27- Snake Plissken

The last month or two, I've been working on this sketchbook. It's a medium sized Moleskine. Almost 5.5 x 8.5, but not quite. And boy, Moleskine has really went downhill. It's made of super cheap paper that bleeds through. I'm about halfway through 40 drawings.

It's for the 2011 Sketchbook Project. When I finish, I have to mail it back. Before I started it, I knew that I wanted something out of it, so I've been scanning them and toning them. When I'm finished, I'm gonna have cheap-o sketchbooks printed.

I figured it'd be good practice, and boy was I right. For starters, the thing's tiny. The actual drawing area's about 4 x 7. For an example, look at Plissken up at the top. If this were an untreated bare scan of the sketchbook, the book actually ends about an inch and a half before the actual edges of the picture. Well, just look at Bronson down a couple posts. Because the printed sketchbook pages are going to be bigger that the physical sketchbook's pages, if I want something to go to the edge of the page, I have to tape paper to the sketchbook to finish the drawing. Plissken's gun barrel on the left and elbow on the right both go off the page, so I have to tape paper to the page to finish the drawing. Which wouldn't be bad, except that the book's about 1/3 of an inch thick; it's like trying to write all the way across paper that's half on a table top and half off.

But, this was really, really good practice. It's letting me draw full, finished things that aren't giant full page illustrations. The only other thing I'm trying to draw is the Calamity comic, and this lets me try different things out. Like, if I want a crazy line-y or blotchy background that might look good in my head but I'm not sure about in reality, I can try it on one of these that don't really matter- instead of trying it in the comic and ruining a page.

I guess it's sort of my idea of what a sketchbook really is. Trial and error, then move on without fixing it; because it doesn't matter.

And I know it's good practice because every time I sit down and get to draw on a real page now, I'm always like, "Oh, wow, this is really nice. The paper's flat and doesn't rip off if I erase."

I'm not devoting all my time to it though. Trying not to, at least. Because they're so small, they don't take very much time to completely finish. I'm trying to work mainly on the Calamity comic, with this on the side. Like, 2 a week. Here lately I've only been doing 1 a week, so I'm not as far along as I would like to be to.

The deadline's January 15, I think. I'm thinking I might have to rip out the last 5 or 6 pages and send it in without them. Finish the last pages at my leisure.

...that's it, I think. I can't think of anything else to say about it. Right now, at least. I might post a couple more eventually.

The End.

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