A Sketch a Day - really?

I've been following some people on Twitter who seem to post sketches daily. There are a few hash tags, but the one I've been following is #thedailysketch. A lot of them are drawn from life, outside in countryside or urban environments. I'm attempting to add my own posts, using a combination of life drawing, drawing from outside and other sketches. It's hard, as I'd love to do a drawing every day, but my sporadic efforts are a start, at least! Here are a few of my non-naked efforts recently.

drawing of people seen from above

sketch of a street

Drawing For Life - 13

It's been too long, friends. I know you've missed the nakedness, so here are some from recent weeks. I've been trying out some coloured paper, which adds a nice smack in the eyeballs. The white chalk is a bit harder to sort out, as the poses at Betty's are quite short. I may be giving myself too much to do in the allotted time. We'll see.

Change Here For Evolution

It's been rumoured for a good few months, but it's finally here: the follow up and official companion piece to my 'Crystal Palace Monsters' pic - Change Here For Evolution. I knew that I had to do something with more of those lovely Victorian statues from Crystal Palace Park.

Regular users of Crystal Palace Station can now see why that section of the platforms is not open to the public: it's for the animals! For the uneducated (including me, as I had to look them up) the prehistoric passengers to be are (from left to right): Megatherium, Megaloceros at the back; Anoplotherium (Anoplotheria?) milling around at the front. The poser with the big antlers is another Megaloceros. The Megatherium was like a giant sloth and the Anopletherium a bit like a llama/tapir perhaps. Megaloceros is definitely a giant variety of deer or elk. I'm sure they have less formal names, too, but I never asked...

You can also now by A4 and A3 prints of this image in my online store. A perfect companion for the Crystal Palace Monsters.

a pen drawing the antlers of a deer

Statue of an Anoplotherium

Statue of an Megatherium

Ceiling of Crystal Palace Station

Sign at Crystal Palace Station

Smash Bang Wallop

I was very happy to see, this week, that the lovely people at Smash Bang Wallop are now selling a new exclusive version of the popular Subway Sphinxes t-shirt that I designed. A nice, zappy orange design. Here's their tweet: 

We have re-issued the @Magbanno @cpsubway T shirt using recycled fabric, it's a roomier cut & now available in an XXL pic.twitter.com/AjUTTQN22i

— Smash bang wallop (@smashbangwallop) 20 February 2014

The Birds of The Horniman Museum

Last week, having dropped off another supply of my Crystal Palace Monsters greetings cards with Brave Girl, in SE19, I travelled on to The Horniman Museum in Forest Hill. It's a great South London museum, created by a wealthy Victorian collector who decided to share all his finds with the public at large. I focussed my attention on their Natural History Gallery where they keep cases and cases of preserved animals, birds, fish (and human skeletons, too). Fans of taxidermy should pop in (it's free of charge) but also people who like drawing wildlife that doesn't move should find it useful. As a drawing exercise, I stayed with the birds, drawing them one after another on the same piece of paper, slotting different specimens into the gaps. I think the main pencil drawing took me about an hour and a half. They are/were: (L-R: back row: Golden Pheasant, Mandarin Duck, Senegal Parakeet, Red-Legged Partridge. front row: Greenland Falcon, Common Scoter).

I'm a bit concerned that I may be straying into the current fashion for drawing animals, though. This is compounded by the fact that my follow up to Crystal Palace Monsters features prehistoric deer. Aaah! I'll be drawing foxes and pandas on brick walls, next. I'll let you know what occurs.

painting of a senegal parakeet

As a spin off from the pencil drawing, I singled out the Senegal Parakeet. Using that oil paint transfer method, I enlarged it and added some watercolour to his beautiful plumage. Yes, reader, I managed to create a dead parrot sketch all of my own.