Category: Art

‘A *Noble* Failure’

Twitter post

My previous Twitter post got 83 views, yesterday’s Tweet has had 5,135. Thank you Scott McCloud, who re-tweeted it to his 327 thousand followers.

Scott McCloud's Twitter feed

And I love his comment on my comic strip workings-out:

A *noble* failure, at least!”

Scott McCloud

That like J K Rowling noticing a short story I’d written and saying ‘Not bad for a Muggle!’ or Raymond Blanc tasting my speciality, cheese on toast, and saying ‘Pas mal pour un cuisinier anglais!’

Understanding Comics book

I’m just ready to start a new book, so I think that it’s time to read Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics trilogy again 🙂

Non-sequitur

comic doodles

In Scott McCloud’s theory of comics, a ‘non-sequitur’ is a transition between panels where there’s no link whatsoever. These are random doodles in Procreate but I definitely haven’t managed a non-sequitur between the last two panels because they’re plainly taking place on a dark and stormy night in some gothic thriller. And I can believe that the feisty chicken is giving the man some pause for thought.

Some Rambling Advice

Rambling cartoon

Happy birthday to Huddersfield Town Supporter John (you can tell it’s him by the Terriers scarf).

Garden Painting Workshop

Hilary Cooper

I did consider taking acrylics and a canvas to today’s painting workshop at RHS Harlow Carr run by their current artist in residence, Hilary Burnett Cooper, but I stuck with my regular pen and watercolour and it was a chance to try my larger watercolour box on location. I recently updated it so that there are fewer strident greenish blues and earthy browns, replacing those with colours that would be more useful for flower painting.

Bergenia

Link

Hilary Burnett Cooper Landscape, scenic and figurative artist

PenTips PenPad

PenTips accessories
Procreate drawing

More PenTips goodies: glove, grip and, my favourite, the PenPad Shortcut Panel for Procreate on the iPad. I’ve used Procreate a lot and gone through dozens of tutorials but there are some shortcuts, such as ‘Cut’, that I have a mental block about. There they all are on the pad, so I don’t have to break my workflow by searching through sub-menus.

I’m still searching for my favourite virtual pen in Procreate. In Clip Studio Paint my go-to pen is usually the ‘Real G-Pen’ but in Procreate with dozens of virtual pens to choose from, I’m still undecided.

Perhaps drawing my chitted potatoes with a selection of pens from the Procreate ‘Inking’ section will help me narrow it down.

Pentips 2 Soft

Procreate drawing

I like the extra control that I get with the PenTips 2 ‘Soft’ rubber-like replacement tip for the Apple Pencil but I’ve now damaged two of the three that come in the pack.

Although most of the time when I’m drawing my touch is reasonably light, when it comes to adding colour or erasing it’s a different story. I find that it’s necessary to press on extra hard to squeeze a pool of virtual watercolour from a brush. If I’m using one of the subtler forms of the eraser I can find myself pressing hard to remove a stubborn line.

3 PenTips should potentially last 2 years but I’m getting through one a week! Perhaps I should have gone for their new tougher version designed for wiring.

The PenTip can then stick to the glass and split at the end, revealing the metal core.

Real G-Pen, Clip Studio, ‘Between the Covers’, BBC2.

The Hospice Team

Hospice team cartoon

A big thank you to all the team at the Prince of Wales Hospice, Pontefract, who did so much for Barbara’s brother John and always made us welcome. We’re so grateful to them, although not SO grateful that we’d sign up to be dangled from a rope from the Cow and Calf Rocks in September (see link below if that appeals to you).

Of course, some teams are greater than others . . .

Hospice visitors

But John really did enjoy their visit.

Link

Ilkley Cow and Calf Tyrolean Traverse and Abseil Challenge
Challenge yourself and conquer The Cow and Calf Rocks by Tyrolean traverse and/or abseil
Date: 09 September 08:00 – 17:00

Saltholme and Hauxley

Saltholme sand martin wall

The Sand Martin Wall, RSPB Saltholme, 12.45 pm, Friday 21 April 2023

black-headed gulls

Our favourite coffee (and carrot and coriander soup) stop on our trips to Northumberland and today the view of the lagoon from the first-floor café is quite different to what it was on our autumn visits. Instead of exposed mudbanks and shallows for waders and dabbling ducks, water levels are now raised, creating what appear to be fox-proof islands for the breeding colony of black-headed gulls.

swan feather

Queen Elizabeth II Country Park, Ashington

This swan breast feather is almost transparent so that you can actually read large-print text through it. I drew it on a dark background as on white it fades into the background.

Hauxley lagoon

The new Willow Hide, Hauxley Northumberland Wildlife Trust nature reserve, 1.20 pm, Saturday 22 April, 2023, 15℃ 59℉ in the hide. Rain had passed over, grey skies, getting brighter.

There are thousands of dancing gnats in loose gatherings, especially in the shelter alongside hedges. On the window of the café I can see there’s a mix of hump-backed females and males with feathery antennae.

Teal are dabbling and twirling, picking up insects from the water surface.

Hauxley nature reserve

The Lookout Café, Hauxley Northumberland Wildlife Trust, 2.30 pm, Saturday 22 April, 2023.

Pea and mint soup with a cheese and beetroot scone, overlooking a corner of the lagoon with teal, gadwall, mallard and Canada goose. Oystercatchers and lesser black-backed gull go over. We see our first swallow, flying low over a field towards the reserve’s lagoon.

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Categorized as Drawing