how to draw an idle daydream

Here's a little zine bundle I've put together. These three zines are all about the drawing, and are currently on offer.

'How To Draw Like A Barmpot' is from my How to Draw With A Ballpoint Pen series of zines. The first two in the series have now sold out. This one focuses on drawing from your imagination. It includes lots of ideas to get your own imagination working. Limited stock.

 'An Idle Daydream' is a collection of blogposts that is also a little pen guide. I talk about a few of my favourite pens in this zine.

'Molezine 2' is a mini version of one of my sketchbooks. It contains eight of my favourite drawings from my travel themed Moleskine sketchbook. And it's small enough to be popped into the pocket at the back of your own Moleskine sketchbook. Very limited stock.

You can now get all three together, on offer, HERE. Perfect for anyone who loves to draw.
Thanks for visiting my little blog, folks.

drawing a line under it all

Hey, thanks for stopping by. I wonder if you could help me out with some advise on a couple of things? For some time now I've been thinking about creating a book about drawing with ballpoint pens. There are a few reasons I want to do this. Firstly, it's what I'm always asked about and associated with; the ballpoint work. Secondly, I'm really done with drawing with ballpoints. I have been for some time, so it would be killing two birds with one stone. I get to answer all those questions, whilst drawing a line under it all for myself. It's not that I don't like the work, I really do, and when I see some of it, after a break, I feel proud of it. But, I just can't work in that way any more. I am more about getting the results quicker these days.

Another reason I've been considering a book is that a couple of zines, from my How To Draw (With a Ballpoint Pen) series, have sold out and are now out of print. I love that collection and I'd like to gather these together, along with a load of work that I produced for a fourth ballpoint zine that didn't get printed. All of that, plus a selection of my favourite ballpoint drawings, and some thoughts and techniques about using the pens, would make a pretty good book I reckon.

Now, I am in no position to fund this book. So, this is what I wanted to ask

a) does anyone have any experience of crowdfunding a project or book? How did you find it? Would you recommend a crowdfunding site (it would need to be one in the UK)? 

b) Do you think there would be a market for such a book?

Thanks, in advance, for your response.

How To Draw Like a Barmpot and is available HERE. As is my Converse print, the drawing at the top of this post, which is currently on sale.

advanced procrastination

Ah, my gosh. Somebody please run my blog! I just will do just about anything but do it.

I make myself so mad sometimes. I frustrate the hell out of myself.

Anyways, I'm going to endeavour to update it with some of the things I've been doing whilst I've been away. I can only but try.

COLOURING BOOKS?! I have made colouring in books. It was not something I'd ever intended doing. It all felt a bit, well, you know, done. But when my printers started a new range of colouring books it got me thinking about some of my drawings that may be cool to colour in. And I tried thinking of ways of putting a twist on the whole colouring book phenomena.

 I'm calling it 'advanced colouring' but really it's for any ability. But, if you're already used to wielding the pen then I've added tips to take your colouring to the next level.

There are two sizes of book, you can find them HERE.

See you back here in about six months time!

*I will blog more often. I will. I will. I will....*

how to draw a show revisited

Here's a post from the archives. It's from July 2010. The first thing that goes through my head is how things have changed! I would never use this method these days. My drawing is so much more instinctual now, but back then I was learning. I was teaching myself to draw. And, for me, that makes it a valid exercise, but then any sort of drawing that you do is valid. It's all about practice, and no matter how much we'd love magic pens the fact is that if you want to get to a place where you're confident enough to become instinctual you need to put the learning in first. And, what I have found also is that drawing is all about looking, seeing, and that is something else I was teaching myself to do here. Look. See.

 

 The other thing that has changed is an obsession with drawing shoes - where did that come from??!Anyway, here's

How To Draw a Shoe by Andrea Joseph 2010

Over the past few years I have worked through many different processes, when drawing from still life, to get to the one that I am happy with. As I'm self taught it's been a process of elimination to find the ways that work best for me. I have narrowed it down to a couple of methods actually. I'll show you both in the next two posts, and demonstrate with my favourite subject matter; shoes.

 

Above are the tools I have used. They are; a cartridge paper sketch book; tracing paper; pencil; rubber (I believe that means something different in the US?!); three blue ballpoints; one red ballpoint. I want to stress at this point, because I'm asked so frequently, I use ANY kind of ballpoint pen. No special makes or brands. Any. As long as they aren't blotchy I'll use them.

