Halloween – Urban Sketching Style

Posted on October 21, 2012 by Larry Marshall

This is the time of year that sketchers post beautiful sketches of pumpkins. I love them all. I figure this to be my first Halloween as a sketcher. Last October I’d just started try to move pointy objects across paper and I wasn’t up to the task of sketching pumpkins. So, a year later, here’s my first set, done with a black ballpoint pen that blobbed on me more than a few times, adding “character” to my sketch.

Stillman & Birn Beta sketchbook (6×8), Pentel RSVP ballpoint, W&N watercolors

But I’m an urban sketcher. I sketch buildings, lamposts and fire hydrants. I guess a group of pumpkins sitting on my kitchen table is ‘urban’ but you have to mentally squint to see it. So I thought I should do something else and I found the ideal subject as I walked the main street that runs through our port area. What could be better than an orange building with some black Halloween decorations on it.

Stillman & Birn Alpha sketchbook (10×7), Pilot Prera w/Noodler’s Lexington Gray, W&N watercolors

When I sat across the street to sketch it, though, I had an immediate problem. There is considerable vehicle traffic on this street and when sitting low on my tripod stool, it was hard to see the lower front of the building. I’m not good enough to sketch moving vehicles so I sat, looked and pondered. Then I sat, looked and pondered some more. What to do.

I got out a 3H pencil and started laying out where the building and stairwell would sit on the paper and marked out the door location. Then I picked up my stool and walked down the street and found a place where I could sit the ‘right’ distance from a car. I sketched it as though it was moving in front of my, as yet to be drawn, building. Then I moved back to the building and sketched it. I’m not sure I got car and building sized properly relative to one another but it’s close enough for me. Hope you like it. Happy Halloween.

Cheers — Larry

Why Do I Use Stillman & Birn Sketchbooks?

Posted on August 9, 2012 by Larry Marshall

I’m reluctant to endorse products as I feel that sketching is a personal thing with as many ways of doing it as there are people. But I sketch and I post my sketches in several places. I always list the materials used as I remember when I was getting started, and the frustration I felt when I was searching for information on the materials other people used.

Now that I’ve been sketching for ten months, I have people asking me about the Stillman & Birn sketchbooks and why I use them. I’m not alone, of course, as many sketchers are singing the praises of these sketchbooks but when I’m asked I try to provide a response. I’ve found myself doing that enough times that it was time for a blog post to show you, and tell you, why I love these sketchbooks so much.

My Perspective

Don’tcha hate it when someone says “use this – it’s great” only to find that they have no experience with any other product? And how can you evaluate someone else’s comments about a product without knowing how they work, what they expect of a product, etc. So I thought I’d start this by answering those questions.

I’ve mentioned that I’ve only been sketching for ten months. I’m a newbie. It’s said the Renoir, on his deathbed said, “It’s a pity; I was just figuring it out.” I understand those words as any creative form takes a long time to learn and I’m still in the beginning stages of learning to sketch. That said, I may have more experience than some with the various products on the market as I’ve always felt that beginners, more than experts need to use the best materials (for them) that money can buy. Experts can evaluate a material and adjust to it. We beginners have no idea whether our successes or failures are due to our lack of ability or the materials themselves. I’ve always felt that eliminating poor materials as a factor, I gain confidence that my efforts can lead somewhere.

And so, when I started sketching I tried dozens of pens, bought artist-grade watercolors, and stocked up on erasers (grin). And I bought sketchbooks. Oh, did I buy sketchbooks. I found that finding a sketchbook that fit my needs was, by far, the most difficult task. Not only are they the most expensive component, once you’ve bought them you feel you should use them, even though they aren’t what you’re looking for. You could spend a lifetime using up purchased sketchbooks with the hope of eventually you’d buy one that would work the way you wanted. Not me…I just kept buying and trying. I have a LOT of sketchbooks with only a few sketches in them before I concluded that it wasn’t up to the task. Until I got my hands on a Stillman & Birn sketchbook. My search ended; my dream came true.

My requirements start with my passion for pen & ink. Specifically, I use fountain pens and I needed a paper that was relatively smooth (many cold-press papers are too lumpy for pen & ink) and a paper with enough sizing that the inks wouldn’t feather (fuzzy edges). I also like the idea of using watercolors in my sketches so I needed a paper that was heavy enough to let me wet out a sky area and then start dropping in a wash. And I wanted a paper that wouldn’t buckle under such a treatment. I wanted a paper that wouldn’t bleed through to the back side. And I wanted that paper in an easy-to-carry sketchbook; a sketchbook that could sit on a shelf once I’d filled it.

These are my current sketchbooks and the ones upon which my comments are based. They aren’t an exhaustive representation of the Stillman & Birn line of sketchbooks but, aside from their ivory paper equivalents, they are a pretty good cross-section as it turns out.

A) is a 10×7 spiral-bound Alpha series book. I love it when I want something a bit larger than my 5.5×8.5, which is my carry-everywhere sketchbook.

B) is a 9×12 hardbound Epsilon series book. This sits, open, on my desk and I use it to try new techniques, when I have a few minutes to doodle, or whatever. Mostly it’s a compendium of failures on my part but I love to flip through it as it’s also full of memories, even after 10 months.

C) is a 5.5×8.5 hardbound Alpha series book and it’s my carry-everywhere sketchbook. This one is nearly full and will be replaced by another just like it, or maybe a Beta in this size.

