Product Highlight

I just launched a new, lighter color of our padfolio.

This was my brain child. Leather padfolios were very ‘executive’ based. With spots for a couple pens and a calculator and your cell phone and a legal pad. But artists want space for all their tools. Primarily a bunch of pens and pencils. So I designed this piece to be able to hold a 9×12 sketchbook plus a bunch of pens and pencils.

My favorite way to use the padfolio is to rotate it 90 degrees and clip the sketchbook to the outside and use it like a lap desk. Its a great way to keep your kit contained and together when drawing on a park bench or at a cafe.

Legacy continued

Last year we lost an artist who truly was irreplaceable.

He was an artist of prodigious talent. And I don’t exaggerate in using that adjective. He inspired millions of artists in a way that ‘awe’ would be an appropriate modifier. His name was Kim Jung Gi.

He died suddenly and abruptly at only 47 years old. Being close to my own age his passing was particularly poignant for me personally.

So my tastes are firmly in the fine art genre and Kim Jung Gi’s art is more illustrative and very comic oriented, but his sheer talent was inspiring nonetheless. Fine artists focus on painting what they see, where as many illustrators focus on painting what they know (from imagination). This is where Kim was so incredible, as he effortlessly (seemingly) would sketch a sheet of paper the size of a sheet of plywood all from memory. No eraser. No reference. Just brute force talent and imagination!

Well he inspired a whole generation of up an coming artists and here is one that you might enjoy following:

Marcio Barra

He is early on his path but a great example of free handing with a brush pen.

Gesture Drawing

Now this example is a fun way to draw! Very spontaneous and free flowing.

These loose, gesture drawing strokes are a great way to get your head in the zone and ready for spontaneous drawing.

The one caveat that I’ll mention is to keep in mind your goal. David encourages curvy loose strokes and discourages straight lines. This is good advice for gesture drawing. But it’s bad advice for accurate representational drawing (see Richard Schmid’s chapter on drawing in Alla Prima). Know your goal. Enjoy!