It’s taken about a year, but I’ve finished my sketchbook. Looking back, I would like to have made more progress; my life is more organized around this goal now.
The final page of the sketchbook features this swamp-guardian-monster I made yesterday. It’s not a serious piece, not really, but I got the bug and wanted to make something quick and “complete”.
I used ballpoint pen and acrylic layered over watercolor and water-soluble crayon. My goal was to experiment with the materials and to render something with a background and everything.
That background is messier than I intended. I was going for a Frazetta-style leafy background with loads of hanging moss and greebly roots, but it’s overwrought.
Going forward, I have to be more intentional with my pieces if only for the sake of time. It’s just too slow to make something unsatisfactory and then spend ages correcting everything by guesswork. It might be better and quicker to get it right (or wrong) on the first try and live with it, as hard as that is! I have to keep speed a priority.
Flying Fish Illustration 