McCain Campaign Headquarters

I was driving near McCain's headquarters in York County and noticed a lot of people dressed as skeletons, devils, and so on. So I dropped in and while I was there we got a visit from Sen. Fred Thompson, actor Robert Davi, and Abraham Lincoln.

Lines and Colors blog

I found this interesting website for art: www.linesandcolors.com. Check it out.

Fountain Pens

I like sketching in Moleskine sketchbooks with fountain pens. Here are my experiences so far.

My Namiki Falcon pen was horrendously expensive, but works reliably and makes a nice line. Its nib is supposed to be very soft, so that you can control the width of the line by pressing harder or softer. This is true according to my experience, but really you don't get much line variety. I am using the ink cartridges that came with the pen. This ink is supposed to be waterproof, but it's not. It came with a converter so that you can use other kinds of ink.

My Waterman Phileas Writing Set was a complete disappointment at first because the ink simply did not flow. I replaced the cartridge and it worked reliably afterwards. This ink is not waterproof. It came with a converter.

My Lamy Safari was cheap (about $30) but works very well and is the pen I have come to prefer. I filled it with Noodler's black ink. This is really great ink. I got some on my hands and it washed off easily; but when it's on paper it reacts with the cellulose and becomes waterproof so that you can use a wash over it.

My Ackerman crow quill pump pen doesn't work unless it is kept very clean. I filled it with Higgins Black Magic. It makes an extremely thin line, almost the same as that made by a Micron in the .005 size. I would just as soon use the Micron.

More Books

I am adding two new books to my list of favorites. Fashion Illustration for Designers (2005), by Kathryn Hagen, has almost 600 pages of excellent drawings of clothed people, along with a great deal of instruction. She is very good at simple line drawings that seem to represent real, attractive, people rather than cartoon characters. She also does very nice cartoonish people. Her earlier book, Illustration for Designers (2000), is similar but has less material.

Another book, Illustrating Fashion (1977) by E. Sloane, shows a variety of styles and demonstrates that a fashion illustration can be appealing even if some of the faces and figures are not even close to realistic.

Current Work

Here is a picture that I am currently working on in Photoshop. It needs a lot of work. Maybe I will add jewelry, more hair, some other details.

Kathryn Hagen videos

I found these videos showing how Kathryn Hagen makes fashion illustrations.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29HIzU2YPSA

Art Books

I have many, many books about art, but just a few of them are exceptionally instructive. Here are some of the best, in my opinion.

1. Books by Andrew Loomis. These books are long out of print but can be found online.
Figure Drawing for All It's Worth
Creative Illustration
Drawing the Head and Hands
The Eye of the Painter and the Elements of Beauty
Successful Drawing
Fun with a Pencil

2. Jack Hamm, Drawing the Head & Figure

3. Bert Dodson, Keys to Drawing

A few years ago I visited the Frank Frazetta museum in East Stroudsburg, Pa. Frazetta is one of the greatest fantasy artists, perhaps even the creator of this genre in its present form. I always thought his works are visually impressive when reproduced in books and magazines, but the actual paintings really pop. If you are anywhere near the museum I recommend visiting it. Frank's wife Ella was fun to talk to, and it is said that Frank himself sometimes appears.

Another great museum in eastern Pa. is the Brandywine River Museum, in Chadds Ford. It features works by the Wyeth family. I went there about a year ago with members of my family and we were shown around by Victoria Wyeth, granddaughter of Andrew Wyeth. She is very attractive and personable and did a great job talking about the art works. The museum also has works by other artists, such as Howard Pyle and Alma-Tadema.

Things I Saw in Rural Pennsylvania

One camel
Several alpacas
A large Revolutionary soldier carved out of a tree
A sign saying "We sell life jackets for dogs"