2nd entry for Jan 15, 2014

At top are three 5-minute studies, a 10-minute after that, two 15-minute ones and a 20-minute at bottom. The top 4 are Pitt pen on 18 x 18" Canson Recycled Sketch paper.
The lower three are dilute india ink in Pentel brushpens on watercolour paper, plus a bit of full-strength brushpen for blacks. I was trying the method in some of these of brushing a lighter gray brush tip over the black one, to get graduating patches of deeper values.
The drawing wasn't flowing effortlessly, and I was having some challenges with absorbency and maintaining crispness.

2nd entry for Jan. 5th, 2015

These are a 5-minute study up top, four 10-minute ones and a 15-minute study at the bottom. The top one is just Pitt pen; the others are Pitt pen and dilute ink from a Pentel brushpen on 18 x 24" sheets of cartridge paper. (I didn't have any Canson Recycled Sketch paper with me that night)
I was liking how the brushpen was working, but a little frustrated by how much slower its flow was than what I wanted, which led to lots of drybrushing. Which, overall, was not the worst thing to be doing,
It had been almost a month since I was working on short poses from life, but I feel I was using the media quite confidently that night.

2nd entry for Oct 6, 2014

These are a couple of 10-minute studies and a 20-minute study with a bit of additional background work right after the modelling finished.
The top two are Pitt pen on 18 x 24" Canson Recycled Sketch paper, and the lower one is water-soluble pencil and Artgraf washes on Canson Montval watercolour paper. All three are on 18 x 24" sheets.
It wasn't a strong session of drawing for me, but I was glad I had the working time. I felt it took the better part of the time to get into more connected drawing, but there's still a fair bit of awkwardness.

3rd entry for June 16, 2014

These are a 15-minute, a 20-minute and a 30-minute study. The top one is on Maidstone paper and the other two on 18 x 24" sheets of Canson Montval watercolour paper. The lower two have some post-session addition and reworking of values.
I shifted my position in the last one to get more frontal lighting, as I was on the shadowed side of the space up til then.
I like the highlights on the skin values in the lowest one.

4th entry for June 3, 2014

These are the final part of the day, done with water-soluble pencils and water-soluble graphite washes on 18 x 24" sheets of Canson Montval watercolour paper. Fan gone, focus was back in a good way and I'm fairly happy with these.
My working process these days has an oft-frustrating but apparently productive interplay; pure line drawings that frustrate and challenge focus, then release into looser tonal wash drawings with some residual improved focus and control.
This reminds me of the balsa-wood rubber-band powered airplanes I had as a kid; wind them up a lot and then let them fly...

Entry for May 30, 2014

 On the Friday night, I was over at the TSA, where it was Nyda working. From the top, these are a 10-minute followed by 15-minute studies. The 10-minute one is Pitt pen on 18 x 24" Canson Recycled Sketch paper.
The other four are water-soluble pencil and water-soluble graphite washes on a variety of 18 x 24" mid-weight Canson drawing papers.
I am finding there is a particular pencil, the Kimberley `Sketch and Wash' that has a soft, broad and readily dissolved core. They break easily when sharpening or drawing with any pressure, but it is very easy to translate line into shade, and to push it around while wet.
There were a few other studies as well, but these worked sufficiently better than average that the others look fairly weak  by comparison. (in particular, the first couple, while not warmed up, and the last one, where I was likely tiring out- and where a longer timespan made for fussing.)

3rd entry for May 20, 2014

If you'd like some basic drawing instruction and some materials investigation - with a model for a couple of classes - I'm teaching a 6-week Drawing Skills basics class through OCAD U's Continuing Studies program, It will run Wednesday nights, 6:30 to 9:30 and it starts July 2nd. You can get more details and sign up through here.

These are 5-minute studies above and a 10-minute and 15-minute one below. Nicole's poses were strong and I was having a little better than usual stretch of drawing.
The first, fourth and fifth studies are on 18 x 24" sheets of Canson XL Drawing paper. The second and third are on Canson 1557 paper, same size. All of these are Pitt pen.
The bottom two are water-soluble pencil and water-soluble graphite on 18 x 24" sheets of Canson Montval watercolour paper.

2nd entry for Dec 19, 2013

These are three 10-minute studies at top, three 15-minute ones below that and a 35-minute one at the bottom.
The 10's and 15's are done with the same Pitt calligraphy point felt pens, on Canson Recycled ketch paper for the shorter ones and Canson XL Drawing paper for the longer ones.
The bottom most one is water-soluble graphite on 150 lb Maidstone rag paper with graphite pencil added later.
The tonal range is good, and the likeness worked well, and at first glance I was happy with it. But the proportions are just off enough that on further inspection, Zia's head is troublingly big on her body, as is her foreground leg.
The image above is the drawing itself,  and below that is a roughly photoshopped version with adjusted proportions. Just a few millimeters here and there, but they make a difference. Proportion and alignment for me remain the final frontier. It seems the more traditionally rendered the image, the more troubling proportion and alignment errors look.

2nd entry for Oct 29, 2013

These are five 5-minute studies above, a couple of 10-minute ones below that and a 15-minute one at bottom.
I felt it wasn't one of my stronger drawing sessions. Some days are like that. It was as if I had taken a klutzy pill, and things ket slipping and dropping and rolling off the bench I was working on. (I didn't knock over my coffee, which is something...).
A dilute ink mixture I was trying out in a waterbrush wasn't flowing, and the calligraphy tip pen I was wanting to work with had dried out - in general, I was wrestling with materials that day.
There were moments, and the last study worked well from a descriptive standpoint.
These are all done on 18 x 24" sheets of paper. The top one is on Canson Recycled Sketch paper, the next six are on Canson XL Drawing paper, and the bottom one is on a sheet of 150 lb. Maidstone rag paper.
The bottom one is done with water-soluble graphite applied with a waterbrush, and some pencil undersketching. All the others are Pentel brushpen with either pencil or dilute ink indersketching to help with proportions.
Kirsten's work was very solid, and her costume of black pvc top with red lace-up ribbons in back and black satin track shorts, nude tights and ankle wraps was a nice challenge, but one I wasn't quite as confident with as I would have liked to have been.