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 

The Traditionally Non-Traditional Hot Rod

 

I know what it looks like- "Hey arent you just using the same content from IG and FB here?". Technically yes, but also no. What I've learned from my years as an artist on social media is that I basically have to do the abbreviated version of everything on those platforms. Two sentences explaining why what I do should hold your attention is quite difficult, especially every day the way I do it. And pieces take hours and sometimes days, yet Im still to try to fit it all in to this minimalist typed space because well, people dont social media to read long posts. At least not on my posts, as I've found. So that brings be back to the beginning here- part of what I had loved about writing blog posts years ago here was that I could be as long format as I want, share photos, videos, links, prints, paintings... pretty much anything without feeling constrained. In fact, some of the best things I was writing 10+ years ago was right here, long before I joined the IG and FB. Ahhh it was a different time. A simpler time. In truth, I loove to write long posts over explaining things and sharing more of who I am comes with a lot more words. 

Maybe now I can finally get around to the actual post here- the artwork it self. This drawing is from 2016, and is one of my favorite pieces of content to share on social media almost purely because of the style. A loose sketch done using a Blue Erasable Prismacolor pencil followed by marker tones done using Chartpak markers, a little airbrushing courtesy of an Iwata with Golden Fluid Acrylic paints, and final details done using White Acrylic Paint for highlights. What I like about this drawing is that it is incredibly simple, but also thorough enough to show the hot rod idea I had at the time. And even being a 4 year old drawing, to me it still holds up. Some of my paintings from last year dont age as well as this has. But that's the simplicity of sketching- ideas dont have to be the full story, they are more suggestive. In fact, the more you leave to the imagination, the better (up to a point). When I'm drawing/painting, im often trying to figure out what to leave out, not how to add more in and just make noise. Simplify Simplify Simplify. That doesn't mean dont add details, that means add details where it matters. Sure, a more fully realized painting is going to have more details, and it should. But a concept sketch should leave some room to move forward with. Even here I probably got a little carried away and in truth I often do. At the very least if I start really simple it's much easier to ramp up then starting with so much detail that it's overwhelming to keep going and it can just feel like it's endless. 

Well that's my ramblings for the day on this one. Already super excited to rediscover there's a place on Ocean Avenue... oh wait that's a song. What I meant was there's a home for all my wordage that I never get to use anywhere else. Doesn't even matter if no one sees this, Im still glad to be able to do it anyways. Admittedly if more people did see it it does make it easier to keep at it, so there's that. Also if you made it this far and are even remotely interested in a signed and numbered print of this particular piece they are available right here: https://www.pinstripechris.com/store/Traditionally-NonTraditional-Hot-Rod-p90495235

Have a good one!

#carsketch #cardesign #drawing #sketching #hotrod #concept #sketch #rendering #hotrods #markerrendering #designstudio #creative #process #carart #industrialdesign 

Large Stretched Canvas Giclee's Are-A-Go!

We're super excited to announce that we're going to be re-launching our Stretched Canvas Giclee's starting with some fan favorites, and of course, ours. Naturally we're going to kick things off with some Cadillacs, Buicks & C10's. Stay tuned!

www.PinstripeChris.com