We're all after it: a crisp, charming yet useful, bande dessinée style. And that line, that sensitive, varied mark -- which looks effortless on the page but which is so bloody difficult to pin down -- is the key to it. I haven't found this line yet, but then I've only been looking seriously for a short while. Sometimes I have the feeling I'm getting close, only the cramps kick in, or the ink flows too free, or some shelves need putting up, or...
Well, anyway – I know it's out there somewhere. I'm told that a blog might help me find it. At least it should give me an excuse to do a drawing every other day, to explore Photoshop's tidy-up-and-colour-in potential further, and to invite helpful comments from others. Please.
As a writer, I'm also looking for another type of line altogether, and I may leave posts with no images in them at all! I've come a long way since art school.
Some years back I managed to maintain the sketchbook habit, sometimes for months on end. Sadly I have let this slip. Being a father of two very small boys doesn't help. Lately however I have been making more of an effort, and I hope to get that scribbly, heat-of-the-moment sketchbook spirit back, when the hand and eye are ever-ready to capture the scene in a mark or two. After all, this is usually when the nicest lines occur. I'll be looking back through my old sketchbooks and posting the odd page here, just to prove that I at least know what that famous line looks like!
Above is a sketch from the first of May 2009, one of the few times my sketchbook has been open this year. It's a very modest little drawing, but for once I think I really captured the moment: little Benjy's thorough enjoyment of his cookie.
But that's not the line.
Now I can keep track on you too! Love it so far, and is that a pink sheep on your coffee cup?
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