A Birthday and Other Small Celebrations

11/15/24 Macrina Bakery, Maple Leaf neighborhood

I had a birthday last week – not a “big” one, but an ordinary, run-of-the-mill one. Still, I enjoy milking birthday celebrations for as long as I can. The first was a little sketching party with a few friends at Macrina Bakery (above).

The next was a personal tradition I’ve had for decades: Going to the Green Lake Starbucks early on my birthday for my free drink (one of few perks that haven’t been eliminated). When I worked full time, another personal tradition was to take a vacation day on my birthday (because working on my birthday was against my principles), and even then I enjoyed getting up early for that free drink. Before I became a sketcher, I just brought it home, but now I usually drink it there and sketch.

11/16/24 Green Lake Starbucks

The third sketch journal page below is a small celebration of my ongoing downsizing project. I’ve been losing momentum lately because the tasks are more onerous now: Tedium combined with sadness is not a good recipe for enthusiast productivity. I kind of dread it, and at the same time, I’m getting close to the end, so I want to finish – but it’s slow. The small load I took to Goodwill on this day is probably the last for a while – all the rest is either trash (not much), recycling (lots) or shredding (hopefully not too much).

11/21/24 Victrola Coffee Roasters, Ballard neighborhood

Bomb Cyclone

 

11/20/24 Seattle Public Utilities restoring power in Maple Leaf

Weather Bunny braves the elements to report on the season's first bomb cyclone!

Our first “bomb cyclone” of the season hit on Tuesday night with winds up to 75 mph in some areas. Although it was a bit nerve-wracking to hear the windows rattling like they might shatter, I was fortunate not to lose power as more than a half-million Puget Sound area residents did. Two people were killed by falling trees. It certainly wasn’t a hurricane, but still quite severe for these parts.

In the morning, I looked around the house for damage, and the only thing I found was parts of the gutter downspout tossed around the yard like the Tin Man’s limbs!

Although my walking route revealed no downed trees or wires, the streets and pavement were covered with tree debris. Seattle Public Utilities was working hard to restore power. All the broken branches gave off the lovely scent of Christmas trees!

Performers and Residents

4/30/24

4/30/24

I usually visit the spouse guy at Aegis Living three or four times a week. It’s a comfortable routine for both of us. I vary the time of day and day of week, mostly depending on when he’s the most energetic and engaged, partly depending on my own schedule, and sometimes depending on what’s going on there. During the good weather months, our agenda was easy because we both enjoy taking walks together. Now that the weather is less conducive to walking, we spend more time participating in the many indoor activities Aegis staff provides to residents.

7/4/24 Musician Bob Rothstein was so thrilled by my sketch that he asked
for a digital image to use in promotional materials.

Every week a “happy hour” offers non-alcoholic refreshments and usually some kind of live entertainment – musicians, dancers or even animals (though I keep missing the latter). Games involving trivia, words or Jeopardy-like quizzes keep the residents mentally challenged. Sometimes the games are more physical, like balloon volleyball, yard bowling and mini golf.

When I’m with Greg, I want to stay engaged with him so I avoid sketching, but often we’re both participating as observers. That gives me an opportunity to sketch.

After I made the post about Theodore, one of the activity coordinators, I remembered that I’d been saving up other small portraits of performers and residents over the past several months because I didn’t have any “stories” about them to write individual posts about. I decided to put a bunch of them together in this post.

8/1/24

10/24/24

11/9/24

11/19/24

Colman Ferry Terminal is a Winter Keeper

 

11/17/24 Colman Dock ferry terminal

Some days, it doesn’t matter which sketchbook I bring. At the ferry terminal, though, I sure was happy I had a landscape-format book along!

Completely rebuilt in 2023, the Colman Dock passenger ferry terminal has been on USk Seattle’s radar as a winter-weather outing location ever since it reopened. Last Sunday was plenty wintry enough – bitterly windy and sometimes rainy. Although most of us stayed inside the terminal building, a few hardy souls sketched from the outer passageway where the view was even wider.

Not interested in freezing, I stayed indoors, where the skyline view was fantastic enough.

Choosing the “Ban Roll-on building” (formally known as the Second & Seneca Building) as my right-most starting point, I kept drawing across the top of the landscape-format Uglybook toward the left with a single line, ending with the Great Wheel. Then I spent the rest of the outing filling in the lower part of the spread with small scenes inside and outside the terminal.

To finish up the time before the throwdown, I picked a “victim” from the assortment of passengers waiting for their ferries (man on the right). Looking at the spread I started on my light rail ride, I noticed that everyone I sketched had “interesting” hair.

Light rail riders (left) and a ferry passenger

Officially, according to signage, only ticketed passengers are allowed inside the terminal building. But given the welcome we received from terminal security officers and other staff, some of whom joined us at the throwdown, I’d say we can all safely wink at the official policy. USk Seattle has a new winter mainstay!

