Ferrari 275 GTB Pen Sketch + ramblings

Ahhh morning time again- time for coffee and to plan the day out a bit. Fortunately some of yesterday will make today a little easier content wise. Last night in IG I did a Live vid for about an hour where I went thru the process I use to sketch in ball point pen. Simultaneously while I'm drawing I'm reading the chat and trying to answer as many questions as I can which is a lot of fun and a great to way to really interact with folks. Admittedly I was initially going to draw a modified Chevy C10 (very out of character I know), but ultimately decided that since I end up keeping/hanging on to a lot of these sketches, it might as well be something I personally really enjoy. While yes of course I love C10's, so naturally I have pleeenty of drawings of them around. Enter the Ferrari 275 GTB. My list of all time favorite cars is mostly occupied with Ferrari's, and if you've read far enough back on this blog you'd have seen that I used to work on them exclusively. So to say they are special to me is an understatement. I am indeed a Porsche 911 enthusiast and owner, but nothing quite strikes me as deeply as Ferrari's and that has been the case for many many years.But I digress- back to the drawing. The live vids are some of my most favorite content to make, partly because it's so interactive and partly because I feel more space to actually be me. In a photo I post Im left to caption it in a way that gets people interested in what I'm doing, which is totally fine, but in order to keep it to the point I often have to leave a bit of 'me' out of it which is a bummer. In live vids it's just as much a chance for folks to see/hear the person behind the artwork as well. Plenty of people think that Im actually older (not that Im particularly young), or went to school for this, or my dad did it before me... all these things are easily addressed in videos. Sure, I could write out these answers, but the story telling element and connectivity isn't the same. Maybe it's surprising or maybe it isnt, but I love being in front of an audience. Probably a carry over from my days as a musician being on stage, but I always enjoyed a crowd and I never get nervous about it. In a lot of ways it creates an energy that you just cant synthesize. I think the general consensus is that artist's are more introverted and that may be true, Im just not one of them. I've had to learn how to be more introverted so that I can still be productive and happy working at home, but most days I would way rather be out in the world with people. Dont even care if their strangers. I can draw anywhere, so so long as I have a sketch pad and just a pen I can actually get a lot done. 

So if you've gotten to this point and you're like "Hey, are you going to talk about how you actually did this drawing?". Sure, I guess I could do that. If you're new here, welcome to my ramblings! I don't intended for these posts to be anything but me typing what I'm thinking and doing, and life isnt really a straight line. The moment I have to be more precise about what Im writing is the moment it stops being fun and let me tell you how much time im going to spend on something that I dont think is fun. But anyways, the Drawing:

We know it's a Ferrari 275 GTB, yes we've covered that. We know it's pen on paper, but there's a little more to unpack there. I use 2 pens to sketch with- a Pentel Fine black pen and a Bic Medium Black pen. Why? Each has a different tip size giving a little more overall range. Yes I can sketch and line weight with 1 and be fine, but if Im at my home studio Im going to use everything I have. In this case, Pentel for the initial sketch and Bic for the final lines and line weight adjustments. Everything is roughed out freehand and then tightened up a bit with Ships Curves, but there still has to be a lot of freehand to keep it balanced looking and not overly rigid. I say this in all my vids about the wheels: They really should be round. So if you're not good at free handing them, grab some ellipse tools and use them to get ultra precise shapes. Wheels being out of round is suuper distracting and even tho its just 1 detail, it diminishes the look of the entire drawing. From there, start to balance line weights allowing some bolder areas to grab attention while some thinner areas and transitions can show flow and shape with a lot more interest then simply using a 1.0 mm micron and making perfect, precise lines. Sure that can be done, it's not my jam.

I suppose I should also mention why I like to sketch in Pen as opposed to pencil. In short, pencil is messy and unattractive. Yep, it has an eraser. That's great. I dont draw with the intention of making mistakes (although of course I make them, a lot sometimes) so I prefer that a tool force me to be a bit more confident with my lines. I want to spend more time drawing, not erasing. And ultimately I like a nice bold sketch, and ink does that so so well. Plus I only need 1 tool to do everything at this stage, so I can take it anywhere and still be able to get work done. Of course there are times when I sketch in pencil- complex drawings that I know will need a lot of rework- but that doenst make it my preferred method. True of everything, use the tool for the job base don the scenario you're in, and adjust as needed. I have 1 of everything here at the studio, so if an approach isnt working I can change it up and try a different way so at least Im trying to make progress.

Well that's all for now- thank you if you made it this far and have a great day!

#ferrari #vintage #classic #italian #sportscar #v12 #bic #pentel #ink #sketch #sketchbook #drawing #howtodraw #carart #cardesign #creative #process 

"Traditional Roadster" Sketch & Ink Video + a short rant

Well Happy New Year! Man it seems like forever since I've got up early enough to make cup of tea sit down to this blog. Last year I spent about a zillion percent of my time wrapped up on other social platforms like Instagram (@Pinstripe_Chris) where we have just over 53k followers, and Facebook (@Pinstripe Chris or Chris Dunlop) where we have over 13k combined followers- Im also a big fan of Pinterest (@ Pinstripechris or Chris Dunlop). Which got me thinking... reflecting, really, this morning- whats the deal with this blog thingy? In the early days I certainly put more consistent time in to it and and got more interaction out of it- in fact, its one of the few content sharing places where I don't feel limited to writing a short post. I love to write and tell the story behind what im creating, and believe me, there's always a story. While on IG or FB I may say things like, "Quick sketch with coffee" or something to that effect- the reality is I chose that subject, picked out the tools, decided on a perspective., and really years of work have gone in to making my simple sketch elegant. So why the lack of effort here on my part? Hmmm... might just be that I'm used to the other platforms and how they operate, which doesnt sound like a great reason at all. Guess im wondering if Blogging is what it used to be, or maybe I never used it the way it was intended- hmmm indeed. I've actually had this blog since 2010 when we still lived in Maryland and I was struggling as an creative, but starting to understand what I wanted to do. Sure it's only been 8 years, but thats longer then any other platform I share in- heck I dont think I've had my email address that long. Well I'm setting out to make some changes here, not specifically because of the new year, but because I'm always looking to optimize and like trying new things. So let me say a little about that video up there:

Several weeks back I was toying with the idea of shooting a quick video of a proper rough sketch complete with ink/marker/airbrush. Nothing too polished, but enough so that I could get it on camera and see what it looked like. I didn't want to spend a ton of time on my 1st go, so I kept it simple. A few nights earlier my wife Caity had helped me with some filming and I saw the improvements I wanted to make form there. Specifically, I wanted to actually shoot it myself on a tripod and move the camera my self to record the segments I could see I wanted to piece together. So I literally moved the camera, set up the focus & timing for each shot while I sketched- I had my wife help me with a few shots I couldn't easily get myself towards completion. Then I put everything together in an apple based video editing program that I crash coursed my self in enough to get by. Last thing I did was write a short loop of a guitar tune and add it to the video (unfortunately it rendered quieter then planned, but its in there). I really just wanted to see what it would be like to put together a cool vid, Im actually really happy with it for what it is. I also like how it shows the general process I use starting from Bic pens going in to ink, then paint. Hopefully it will help answer some questions I've gotten on the process, and certainly if you do have a question- feel free to ask!