Tuesday, March 20, 2007

moleskine virgin

So my first page of my brand new first Moleskine. I usually get quite nervous when I begin a new sketchbook. I always want to produce the 'perfect' opening drawing. Well this time I've decided to take a different approach and dive right in.

At first I wasn't too sure about the colour of the paper. Normally I like to use a clean crisp white background for my drawings. However, recently I began my love affair with this sepia pen. Now I'm thinking that this ink combined with the cream paper, of the Moleskine, is a marriage made in heaven.

A question for those of you who use Pitt pens in their Moleskine sketchbooks; do you use both sides of the paper?

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a great drawing. You're right about the ink and paper color. I tried my copic markers in one and it leaked right through to the other side.

Anonymous said...

WOW! Andrea ... that's just stunning. Doesn't look like there was any anxiousness involved to me. Great job.

I use the pitt artist pen in superfine black, watercolors and I also use the pitt line of colored brush tip pens. I haven't had them bleed through at all, and I can get pretty heavy with the pens. I work both sides of the pages and only occasionally have watercolor bleed through the seams. I have tried my prismacolor Design markers, which are similar to the copic and they bleed.

Hope that helps.

Brenda Yarborough said...

Wow is right!! You certainly did take care of filling those first blank pages. What a terrific idea!! This is really a very interesting study of nibs - I can actually envision it matted and framed and hanging on a wall in a very nice cherry wood and leather office - YUM!!

Teri said...

Best of all is the design you created!! I bet you could sell it, it is so striking. Wonderful!!

When I start a new book I always end up with daisies decorating my first page:)

Mattias Adolfsson said...

great, but you now you'll get a hard time getting the rest of the book to the same standard ;)

Kunya said...

Oh la la... what a wonderful page. What a great start for a sketchbook... I'm looking forward to see the next pages... Great & inpsiring work.

andrea joseph's sketchblog said...

Cheers guys!

Karen - that is really useful. That's what I was thinking about. I too 'can get heavy' with the pens! This picture seemd fine and didn't run through but I was being quite light with this one. I was just wondering whether using the other side might spoil the previous drawing. I've never seen any evidence of that with your work!

Thanks for commenting everyone and Mattias that is definatley my next problem...I mean challenge!

caseytoussaint said...

What a wonderful solution for starting a moleskin - I always leave the first page blank. I love the effect of the sepia ink on this paper.

Anonymous said...

Yeah! Andrea, i love your style on the cream-colored pages of the Moleskine. THAT's the marriage made in heaven! I am so glad you dove right in. Way to go. I'm almost done with my first Moleskine, and i did mess up a couple of drawings, but heck. That's part of what my stepfather calls "the anecdote". I don't know Pitt pens, but i draw with my super dark Pilot pen and i always use both sides.
Love the inventory of quills.
Welcome to Moleskine, Andrea. :-)

Anonymous said...

Andrea, I always enjoy your work! I'm confident that your subsequent drawings will be lively and charming like all of your work.

Karen, I have a question for you: how do you get the watercolour to perform. My watercolour always beads on the page, I have to scrub it in with the brush, and then it soaks through. It's frustrating - am I missing a trick to using watercolours in the moleskine?

Felicity Grace said...

I'm not a Moleskine fan but I probably would be if I used pen so I think your illustration is, after all, perfect!

Nancy Van Blaricom said...

Oh, what a lovely drawing. I'd like some drawer liner, gift wrap, wall paper - just like this please. What a lovely first drawing in your new Moleskin.

E-J said...

I had first-page nerves when opening my brand new hand*book journal for the SketchCrawl last week - but the braver I am about simply diving in, the better the results seem to be!

This is great. Did you consider the composition carefully beforehand and arrange your pens accordingly, or did you just wing it? The arrangement is remarkably organised!

andrea joseph's sketchblog said...

Cheers guys!

France - this is a Pilot pen! I don't even know why I said Pitt!

EJ - I did not consider the composition and in fact it was one of those happy accidents. It was originally going to be two horizontal lines of nibs - nothing more. I put the first line in and it looked a bit rubbish. So I just started adding more and more and more!

Thanks everyone for the comments.

suzanne cabrera said...

Wowee Andrea...How long did this one take? Do you think you could make me a roll of wrapping paper just like this? :)

Nina Johansson said...

This is amazing, the drawing makes a pattern that is just wonderful. I´d go for a wrapping paper too, it´s beautiful!
Congrats on the Moleskine. I have one of those, but I´m not a fan of the paper, it has too much resistance to watercolors for me. I hope you like it though, it´s a good format sketchbook, easy to take along everywhere. Looking forward to seeing more of the things you do in it!

mrana said...

I love the design and the drawings and the collection ... wonderful page spread! I'm always so hesitant approaching the first page of any new blank book and you've done a great job.

BTW, I discovered that there are a few types of moleskine: the "blank journal" has thin pages that bleed through, the "sketchbook" has thicker pages that are great for any medium that doesn't take too much water ... which should be used in their "watercolour sketchbook"!

P.S.: What IS it for?

Pedro said...

Wish a lot of good pages for your new moleskine!

Anonymous said...

a very fun drawing indeed. Looks like you are having fun in the process.

andrea joseph's sketchblog said...

Wow thanks for the comments.

Actually I guess it would look quite good as wrapping paper. I'd probably have to redraw the nibs though - some of them are rubbish.

Mariana - do you mean what is the picture or the sketchbook for? The sketchbook is just for pen drawings (I've decided!).

As for the picture - well I kind of intended it to be like the inside (fly?) covers of old books. The kind of thing that had lots of little drawings - now they really float my boat!

Cheers everyone.

Anonymous said...

Wonderful wonderful!
I just love it!
Did I tell you that I think it is wonderful!

Peceli and Wendy's Blog said...

Too good for wrapping paper, but fine for the inside cover of books, you know the kind where they used to have marbled pages.
Andrea, you are so careful and neat - how long did it take you to make these pages?
I scribble and draw with a heavy hand and finish in five minutes. I wish I was more patient!
w.

Coloribus said...

oOoH Great drawings !

andrea joseph's sketchblog said...

Thanks guys.

Wendy - quite frankly this took bloody ages! I did it over two or three days; just dipping into it for half an hour here and there. So I'd say at least three hours!

Cheers!