In celebration of “Inktober” – a yearly celebratory meme for the art of inking or inkers, falling within the illustration and comics crowd – I thought I would share some sketchbook stuff. I have always had a preference for ink and have thought that Inktober is a nice idea. As I was already going through a bunch of old sketchbooks, I thought I’d take some snaps and give you a smattering of crazed and lewd scribblings from yesteryear. Part 1 covers samples from 1989 through 1992. A period from the end of high school through moving from San Francisco to finish up my degree at Art Center College, in Pasadena, California.
I’ve always sketched in ink, with a preference for Uniball micro black (later also adding a Tombo black marker for deep blacks.) Working with a permanent line forces you to accept that mistakes are part of the process and opens up the drawing. And it stops you from getting too precious about sketchbooks. I carried a sketchbook with me everywhere from the mid-80s until about 2000.
The examples here are in chronological order. Some detailed notes about the drawings when you mouseover the thumbnail images.
Among his less savory qualities, he's a poor sport, a sore loser and ill fitted for honest labor. He makes bad friends and worse decisions. Animals avoid him and children despise him. He's been known to drink to excess, carry on with seditious talk and leer at women. He's a coward, a card cheat and a known liar.
Mrs. Call's second grade class said perhaps all that needed to be said about Larsen.In a moment of vindication and possibly clarity, Call would add to Larsen's permanent record that he was a bit of a dreamer and that Larsen was "an excellent student but his grades trailed off in the final semester."True, Larsen was filled with promise and saddled as starry-eyed but one can't help but notice that Call's inability to chisel this raffish diamond-in-rough wasn't also a clerical trick to distance herself from the responsibility of the 'Nurture' debate.She also said he was "prompt".She wasn't wrong.
- Happy Birthday Robert M. Larsen - April 8, 2023
- Drowner Cycle - January 28, 2023
- Blue Point - January 26, 2023