Step 1. I am pretty obsessive about getting the shape 'right', so if I'm sketching something, for eaxmple an Adidas trainer, I will do the sketching stage on tracing paper. I realised, a while back, that I do not have any 'sketchy' books as such. I only ever produce finished drawings. I do, however, have huge amounts of roughs on tracing paper. Doing things this way means I can work on the shape I want to achieve and then transfer it easily to paper. It also means that, if I should want to, I can reproduce the same image (in different mediums). Which is something I do quite often.

Step 2. When I've got shape I want I transfer it to paper. In the image above you can see the ballpoint outline. I would obviously start with a pencil outline, but the scan I did for that was rubbish - you couldn't see anything. So when the pencil outline is put down on the paper, I go over it faintly with a ballpoint.

Step 3. I have started to add some shading (values?) to some areas. I work out where this shading should be by observing the shoe and where the shadows and light fall. Excuse me if all this sounds really patronising, it's not meant to. It's just how I have learnt to draw. Step by step.

Step 4. Here comes the cross hatching. This is the part where I feel I can really get into the zone with this drawing. I love this bit. The shoe is starting to come alive, and more texture is being added through the hatching.

Step 5. A continuation of the last step. More building, more hatching, more texture. Also at this point I'm starting to add the detail. That's another bit I love doing.

Step 6. The finishing touches. My most favourite bit. Details, a bit of extra hatching and a splash of red. In this drawing the final finishing touch was to outline the shoe with a bolder line, using a ballpoint that has a bigger nib.

And that's it!

That's how I did things back then. Actually, this is the way I'd work these days for an editorial or book illustration job or for something that needed planning and page layout. So, I learnt quite a lot from that period. Mostly, I learned about seeing. And, funnily enough, I went on to teach a Sketchbook Skool course of that very name ('Seeing') five or so years later.

More demonstrations and things from the archives all month, here, on my blog.

But for now, that's all folks!

a bit about creating poster artwork

Amongst all the other illustration work I do, I also co-run Dr Sketchy Sheffield and, so, being the sketching half of the team (my co-running partner is from the performance arts), I create the poster artwork. It's one of my favourite things to illustrate. Because it makes me feel closer to the poster artists, from days gone by, who's work I adore. I wish there were more call for poster artists. These days it's all done digitally so I like to buck that trend with purely illustrated posters (and I wouldn't have a clue how to do it digitally).

Now once we've set our theme for our Dr Sketchy event the idea for the poster image pretty much comes to me straight away. Sometimes without even having to think about it. Really, it's just there. I see it - the whole poster - fully formed. I then just need to put it onto paper.

Our next event (next Saturday, at the Greystones, Sheffield!) will be a celebration of dance. We have performers from different genres of dance modelling and, erm, dancing for us. We have a belly dancer, a breakdancer, a bhangra dancer amongst others. So, already I knew I had to get that info into the drawing. The first and original thought was of the kind of drawing in the image above. I think it's important to go with that initial idea if it has presented itself to you. I love those 'consequences' drawings. I've heard them called other things and somebody once told me that they were known as 'exquisite cadaver' drawings. I think that's such a great name, which conjures up all sorts of weird and wonderful images, so I'll be sticking with that.

I made a few exquisite cadaver sketches, like the one above, to try it out. To see if it worked. I'll be honest with you, I think the trial run above is still my favourite. I guess that's because it was the most spontaneous. Then when I'd got one that I felt would work as a poster image I sketched it out onto a 'proper' bit of paper. I always add the image first, leaving room for the text. Sometimes I will play around with where I want to place the image. I did with this one - I tried her on both sides of the page and central before settling on this composition.

For the text I always quickly research (Google) posters or fonts until I find something that fits. For example, I'll Google 'Bollywood poster fonts' or some such thing. This one was a combination of various fonts because of the variety of dance genres. When I find a font I like I loosely copy it. I don't measure out the letters, nothing technical happens, I just copy it by eye (is that even a saying? It looks odd now it's typed out). I don't want it to look exactly like the fonts I find. I want it to be my own version of them.

Anyway, that's a little (ish) explanation of how I create my posters. Now anyone want a poster illustration? I'm for hire. I'm always for hire.

