I’ve been swamped with work and other projects. This was supposed to have been posted 4 days ago, but I just have not found the time. And I have no excuse really — Blade does all the editing and sends me the final copy. Unfortunately, the next two weeks are not going to let up at all.
Anyway, enough whining… click through for our conversation: Blade21292: Woot! Man, that was a fast two weeks!
Blade21292: How’ve you been?
Jeff_Knecht: not as productive as I would have liked
Blade21292: You and me both, buddy. I had HUGE plans for this past week and this three day weekend. NADA!
Jeff_Knecht: been spending my time working on some digital photography and a little bit (ok, a lot) of programming
Blade21292: Now see, that’s creative to. For work or pleasure?
Jeff_Knecht: pleasure… it was a hobby that turned into a career, and then stayed a hobby too
Jeff_Knecht: the fact that I get paid to do what I love is a just a giant joke to me
Jeff_Knecht: I’d be doing it for free anyway 
Blade21292: That’s how I felt when I was in sales. Meet someone new, take ‘em to lunch and maybe golf… checks are direct deposit.
Blade21292: What have you been programming?
Jeff_Knecht: just working on a reminder system for myself
Jeff_Knecht: I’m not happy with what any other program I’ve used will do for me, so why not make something customized to my own needs
Jeff_Knecht: plus I’ve been wanting to try out some ideas with respect to user interfaces… this is a decent vehicle for that
Jeff_Knecht: anyway, it’s a huge time-suck. 6 hours can just disappear
Blade21292: That’s right, my friend, it’s all about what works for you. I keep a hot glue gun handy at home and work just because I am constantly customizing something. Beyond HTML though, I’ve never really dipped into programming.
Blade21292: And yeah, I know all about the time suck
Jeff_Knecht: I just got done reading your post about mowing the lawn… good stuff
Blade21292: I have been in trouble all weekend for not doing the yard work and such and I really did just now finish mowing it.
Jeff_Knecht: it’s nice to have a hobby that helps justify procrastination 
Blade21292: Thank you very much, btw.
Blade21292: If my hobby were model trains, I doubt I would get as much support from my ART TEACHER wife.
Jeff_Knecht: but mostly, I loved the gesture drawing of the mower… great feeling of movement in that little sketch
Blade21292: I love doing those quick little sketches like that. Like a chinese ink brush or zen drawing. I love the way they look and I love trying to do them
Blade21292: I’ve got a little giraffe that I did at the zoo today in that style
Jeff_Knecht: I saw one you posted a while back – a zebra and giraffe… wonderful little guys
Jeff_Knecht: They reminded me of the animal sketches picasso did, where he tried to capture the essence of the animal in as few lines as possible
Jeff_Knecht: you should do more. those are some of my favs that you’ve posted
Blade21292: Yeah, but picasso could really draw too. I have to get there before I can pass off the stylized work.
Blade21292: Just like the first time I heard the guys from Metallica on acoustic instruments, I was astounded when I saw the realism works of picasso and warhol etc.
Jeff_Knecht: Ha ha… you sound like me
Jeff_Knecht: If nothing else, when you hear/see an artist do something that you normally attribute to “classical” artists, it helps you really appreciate that their style is a choice and not just the only way they knew how to do it
Jeff_Knecht: Either way, they elicited a response in me…
Blade21292: The biggest advantage of those drawings are that you can capture a lot quickly. I desperately need to get faster at people and animals and this is a really fun way to do it. I use a brush pen that I learned about from Russ Stutler at http://sketching.cc
Blade21292: So, carbon pencils eh?
Jeff_Knecht: yeah… carbon pencils…
Jeff_Knecht: I was having a hard time getting darks that I was happy with. These babies are (almost) black as night
Blade21292: how do yo handle gray tones with ‘em?
Jeff_Knecht: but as far as the grays… I didn’t use the carbon pencils for most of the grays. only the dark stuff
Blade21292: Have you tried them for the midtones?
Jeff_Knecht: if I were to use them for midtones, I’d have to create a
Jeff_Knecht: “carbon farm” and then use a tortillon to pick up the color and move it in very carefully
Jeff_Knecht: carbon doesn’t really erase, so if you go too dark, you’re stuck
Blade21292: That’s the problem for me with brush and ink is getting midtones. Can you not pick it up with a kneaded eraser? I’ve never tried these, as you can probably tell.
Jeff_Knecht: no – the kneaded eraser is just about useless
Jeff_Knecht: The nice thing is that the carbon and the pencil blend pretty well together
Blade21292: At least with ink, you can water it down
Blade21292: I will have to try this!
Jeff_Knecht: six bucks for a 4-pack: B, 2B, 4B, 6B
Blade21292: You know, when I get to go to figure drawing group I have been using china markers. Same thing, if you’re wrong or want mid tones, well that’s just too bad.
Jeff_Knecht: That kind of drawing suits me pretty well – I rarely erase anyway (I attribute this to inertia — I just don’t want to stop, put down the pencil, pick up the eraser, clear the bad line, start again)
Jeff_Knecht: If I erase at all, it is usually at the beginning of a drawing, where I can just delete the whole thing and start again
Blade21292: I read that on your blog. That’s one of the reasons I decided to do it that way.
Blade21292: LOL delete it! It’s easy to tell where your mind has been.
Jeff_Knecht: something about flying without a net, though, gives me a little rush
Jeff_Knecht: lol. woops… when worlds collide, huh?
Blade21292: Happens all the time around here too.
Blade21292: So, do you have anything in particular you want to look at this week?
Blade21292: I’d go for the candle, but you’ve already critiqued it pretty well
Jeff_Knecht: there’s even less to choose from than last time. But I’m actually pretty happy with the charcoal sketch of the harbor (though, it’s probably a bit TOO gestural to do a decent critique) and the candle.
Jeff_Knecht: You?
Blade21292: no no, I’m looking at the harbor now and I think you’ve you got some good things going for you here.
Blade21292: I like the chapel and the bell
Blade21292: You have a really good thing going with the atmospheric perspective here. Simple suggestive lines in both the fore ground and background, bringing the eyes straight to the focus of the bridge and the tree in front. The composition is great. I think if you had more time before it started raining you might have taken a little better stab at the details surround the bridge. I believe that’s a docking area in the lower left that I would like to see more clearly. And a little more demonstration of the water beyond would have just brought this picture home for me.
Blade21292: I get the sense that it is not very large, probably less than 8″ square? For that, I think you have a rendering worthy of any illustration book.
For Blade’s critique of the candle, visit The Artistic Biker
Jeff_Knecht: I really liked that chapel as well. Laura’s critique was right on… It has a very illustrative look to it, like something you’d see in a book. The greens in the tree on the left feel a little incongruous to me — it appears to be lit from below (the darker and cooler green is on top, and where I would expect the shadow to be is lighter and warmer). I love how you used blue to tone down the tree behind the chapel. I agree with Laura that the bell tower does make you feel a little like you’ve got double vision — some stronger lines or a darker contrast between light and shadow might help that. A little more shadow in the door to the chapel might help set it back and give a little more depth. Overall, this is a wonderful composition and a style that is interesting to look at.
Blade21292: Yeah, those trees on the left of the chapel are actually a cypress tree behind a cottonwood. I was just discussing with my beautiful young bride this afternoon if she had any tips on how to make that distinction in watercolor. She tells me that’s why so many people find watercolor tough to work with but she has some books on the subject. I’ll be looking at them and posting about them on some Monday discovery.
For Jeff’s critique of the bell, visit The Artistic Biker