1st entry for July 28, 2013

Essa was working over at the Daniels Spectrum drawing session on the Sunday morning. These are all done on 18 x 24" sheets of paper; the top two in bond paper and the lower two on Canson Recycled Sketch paper. The topmost one is done with a Sakura Graphic pen alone, and the lower three are done with a range of broad-tip Copic warm gray markers, plus a Pitt liner pen for some edges.
They are a 1-minute at top, and three 5-minute ones below.
Status update on my Copic fade test: on Aug 4, roughly 3 weeks since I put half of a drawing in a bright (but north-facing) window on July 15, the black swatch on the page is very faintly but perceptibly lighter (maybe 2% difference), but all the warm grays seem unchanged so far. The trial continues.

2nd entry for July 24

These are a 5-minute study and three 10-minute ones. All are done with a range of warm gray Copic markers on 18 x 24" sheets of Canson Recycled Sketch paper, with some initial lines drawn with a Pitt pigment liner pen.
It was a very crowded night at the Art Bar, and the only place I could fit with a drawing board and pens was in the back corner of the room, and it necessitated standing for the duration of the session. Luckily, Kit opted to be upright most of the night as well; the one reclining pose she took was largely obscured by Walt's head in front of me. Including his head can alter how one reads Kit's figure. That image has random marks on it as well, as I did it on one of the sheets I use as a blotter to catch ink bleeds.
I like the effect the loose web of lines has in the 2nd image, and the light in the bottom one.

Also, a few days ago I checked my Copic fade test #1- no perceptible fading after 10 days in a north-facing window. The test continues.

2nd entry for July 10, 2013

These are three 3-minute poses above and three 5-minute ones below that, all done on 18 x 24" sheets of Canson Recycled Sketch paper.
For the 3-minute ones I used a Sakura Graphic black marker pen for lines first, followed by a 50% Copic extra-wide marker to knock in big shaded masses. The strong thick line of the Sakura pen acts as a good anchor for the study. I find those heavy lines very challenging to control in terms of any subtlety.
On the 5-minute ones I was using a Pitt medium black liner per, which has a responsive but much less emphatic line, plus the 10% and 30% extra-wide Copic warm gray markers plus a 50% and 70% warm gray brush tip to add modulation to darks.
The super-wide markers are good for filling large areas, but their straight-line chisel tip makes for sharp edges when ending marks, and they rapidly run low on ink over broad areas, giving a 'brushy' look I'm still learning to exploit.
A week after this session, I've modded the broad markers a bit, cutting the edge into a slight curve that should make for a broader range of marks.
I also initiated a fade test today, putting half of a Copic drawing into my window. I'l post every now and then on developments.