Current Sketchbook

August 2023

While other things are in the works thought it would be nice to show a page of my current sketchbook. I’ve alluded to one of the things I’ve been drawing lately in my Artwork Spotlight – Tengu post.

For the beginnings of this sketchbook I have continued on with the theme of tengu. Drawing from the photos of statues on Mt Takao, but taking a slightly different approach. I wanted to draw as though these tengu were alive, not drawn as statues.

Everything in this sketchbook is done in ink, but not always in the same methods. For this piece I used my pentel pocket brush pen, and then layered ink washes with liquitex acrylic ink.

The pieces I made for Hyper Japan were done just in brush pen, just pure linework, and while I really like them it’s nice to explore additional depth with the ink wash.

I wanted to include the textures of the feathers, and the hair and beard to break up the form and move away from it feeling like a statue. There feels like a lot of movement in the clothing but I think the feel changes that focus on hair and feathers really bring in the subtleties.

These pieces are more experimental in their nature, a way to challenge myself and have fun by trying things I wouldn’t normally do. Focusing on one subject (tengu) makes it easier to play around with form and composition, using materials in different ways without worrying about content.

I enjoyed this piece and this method of working so much I trialled it out again in another way, taking the same elements but from a new photograph.

I found this angle to allow for a more dynamic composition with the wings, and went for more movement in the background ink wash. Using the different gradients by laying the ink wash gives a lot of depth to the piece and creates more distance to the statue source material.

I’m really enjoying this exploration of tengu in inks and will create some bigger pieces soon.