Roundhand Pinstriping

Pinstriping wizard Bob Weisgerber demonstrates the relaxed looping strokes needed for a roundhand font. His right hand is resting on a mahl stick most of the time. (Direct link to YouTube)

Related posts: 

Mahl stick

Documentary on sign painters

Oblique pen holder for roundhand pen lettering

Posture and Penwork

Hand lettering — or "practical writing" as it once was called — demands good posture. The same is true of flourishing, which is the art of making even loops in one continuous motion.

Daniel Ames, one of the early masters, says "It is only when in a correct position that the pen, even in the hand of its skillful master, is capable of producing the smooth, graceful line, shade, and curve so essential to good writing."

It's true. You really need to have a straight back, an erect head, a rear end square in the chair, and both feet flat on the floor.

Winners of Plein Air Persistence

Congratulations to the winners of the "Plein Air Persistence" Video Contest.


The winner in the Live Action category, and the overall highest vote-getter (672 votes) was Frank Hegyi and Shane Kier.  They will win:
1. A signed copy of any one of my in-print Dinotopia or art instruction books or DVDs.
2. A certificate of $250 worth of Richeson Art Products
3. A gift certificate from Liliedahl art videos.

Meghan N. Sours received the second highest number of votes overall, which entitles her to a $150.00 certificate from Richeson and a gift certificate from Liliedahl art videos. Here's the link to her video.

The winner in the Animation category was Dominik Litwiniak. He receives his choice of my in-print Dinotopia or art instruction books or DVDs and a certificate for Liliedahl videos. Here's the link to his video.

And Nathaniel Gold, who did a great entry but was barred from voting because his entry landed in my spam folder, gets a Special Awesomeness prize of one of my signed books or DVDs of his choice.

Thanks to everyone who entered the contest and voted in the poll, and we'll all keep on persisting as we paint en plein air.

Illustration 42: Rader, Lewin & Prittie

The new issue of Illustration 42 is available. It includes the paperback art of Paul Rader, the life work and story of Children’s Book illustrator Ted Lewin, told by himself, and a profile of Edwin John Prittie, known for the Horrors of War bubblegum cards. You can preview the whole issue at the Illustration website.

Tom Bunk Interview

Eric Millen of the fantasy art blog Massive Fantastic has just uploaded an interview with Tom Bunk, illustrator for Mad Magazine and Cabbage Patch Garbage Pail Kids (Direct link to video).

Catskill Ruins

Happy Halloween, everybody. We took a walk in the Catskill mountains and found a ghost town deep in the forest. (Direct link to video)

Quick-Sketch Portrait Tools

This set of water-soluble colored pencils and water brushes is all you need for sketching people in the wild.

You can order Caran d'Ache Supracolor 11 pencils individually at Dick Blick. The colors shown here are:

035 Ochre 

037 Brown Ochre 

045 Vandycke Brown

063 English Red

159 Brown

009 Black

407 Sepia

155 Blue Jeans

The four waterbrushes are medium or large size rounds, made by Niji, which you can get from Amazon

They're filled with 1. Water, 2. Higgins Eternal Ink, 3. Higgins Sepia Ink , and 4. Sheaffer Skrip blue ink

These inks are non-waterproof, which allows them to be dissolved after they are dry, and they protect the life and flow of your waterbrush.

It also helps to have a kneaded eraser and a pencil sharpener that will catch the shavings. The sketchbook should be something that can take water media, such as a Moleskine watercolor journal

School Visit

Drawing dinosaurs yesterday with the students of East Hill Elementary School.

David Smyth, Potter

While driving through downtown Middleburgh, New York yesterday, by pure chance we ran into our friend David Smyth. We sat down together at the Middleburgh Diner for a bowl of chicken soup and a bagel, and we talked about making a living as an artist.


I sketched David's portrait as we ate our late afternoon snack. Some of his friends call him "Nimbus" because of his cloud of white hair.

David is a master potter. His shirt was covered with dried white slip. Lately he has been making coffee mugs and water-dispensing crocks.

The crocks hold 2.5 to 5 gallons of water. They have a filter mounted inside, and they work entirely by gravity. As the water drains down to the spigot at a rate of about a gallon an hour, the bacteria, chemicals, and odors are removed. It's an environmentally friendly alternative to bottled water.

More info at: Smyth/Cid Pottery

Photos from the exhibition

The Arkell Museum in Canajoharie, New York did a beautiful job with the Dinotopia exhibition. I was there yesterday for the opening events, and met a lot of families, art students, grandparents, and fellow writers and artists.

After the lecture and booksigning I went around through the exhibition with the docents telling them some of the behind-the-scenes stories of the paintings. Today I head over to the elementary school to talk about dinosaurs with the K-1, 2-3, and 4-5 students.
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The exhibition will continue through February 9