 

a strange dust lands on your hands

This week my class, at Sketchbook Skool, has come around again. The course is called 'Seeing' and is about, well, seeing. Really looking at your subject and perhaps seeing all those details that, if you weren't drawing, you'd never notice. I try to demonstrate this through one of my collection drawings.

Here are a couple of my drawings of one collection - my friend's collection of keys to be precise. They belonged to her father who had all sorts of collections. Most of these, I believe, were from model railways and clocks. I love keys. I love the symbolism of them and all the stories they could tell and doors the could unlock. I'm particularly happy with the drawing below. Don't know why. I just like it.

If you're interested, you can find out more about becoming a student at Sketchbook Skool HERE.

hot off the press

Calling all creative folks, with something they want to promote/advertise/flog. Ever advertised your new book/project/blog/Page in a newspaper or magazine? Of course you haven't. You're a creative - you'd never have the money for that. And anyway, why advertise in a big corporate glossy magazines with huge numbers of readers who, quite frankly, do not deserve to see (ignore) your ad? No, what you want is to be seen by a lot fewer people, but the right people. What you want is to advertise in a small self published, cutting edge, do-it-yourself ethos zine.

What you get; a small (tiny - this is my tiniest zine yet) unique hand drawn advertisement. The space is approximately an inch squared. Just enough room for a logo, a web address, and a few of words.  All for five British pounds. Above is a couple of pages from my How To Draw Like a Loon zine. Your ads will be similar even though the zine layout is totally different.

Spaces are very limited, and as I'm hoping to get this zine to the press on Monday, time is limited too. Take advantage of this offer now. Interested? Get in touch.

Support self publishing. Support a fellow creative to keep on creating.

How To Write Your Name

Lots of people tell me that when they buy a new sketchbook (especially something like a Moleskine) they get new sketchbook nerves; the fear of the blank sketchbook. I'm quite the opposite. I can hardly wait to get it home before unwrapping it and laying my pen on the paper - that is why I have a hundred unfinished sketchbooks, though.

So, with those of you in mind, and for all of you guys who are starting the new semester of Sketchbook Skool and getting your school bags ready, here's a little video that'll take away the fear. See starting your sketchbook as an exercise too. Hope this helps!

how to draw a shoe

As promised, here is the second method I use, when it comes to drawing shoes. This, it has to be said, is my favourite method of all. And, I use it not only for drawings shoes but for most of the still life drawings that I make. In fact, this is probably how about 90% of them were created. A friend of mine says it's cheating, but I don't think so. This method means that everything I draw is the actual size of the object. Plus, for me, it brings the object and the drawing closer together. I feel that the object really becomes a part of the drawing when I draw like this;

Method 2

Oh, and by the way, I have used exactly the same tools as in the last post minus the tracing paper. You don't need that.
Step 1. Get your Converse boot, or whatever it is you want to draw, and draw around it. Yes, actually put it on the page and draw around it. I've used pencil to get the initial shape in the drawing above. It'll never be true to shape, because it depends what angle you are coming from (in so many ways), but I like that.
Step 2. Then draw around the pencil outline with a ballpoint to give you a ballpoint outline (apologies for the totally bloody obviousness of what I'm saying). It doesn't matter if it differs from the pencil outline, it's your shoe and your drawing.

Step 3. Adding 'values'. I'd never actually heard this term before I started drawing-blogging. I think it might be a US term (?) or even a technical term. As I said in the last post, I've had no training so maybe that's why I'd never heard it before. So, for those, not in the know, like me, add some shading. By looking at your shoe you can see where the darker bits are - hatch there.

Step 4. More hatching. More more more. Continuing on from the last step, building it up and adding some texture.

Step 5. Adding more detail and continuing with the therapeutic cross hatching. Really feel those textures. Touch your boots!

Step 6. Finishing touches. Adding the lovely details and, again, for this drawing I've added a bold outline. If you don't want a bold outline leave it out. Not every drawing needs one. Finish when you want to finish. It's your drawing. Let the drawing tell you when it's done.

Well, that's the process I go through. But, hey, don't listen to me. I'm sure you have your own thing going on.

Check out THIS LINK to see the other method I use for drawing shoes.
Plus, you can buy my 'How To Draw...' zines, and other stuff, HERE.