By the way, when I say “victim,” I’m not kidding. Based on the photo below, that poor, clueless guy in the ferry terminal should be very afraid. 😆

Photo by Kim Roberts

Diary Comics from My Head

 

11/12/24

My imagination-based diary comics continue, inspired by the prompts and template I learned from Drewscape. I’ve been making these at the end of the day when I’m tired, have the lowest level of creative energy (and apparently the messiest penmanship!), and the hardest time being motivated to sketch. Given all of those potential barriers, I really need a structured format to draw from my head.

11/13/24

The Nov. 13 page (above) does not follow Drewscape’s format; it’s more of a traditional comics story arc with a linear sequence. It happened to fall into place because of the events of the day, but on an ordinary day when not much happens, coming up with this type of arc is usually much more challenging. I’ll take them when they come, and use Drew’s prompts when they don’t. In any case, I’m enjoying this process.

11/15/24

Last of the Color

 

11/15/24 Japanese maples, Maple Leaf neighborhood

11/11/24 Maple Leaf neighborhood

With all the heavy rain and wind we’ve had lately, I always set out on my walks wondering if all the color will be gone this time – and then I’m delighted when I see that it is not. I spotted one house with multiple Japanese maples still near their prime, brilliant in the welcome sunlight.

On some streets, there’s more color on the ground than in the trees. Thank you, trees, for the pavement rainbow.

Planar Head in Positive and Negative

 

11/13/24 Gekkoso 8B graphite in Stillman & Birn Alpha sketchbook

Ching gave me a 3D-printed planar head. With all the facial and skull planes structurally delineated in plastic, it seems like it should be relatively easy to draw. On a recent wet morning, I found it to be surprisingly difficult to draw with graphite. As usual, proportions are the trickiest part.

Instead of measuring as I would with a human model, I decided to correct or adjust as needed on the fly. I resisted erasing restated lines so that I could see my mistakes and learn from them, but in some areas, it got so messy that I could barely distinguish the good lines from the bad, so I erased a bit for clarity.

11/14/24 Prismacolor in Uglybook

On the next wet morning, I tried again, this time with a white colored pencil on black paper. I thought this would be even trickier, since drawing in negative is usually a brain twister, but in fact, I found it easier. Maybe it was just that it was my second time, so my proportions were more accurate before corrections. Drawing white on black also made it easier to abstract the whole thing, which somehow helped.

Anyway, I found the exercise great practice, and I’ll likely draw Mr. Planar again with different lighting and different media. (You can see that I’m gearing up for the long, wet winter ahead.)

Shiny! Caran d’Ache Cosmic Blue Mixed Media Metallic Set

 

Caran d'Ache's limited edition holiday gift set includes metallic Neocolor I waxed pastels and metallic colored pencils.

The Halloween pumpkins have barely begun rotting, so you know what that means: It’s time for another limited-edition holiday set of colored pencils from Caran d’Ache! [Insert starry-eyed emoji here!] After the disappointing set of Claim Your Style Bicolor Pencils that came out in late-summer, I was afraid that was going to be all we’d see from the Swiss company this year (as far as pencils go), but I was pleasantly wrong.

As part of this year’s holiday theme, Cosmic Blue, Caran d’Ache has released a set of 10 metallic colored pencils and a Mixed Media Metallic Set that includes the 10 pencils and 10 metallic Neocolor I wax pastels. Unlike the aforementioned Claim Your Style bicolor set, which came in a flimsy cardboard box, the Cosmic Blue set comes in a sturdy, sliding-drawer box that befits gift status. I still prefer the tins that were used in previous bicolor sets, but this cardboard box will do nicely.

Although the Neocolor Is are identical to the existing standard metallic set that has been around for a while, the pencils are new. That is, the dark blue barrel with no identifying color number or name is new. The cores are likely to be the same as existing metallic pencils in Caran d’Ache’s product lines. But more on that in a minute.

I swatched the pencils and the crayons in a black Uglybook, which I knew would best show off whatever metallic sparkle they would have. As usual, my scanner dulled them way down, so I also photographed them under my desk lamp, which shows the shine much better. Although the pencil colors are not identified, the palette aligns exactly with the Neocolor palette, so I’m assuming they are the same metallic colors.

Pencil swatches scanned

Neocolor swatches scanned 

Pencil swatches photographed

Neocolor swatches photographed

With all of Caran d’Ache’s special-edition pencil sets, my question is always which of its existing pencil sets the cores come from. With some bicolor sets, the European packaging was labeled “Prismalo,” so that was easy, and swatching the pencils confirmed this. With these metallics, it’s trickier. In the Prismalo line, I could find only gold and silver (which both appear in some of the bicolor sets). The Pablo line includes only gold, silver and bronze.

