Trying Something New

A few sketches here trying ut a new christmas present of some derwent XL graphite blocks - solid little bricks of crumbly, dusty graphite with a int of pigment thrown in, about 1.5 x 1.5 x 4cm. Impossible to use without getting your hands filthy - yes that paper started out white! - but very easy to wash off!

The sketches are taken from an old present - the Dover reprint of Ken Hultgren's "How to draw animals", originally published in 1951. Fabulous easy-to-read account of animal anatomy and posture (and how to use it to convey emotion) from one of Disney's storyboarders/artists of the 1940's (worked on Bambi).

I did these purely for fun, less than a few minutes each, a great warm up exercise, and good to be trying something well outside my usual style and materials.