Paying Attention, Taking Notes

February 28, 2006

…exhaustive note taking on my part…

…full color notes…

Last Thursday night I went to a lecture by longtime Disney illustrator Tom Bancroft on our local college campus. I took a seat on the very back row, (this being my traditional spot from when I attended college) and got ready to get back into school mode and take some notes. I really enjoyed hearing what Tom had to say.

I had the best of intentions to take exhaustive notes while I was there, unfortunately my note taking skills have not advanced much since 7th grade. My problem has always been that my writing turns into drawing. This does not mean that I am not listening… it simply means that I am multi-tasking.

So, here you have it, my complete lecture notes from Tom’s talk. I share them now with you. The interesting thing is, sometimes my notes jump over into my watercolor notebook, as they did here.

Making The Jump

March 2, 2006

…from the Sketchbook to Watercolor Notebook…

…copier…light table…paint…

…a successful jump…

In my last journal post I made the comment that occasionally one of my drawings will jump out of my sketchbook and into my watercolor notebook. I received an email asking how exactly that jump takes place. I would like to say it’s a very complicated process that requires a doctoral degree… of course, we all know the Brothers Jones are not exactly rocket scientists, so it stands to reason the transfer is a pretty low tech, simple procedure.

I first duplicate my sketch on the copier machine. This gets it out of the sketchbook and into a more workable format. I tape this copy to the bottom of the watercolor paper and put it on my light table. The light table allows me to see the sketch and I redraw it onto the watercolor paper. Now that I have transfered the sketch onto the watercolor paper I am ready to paint.

Here at Brother Jones, you ask the questions, we give you the answers… as simple-minded as those answers might be.

Spring House Cleaning

March 30, 2006

…a brand spankin’ new monkey to look at…

For the last year I have thrown things randomly into my Brother Jones Portfolio Section. I had color art in one place and sketches to that same art somewhere else. Last night while I was waiting for Lost to come on TV I went in and consolidated a lot of this mess. You might just find a couple of new things in there if you look hard enough.

My New Watercolor Sketchbook

April 26, 2006

…the cold press book …the hot press book…

…building the perfect beast…

…a vellum cover sheet for the first page…

Almost all the pictures I have loaded on Brother Jones come from my watercolor sketchbooks. I love to work in them because when I finish one up, it’s like having a mini portfolio of original artwork.

The first one I got had cold press paper in it. I dont really like painting on cold press because of the rough surface, but it forced me to work thru the texture and I came out with several nice pieces in that book.

The second one I got had hot press paper in it which I liked much better. It wasnt the same watercolor paper I actually worked on, but at least it had a smooth surface to it. I just finished the last page of that book, and called the art supply store to get another. They said they were out of stock and were not expecting to be receiving any more for at least three weeks.

Wait a month for another watercolor sketchbook? I dont think so.

Last week I spoke at an elementary school that was in the middle of one of those “write your story, illustrate your story” type projects, and they were going to make their books themselves. I decided if a bunch of third graders can make a book, surely I can, too.

I took three large sheets of my favorite hot press watercolor paper and cut them into eighteen pages. I ripped the back off an old pad of sketch paper, cut out a cover and a back and spray painted them. I then took the whole thing to Staples where they punched holes in it and put on the spiral binder.

The watercolor sketchbook I was trying to buy from the art supply store sells for about twenty-five dollars. My watercolor sketchbook…

…three sheets of paper… $9.00…

…the hole punching and wire binder… $1.78…

…having your favorite paper in a new watercolor sketchbook…

…priceless.