The only Cd’A set I could find that contains more than gold, silver and bronze is this Fancolor set (which I don’t own – WHAT?! – so I can’t compare). The small Fancolor set of non-metallic colors that I do own is water-soluble. The Cosmic Blue pencils are barely so – water only slightly dilutes the pigment. That’s similar to how the silver and gold in the bicolor sets behave.

I know it's silly, but my favorite part of the whole Cosmic Blue
theme is that lovely shooting star under "Special Edition."

So, what are they, Caran d’Ache? My guess is that they are the same as the cores in the metallic Fancolor set, except Cd’A, in its usual casual approach to product nomenclature, has disregarded the fact that the name “Fancolor” is associated with a water-soluble pencil. (Perhaps Fancolor just means “student grade” or “it’s student grade, but so is Swisscolor.”) Thanks, as always, Cd’A, for confusing consumers.

For the record, the metallic Neocolor Is do not dissolve at all. If they did, they would be Neocolor IIs (unless Caran d’Ache decided to confuse consumers about those names, too).

As soon as I saw these metallic pencils and crayons, I thought of nocturne sketching season, which begins right now with the Big Dark. To practice for it, I used the black Uglybook to sketch the scene below from a reference photo I took about a year ago (the light looked like the golden hour, but it was actually early afternoon). I used gold, dark gold and silver pencils to draw the initial shapes, then filled in large areas with the corresponding crayons. Once again, the scanner took out all the sparkle, but my phone shot shows it off well. Oooh, I like these!

11/12/24 photo reference

My current everyday-carry Uglybook is a dark Christmas green, which I’m finding difficult to use. The paper’s hue is too dark to be a midtone for my usual tonal way of sketching in these books, so I have to crank my brain to “see” both the highlights and the midtones while leaving the paper color for the darks. In the on-location comics page below, I used the silver and rose Neocolors for highlights. I think they’re especially effective as backgrounds. I’ve kept them in my bag for use with this book.

11/10/24 Metropolitan Market, Crown Hill

Although we all know I would have bought this set for no reason at all (other than my love for Caran d’Ache), I’m excited to have something new to play with during the Big Dark.

One more bit of good news about the Cosmic Blue products: While all previous holiday releases were available only from European shops, this one was being promoted by US retailers at the time of Caran d’Ache’s announcement. I bought my set from Goldspot, but a general search brings up many US retailers.

Diary Comics with Prompts

 

11/11/24 Memory and imagination (Ha-ha -- I just realized I drew the envelope wrong!
Sometimes the simplest things. . . )

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I’ve sometimes felt disengaged from my comics-based sketch journaling process. My single-panel, sketch-plus-words format is OK for documenting something, but it can feel static (see below; cutline contains a potential idea). One-offs have no sense of sequence or the passage of time, which is part of what defines comics (according to Scott McLeod). When they weren’t made on location, my past attempts at autobiographical comics with multiple panels have been hit-or-miss. I usually tried the traditional three-panel story arc, but often my “story” didn’t feel like it had enough of a narrative arc, and I was forcing it to fit. I didn’t know what I needed. I wanted more structure . . . but not too much!

Earlier the same day, I had made this single-panel
comics about the interaction with the leaf raker. I like
 the implied simile of the leaves and the papers I recycled,
but I had to do it with words, not images. The multi-panel
approach lacks the simile, but rearranging the panels
might put it back in. Hmmm... something to think about.

In a recent YouTube video, Drewscape showed how he uses self-made prompts to structure his diary comics. The prompts can be changed easily to suit his subject matter for the day, so the format is not overly structured. At the same time, the prompts offer questions to respond to, so it’s easier than facing a totally blank page (or, in my case, a blank mind).

Shown at top of post is my first diary comics using Drew’s format. Using an old A5-size Moleskine sketchbook, I quickly drew a grid and chose the following six prompts: something I did; something I saw; a conversation (two middle panels); something that made me happy; something I ate. There’s no particular sequence for the events – except for the conversation, the panels could be rearranged on the page without changing the meaning – but I still have some sense of the passage of time.

Although it wasn’t necessary for the format, I also followed the spirit of Drew’s approach by drawing straight in with ink instead of planning first with pencil. I kept it simple by avoiding fussing about shading and other rendering tactics. I also avoided drawing myself, which is perhaps a comics cop-out, but it also helped me keep things moving instead of getting bogged down with how to draw myself. (Do you miss seeing me, as the narrator, in these panels? Should I draw myself more?)

I am especially pleased that I did all six panels from memory and imagination – no photo assist. That’s a big deal to me because I am always trying to practice drawing more from my head, and it’s always extremely challenging. This felt relatively effortless because I kept the drawings simple.

