Q-Wyk Mart; Sketchbook Watercolor Sketch

My sketchbook has gone with me everywhere since I was a kid. My parents always made sure I had one when we went to the BMV, the county building or if they had to take me to work. It’s a practice I can’t thank them enough for as I still enjoy it today.  

This week I’m sharing another small sketchbook bound illustration. I started this page with my pentel v5 ink pen while waiting for Toycon to open back in September. I’m building this drawing from my visual library as Jake Parker calls it. A visual library is all about paying attention to the world around you and saving bits and pieces of the world you see to use later for drawings. For this piece, I’m building from my imagination, but still referencing shops I’ve seen in real life and in movies. 

Doing this is a fun exercise, it’s not as stressful as drawing from something direct and worrying about getting it right, but it’s still grounded in some things you’ve seen. 

Below you can see my first washes on this Cason 90lb paper. This paper is some of my favorite for a sketchbook, while it’s very thin I have to layer my washes and allow the paper to dry for about 30 minutes before each pass of paint. 

I’m using my everyday palette of paint and mainly using the “Mud” to get my color while mixing some warm and cool variations depending on what I’m painting. I love the mud, but I’m thinking I need to set up a new palette with some more focused colors soon.  

The last picture taken here was taken with our DSLR and I’ve very pleased with the picture quality on the camera. I feel like I can get a high quality picture for the web without the risk of uploading a high res scan. While I’ve not had to deal with art theft in a long time, it’s always something to keep in mind if you are an artist online.