Category: Drawing

The white cliffs of Flamborough Head aren’t white all the way to the top. As I learnt on a field trip led by Richard Myerscough, they’re covered by boulder clay – the Skipsea Till – left by the last glaciation to reach Yorkshire.

From Sewerby south through Holderness all the way to Hessle near Hull, the cliff is completely buried by the Ice Age deposits. Not far from Sewerby Steps you can still find the remnants of a raised beach which dates from the last interglacial. The sea level was a metre higher than its present level.

Fragments of bone found amongst the shingle of this ancient beach include straight-tusked elephant, bison, hippopotamus and narrow-lipped rhinoceros.

When you’re starting with a geometrical shape – in this case a hexagon – and your mind goes blank about what to make it into, the traditional robot is a useful character to turn to. My comic in my primary school days was Eagle, which featured Frank Hampson’s Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future on its cover, so I like the style of 1950s science fiction where the rockets, robots and space stations look like a plausible extension of the technology of the period. While drawing the telescreen, I thought about our 405-line black-and-white television and our record player – similar to the classic Dansette – covered in wine-red and cream leatherette.

Eric Reichbaum, photographer on today’s Adobe Live ‘From the Sofa’ with Tony Harmer and Emma Lextrait.

Illustrator Alex Jenkins on today’s Adobe Live ‘From the Sofa’ session. I attempted to match his style in Fresco, using the Blake pen and the Natural inker but my line work is never as calm as his.

Alex said that his early influences included Robert Crumb. I was reminded of Glen Baxter and Gary Larson.

My initial sketch in Conte had a bit more life to it than the coloured version that I drew on the layer above it.

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Alex Gamsu Jenkins

Another homemade birthday card, this time for Barbara’s nephew Simon, who we’ve been playing against in an online family quiz.

Gavin Campbell, illustrator, on today’s Adobe Live ‘From the Sofa’ session, started his career with a series of portraits and photo-realistic pencil illustrations, ‘drawing’ with the rubber to create the highlights. Watching him working through a composition featuring multiple layers in Photoshop, I could see his pencil-drawing background coming through, for instance in the way he built up the tones. In places where some illustrators might have used a 3D mesh to create a contoured effect across the subject, he preferred a ‘liquify’ option which enabled him to create the same effect through drawing.

I’ve drawn this in Fresco on my iPad Pro, making a lot of use of the cross hatch brush which I was reminded of during one of the ‘Sofa’ live streams last week.

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Gavin Campbell on Behance

“You might not have heard of me, but you’ve probably seen my work.” said Martina Martian, illustrator, designer and lettering artist, on today’s Adobe Live ‘From the Sofa’ session. As her animated graphic GIFs have had 9.2 billion downloads, you have probably seen her work literally popping up on social media.

I’ve drawn this in Adobe Fresco, the iPad drawing program that she often uses for her lettering and design. After starting my usual pen and wash approach, I went for Fresco’s Conte Crayon and Old Bristles brushes.

Really appreciated the dedication of London-based Johana & Maxim Kroft, a.k.a. Idea & Maker, who are currently living in Vancouver getting up at 4.30 a.m. for today’s lunchtime Adobe Live ‘From the Sofa’ session.

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Idea & Maker