The only way in which I strayed from his format was that I didn’t label each panel to indicate the prompt, such as “Something that made me happy.” I didn’t have enough space in the small panels, and I think the prompts are implied anyway.

On this particular day, I had enough to fill six panels. That’s probably not always going to be the case, but then I can always choose other prompts – or make fewer panels. (Drew’s video notes include other potential prompts, and I can always make more of my own.) Of course, this six-panel page took longer to draw than my previous single panels, but I definitely found the result more satisfying and engaging. Although I probably won’t do it every day (and I give myself permission not to!), I am going to give this format a solid try for a while to see how it goes.

Looking for a Different Format

 

10/28/24 Ballard Starbucks

11/7/24 Green Lake Village

Although I’m pleased that I’ve kept up my daily sketch journal habit for nearly a year, it’s the most satisfying when the entries take the form of diary comics (like those shown here): live, on-location recordings of a place and time. (Maybe my “satisfaction” is a result of being lazy, as these on-location comics require less thinking: I just draw what I see, as usual.)

On other days when I don’t go anywhere that I can document this way, I still make sketch journal entries, usually as single panels done from photos or memory (many I do not share publicly), but they often feel meh. I appreciate having the documentation, but I’m just not as engaged with the process when done after the fact, even when that’s necessary.

I’m still looking for a different format from the default single-image-with-words panel with the hope that it might engage me more. Andrew Tan (AKA Drewscape on YouTube) continues to inspire me with his approach to diary comics. In this how-to video, he draws diary comics using a format with prompts that appeal to me. Although I really enjoy both the appearance and the process of my own freeform, organic page design approach (as shown in this post), I’m also attracted to the more traditional grid that Drew uses, even when the “story” is not necessarily sequential. I’m going to give it a shot.

11/8/24 Caffe Ladro, Roosevelt neighborhood

Theodore

11/11/24 Theodore

Aegis Living’s life enrichment program in the memory care area includes a daily gratitude talk. Interested residents gather around Theodore, the staff member who runs it, and he engages them in discussions about ways to see the positive side of whatever life brings them. The first time I happened to be visiting Greg when it was time for gratitude, I was so impressed by Theodore’s approach, which was soothing as well as positive. He reminds me of Mr. Rogers in all the best ways. (In a previous job, Theodore was a meditation coach, which explains his relaxed and soothing manner.)

Still reeling days after the election, I planned some of my visits so that I would be there for the gratitude time, which I sorely needed.

11/6/24 This is a sketch diary entry I made from a photo of Theodore teaching Greg how to play a board game.

Building Character

 

11/10/24 Japanese maple

How’s this for a test of one’s resolve: Take a walk and spot a spectacularly red Japanese maple, then sketch it in graphite only (at left)? It’s the kind of thing that people say “builds character.”

11/10/24 Maple Leaf neighborhood

On the other hand, some sketches are purely satisfying because the scenes seem to be made for monochrome: This beautifully backlit street.

Pencilvember: Hahnemühle Wins Again

 

11/7/24 Derwent and Caran d'Ache watercolor
pencils, Pentel Pocket Brush Pen in Hahnemuhle

As mentioned a couple of days ago, I wasn’t happy with using graphite with tan paper. I had considered replacing the tan Uglybook with a white one for the remainder of Pencilvember, but I was already daily-carrying a Hahnemühle sketchbook while the trees are still hanging onto color. Why carry two white books? Could I use the Hahnemühle with graphite?

My first thought was that Hahnemühle paper has too strong a tooth for soft graphite. Secondarily, it seemed wasteful to use good, 100 percent cotton paper that was made to (ab)use with wet media for nothing more than dry graphite. For the sake of science, however, I decided to give it a try.

11/7/24 8B Uni Super DX graphite in Uglybook

11/8/24 10B Mitsubishi "brush pencil" in Hahnemuhle

Intending to make a full-color sketch on a sunny morning in Wedgwood, I started with a thumbnail in graphite only to test the Hahnemühle. To my delight, the paper’s tooth was quite pleasant with the 10B Mitsubishi “brush pencil” – one of the softest graphite pencils I own. Now it didn’t seem “wasteful” to use the book with graphite because I enjoy both the experience and the results.

Moving on to a full spread for the color version, I tried something else new: Typically, I don’t mix graphite with watercolor pencils, but Pencilvember seemed like an ideal time to do it. This time, I switched to an extra-soft Blackwing.

Once again, the Hahnemühle wins for its versatility (if not its less-than-svelte profile): Fabulous strength, sizing and tooth, even with dry graphite.

11/8/24 Derwent and Caran d'Ache watercolor pencils, extra-soft Blackwing graphite

  

My hand is full of the mix of graphite and watercolor pencils!