National Caffeine-Fueled Sketching Day

9/29/14 Pilot Iroshizuku Take-sumi ink, Caran d'Ache Museum water-soluble
colored pencil, Zig marker, Canson XL 140 lb. paper

Today is National Coffee Day! With a blog called Fueled by Clouds & Coffee, how could I not make my favorite coffee shop my sketching destination on this drizzly, overcast day?

Settling into my favorite table at Zoka Coffee, I was feeling rusty; I hadn’t sketched in a coffee shop since April. I decided to warm up with a couple of sketches using a twig and India ink. KK’s technique is starting to grow on me. When I sketch people, I tend to focus on the details of their faces and stances, and it makes for great life drawing practice. But working on facial details can also make me lose sight of strong values. My twig, as slender as it is, won’t allow me to scratch in any level of detail, so I’m forced to see and sketch only the darks and lights plus some texture. It’s a different kind of practice that I’m starting to really enjoy.

9/29/14 India ink, twig

That done, I took out my favorite Sailor pens and went for the kind of sketches of people that can put me in the zone immediately. I’m sad to see summer’s sunshine and outdoor sketching weather end, but today is as good a day as any to celebrate going back to Zoka for more than one kind of fix.

9/29/14 Diamine Chocolate Brown and Pilot Iroshizuku Take-sumi inks

9/29/14 India ink, twig