Thread: Marlon Brando, pencil wash and TV

Hi all,
A boring Sunday evening, don't want to talk about my day job, so try this.

Here is a sketch from an old sketchbook that I did with a video player on pause, and copied scenes from a movie.

I learned heaps from doing this, and not just about drawing. I think looking at clips from a movie with enough intensity and concentration to draw them, made me more aware of what the director had in mind. I watch movies now with a lot more critical and informed eye.

On the TV screen the shot is laid out, I can use the frame of the screen to judge distances and ratios better. Negative space and all that. I have worked through a few movies like this, and when I see them again it is as though they are old special friends. I can mouth the dialog as it approaches one of "my" scenes

This sketch was done with a nice fat soft pencil that had been lying around for ages and I looked at it one day and noticed that it had printed on it "Derwent wash pencil". Sure enough I gave it a try, scribbled a bit then scrubbed into it with a small wet bristle brush. Great! I did a few of these pencil and washes after this one.
I have even done it with ordinary pencils, it works, after a fashion.

Washing with a brush into a pencil or pen and ink sketch is a great way to add a few tonal areas on the quick. I also reckon it looks better if it is done quickly. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it ).

I am not as precise with the washes, I just dash them off quickly with a small cheap bristle brush.

I do it in an ordinary cheap sketchbook, not anything like proper watercolour paper. Cheap and good fun, nothing serious, that's sketching for me.

Cheers
Bill.