Jack, the Grim Reaper

 

10/31/24 The Grim Reaper (AKA Jack)

Ever since I sketched Jack Skellington, Maple Leaf’s most famous pumpkin, back in September, I’ve been checking on him occasionally on my walks. Back then, he still weighed less than 700 pounds. At his final weigh-in before he was carved, he came in at a hefty 884 pounds!

I chatted a bit with his proud grower, who now owns a giant pumpkin-growing business. Carving Jack into his Halloween persona of the Grim Reaper took several challenging hours, she said, but the effort was worth it. I sketched him on Halloween in the daylight, so I couldn’t see him lit up, but photos of him looked spooktacular.

Trophy Shot

 

10/30/24 Downtown Seattle from Maple Leaf Park

As I held up my sketchbook, poised to take my trophy shot, a fellow Maple Leaf Park walker commented on the sketch, especially the colors. She asked about my medium. When I told her, she said she had been wanting to try watercolor pencils but hadn’t yet. Of course, I heartily encouraged her to, lauding their virtues as a sketch medium. We continued to chat another minute or so about sketching, the darkening clouds, the visibility (or lack thereof) of Mt. Rainier.

Even though I rarely strike up spontaneous conversations with strangers in the park, it’s always a pleasure when my sketches prompt others to do so with me.

Too Much?

 

10/29/24 Green Lake neighborhood

If you’ve followed my blog for a while, you know that I’m relatively reserved with color. Sure, I love color as much as anyone does, but I prefer working with primary or secondary triads – three base colors should be plenty. Even when I use color, I have been accused of being downright minimalist.

Maybe because I’ve been so tonal and minimal with my comics approach nearly all year, I needed a change. When I prepped my palette at the beginning of the fall season, I went full-on rainbow. And the danger of carrying a full rainbow is that I might be tempted to use it – all at once.

As I was finishing up this sketch made near Green Lake, I realized I had used every color in my bag. Too much? On an unexpectedly gorgeous afternoon that was supposed to bring rain (and another deluge expected the following day), I think not.

Back to my bulky but reliable favorite again.

Paper note: After filling the handbound sketchbook made with Hahnemühle’s 100 percent cotton block paper, I switched back to my tried-and-true store-bought Hahnemühle A6-size sketchbook. I really wanted the block paper to work because handbinding small booklets served my needs so well. But the two extremely different sides of the paper became a deal breaker. If it was just a matter of flipping every other sheet when I stitched the signatures so that spreads would have the same paper on both sides, I could make it work. But I just don’t like one side. The paper is obviously made to be used on one side only (as most watercolor block paper would be).

I’m relieved to be back to my reliable favorite. Look at how both sides of the spread above show identical textures, and even where the gutter interrupts the red Japanese maple, the continuation looks the same.

I’ll just have to deal with the bulkier book as I always used to.

InkTober Finale: Lackadaisical

 

Gel ink

Bic ballpoint

I began InkTober 2024 lazily, and I finished lackadaisical. Less than halfway through the month, I was already bored because I didn’t challenge myself enough, which I regret. By the third week, I was just going through the motions. As I always say, what’s the point of doing any drawing challenge if it’s not actually challenging? It bothered me that I didn’t think of a way to push myself harder (and truthfully, I was so preoccupied with my ongoing downsizing tasks that I didn’t want to spend more than 15 minutes a day on InkTober).

Bic ballpoint

Uni Pin and Sakura Micron technical pens

That’s not to say that I didn’t learn anything. Just as I’ve discovered from all my face-parts series, human mouths are fascinating – the infinite range of shapes and forms – and exposed teeth really kicked up both the fun and the difficulty. OK, so maybe it was a bit challenging – I can live with that.

Sailor Fude de Mannen fountain pen and 
Platinum Carbon Black ink

As always, many thanks to Earthsworld for his daily Instagram photo references (all but Oct. 31) that made finding inspiration so easy.

Edited: I just put all my Inktober 2024 sketches into a Flickr album. I rarely make a series that looks consistent throughout, but I do like the way they all look together in a grid!

My apparent tradition for these face-parts series is to end 
with a selfie. ;-)