Mr. Potato Head Plays Go



11/12/12 fountain pen, custom brown ink mix, Stillman & Birn

This morning at Zoka, some men were playing a tournament of Go. Each game wouldn’t last quite long enough for me to finish a sketch. But I found that if I sketched one face that eventually moved on to a different table, I could swap out his body for the one that took the other guy’s chair and continue the composition. Sort of like playing with a Mr. Potato Head.

 

Meanwhile, a boy was busy playing games on his mother’s smartphone – one of the only things that keeps a kid sitting still long enough to be sketched.

 

11/12/12 fountain pen, Private Reserve Velvet Black ink, Stillman & Birn

(Technical notes: I used up the sample of Diamine Chocolate Brown I had been trying and had really grown to love, especially for this type of interior scene. So for the Go players, I used a mix of Omas Sepia and a couple other brown samples I didn’t really care for individually. I miss the rich washes I was getting with the Diamine Chocolate Brown . . . I’m going to have to get a bottle. The boy was sketched with Private Reserve Velvet Black. It washes with a slightly purple undertone compared to the Private Reserve Ultra Black that I am also trying. I like both black inks for different effects . . . which will I choose?)