for Proper Pictures, and the various sketchbooks and pads I've got are all sort of basic.

I might have gone there with paint, except I just don't use very much at a time, and I'd hate it even more if I avoided them so much that I didn't learn the skills, and then they dried out before I actually got my money's worth out of them.

Where I might get into that is with Very Nice Paper, if I can find a source thereof. (I have recently discovered that Moleskine notebooks appear to have exactly the kind of nice paper I've been searching for. This horrifies me, because I don't want to be buying Moleskine notebooks, and I certainly don't want to be seen using them, but the paper is so nice. So I'm planning to use it as an example and ask at Jackson's about other sources. *cough*)

Last night Jen and Chas gave me a bit of a pep talk, because I was in paroxysms of woe about how I've been sketching and drawing daily for nearly two weeks and I still can't draw faces perfectly. There is something wrong with my brain.

[sqbr]

Yes, paper is one of my Issues, especially since when I'm working out composition etc I can go through quite a few sheets getting it right.

Intellectually, I know that my past self would be very happy with the art I'm currently producing, but it's still really easy to decide that I suck because it's not as good as I would like it to be (which of course it never will be, unless I get complacent) Brains! So inconvenient! As are faces :)

[sami]

I've got to here, in terms of progress with faces.

The original has now been given to my mother as a birthday present. *g* The subject is my father.

I like having sketchbooks filled with drawings, however random - although the other day I flicked through a nearly-complete book I have and removed a couple of pages I didn't feel were making positive contributions. It's weird how Issues pan out.

[sqbr]

From what I can remember of your previous stuff that's quite an improvement! Seeing all your pictures coming up on dw is making me feel like drawing some more realistic art myself, it's been all cartoony stuff lately and that can be very limiting. Though I also feel oddly inspired to paint some t-shirts, not sure what's up with that...