With time on my hands I went back to drawing to keep myself busy. I started finding enjoyment in drawing maybe a couple of years ago, almost by accident, and I used a sketchbook so that I could keep all my work in one place. When the Stationery Walks came along I thought I would add something a bit different to them and so started repurposing some of my sketches into maps for the walks. Then for one reason or another we didn’t do a walk for a few months, and ironically we were about to resume the series when boom, lockdown time. In fact the last time we met was a half-way attempt at a new walk, but that is all on ice now.
In the meantime, I thought I should go back to my sketchbook which had been gathering dust lately, and was struck by one of drawings. It had a bit more resonance now in our time of social distancing and self-isolation. If you live in a big city it can feel very strange, surrounded by people but so alone as well. I am lucky in that I am locked up with family, although that can bring its own issues. Others may crave contact. Some are maybe quite happy with the quieter world we have created overnight.
Anyway, I felt I should have create a new drawing based on self-isolation in a big city, and record it as I went along. I also have the London Graphic Centre to thank as they sent me some pens to try out, and so I have made good use of them for this drawing.
The equipment
The sketchbook is a Leuchtturm1917 medium sketchbook – I like the compact size as for most of my drawings I find anything bigger is too much paper to fill! I worked with my trusty Blackwing 602 pencil, sharpened to a point with the very fine Blackwing sharpener. I do not like the erasers that come with the Blackwing pencils, and can’t fathom why such an expensive pencil has such a bad eraser. I do love my 28 corner Kokuyo eraser though and this does the job perfectly.
For this drawing I was kindly supplied with a set of Sakura Pigma Micron pens and a set of Uni-Ball Fineliner grey pens by the London Graphic Centre. I was definitely won over the by Sakura pens and will continue with those in future. I need more time with the Uni-Ball pens though to figure out how to get the best out of them.
The drawing
For the drawing, I simply sketch out my drawing in pencil, then work over with the Sakura pens (typically a 0.3 or 0.2 pen, with 0.1 and maybe 0.05 for detail). For this drawing I then also used the Uni-Ball pens which are two shades of grey, to add further detail. It is only a sketch, and not something I was overly precious about, although it did still take some time.
Don’t forget to check out all our Stationery Walks and here’s hoping we can resume them soon again!
With thanks to the London Graphic Centre for supplying the Sakura Pigma Micron pens and Uni-Ball Fineliner pens.