D) is a 6×8 Beta series book. Stillman & Birn says this is “rough” paper and I completely ignored this series for that reason until one day someone said, “It’s not rough at all; I love the Beta paper.” So I asked S&B if they’d send me a sample of their Beta paper. To my surprise, they sent me an entire sketchbook and the paper is truly amazing, though I’ve only done a few sketches on it.

So there you have it…my perspective and a bit about my experience. I’m no expert, nor do I claim to be. But I have used a sketchbook or three…or dozen.

Stillman & Birn paper

I quickly learned that if you want to use wet media, you need heavy paper. You’ll hear people saying all the time, “use at least 140lb watercolor paper” and that’s not bad advice and that advice certainly fits most of my experience with sketchbooks.

BUT…great big ‘but’ here, my experience with Stillman & Birn suggests that’s not the whole story. I’m not a paper expert so I’m treading out onto a thin limb here but it seems that how the papers are sized (chemicals added to it) is just as important as paper thickness. What I ‘know’ is that Stillman & Birn papers are double-sized, meaning that sizing is added to the paper mixture and also added to the surface of the paper as it’s made.

I’ll leave the technical details to others and they’re not really that important except to say that Stillman & Birn’s 100lb papers (in the Alpha, Gamma, and Epsilon series) hold up to watercolor washes at least as well as most 140lb watercolor papers and far better than other 100lb papers/sketchbooks I’ve used. Let’s just call it ‘magic’ but what’s important is that it’s true.

Alpha Series paper

Many sketchers have reported being surprised by how the 100 lb paper responds. I know I was. I use the Alpha series 100 lb paper. There is simply NO buckling of the paper when applying a wash. I find that if I really wet the paper it will sort of ‘curl’ a bit along its long axis but not a hint of buckling. Once dry, however, even the curl goes away. There is no bleed-through at all, regardless of what you apply. I’m one who sketches on only one side of the page but I often make notes about the sketch on the backside of the preceding sketch. This is not a problem when viewing sketches. S&B’s Gamma series is the same as the Alpha only with ivory-colored paper.

Beta Series paper

I actually have the least amount of experience with this paper but I REALLY like it. This is thick stuff – 180 lb stock. There is slightly more tooth to the Beta paper than the Alpha but it’s still plenty smooth enough for my fountain pens and while I’ve compared ink lines using a magnifier, I can’t see any differences in feathering.

What I do see is that this ultra-thick paper is fantastic for someone wanting to slop water all over a sketch. While the Alpha series papers hold up well, the Beta-series papers remain dead flat no matter what you do to them. It’s likely that I’ll switch to this paper as I fill my Alphas. The one downside, of course, is that thick paper means fewer sheets per sketchbook. My Alpha has 124 pages; the Beta equivalent only 52 so it’s hard to decide which is the better way to go. The Delta series is the same 180 lb paper as the Beta only it’s ivory-colored.

*** And guess what? The postman just arrived and I’m now the proud owner of the NEW HARDBOUND version (5.5×8.5) version of this series. It’s rare to find paper this thick bound into a hardcover and, until now, even S&B only had it available in spiral-bound form. Not any more as you can get it in this size as well as large size hardbound form.

Epsilon Series paper

The Epsilon series is unique in that it comes in white only. Its finish is called a ‘plate finish’ and smoother – you might say very smooth surface. Certainly this is the one to choose if you’re doing pencil work. But, like the Alpha series, its 100 lb, double-sized paper, handles watercolor washes well. What the smoother plate surface does, however, is cause the watercolors to skate around on the surface longer, which can be good if you do a lot of wet-in-wet mixing or bad if, like me, you’re a newbie and not well-versed in chasing watercolor washes. Personally I prefer the Alpha and Beta series to this one but some swear by the Epsilon for their watercolor sketching.

Stillman & Birn Bindings

When I show people my 5.5×8.5 sketchbook they often say “I have one like this.” But they don’t. They typically have one of the less expensive, and less good, generic black sketchbooks. The black binding is a tradition, it seems but I wish my S&Bs weren’t black – weren’t like those lesser sketchbooks. It would simply be easier for people to understand the differences.

Whether spiral-bound or hardbound, S&B sketchbooks have very hard, thick covers. I like this as I’m unkind to my sketchbooks. They get banged around, find themselves laying on the ground, and I’ve even sat on them, though that was by accident.

The spiral-bound books have double-ring bindings that I haven’t managed to squish (a technical term) like I have some of the lesser products. It’s the hardbound sketchbooks, though, that are the true marvel. These sketchbooks are double-stitched and just like ‘double-sized’ I don’t know what that is but I know what it means. It means they won’t come apart and you can get them to lie flat, two virtues that most sketchers appreciate.

You must ‘break in’ an S&B sketchbook to get it to lie flat and if you’re used to lesser products, you’ll find it scary. As with any book, the road to getting it to lie flat is to open it, a few pages at a time, and bend it open, generally such that the covers are lying flat on a surface. With S&B sketchbooks, though, you can fold them well beyond fully opened without cracking the binding or breaking the stitching. It’s a marvel to see it done for the first time. But notice, in the photo above, how I’ve bent back my Alpha series sketchbook to take the photo. This is pretty extreme but the sketchbook is no worse the wear for it.

Sketchbook Costs

[climbing onto soapbox…gosh that’s hard on my knees] I know…I know…you’re just a beginner and don’t feel you should use good paper or good sketchbooks. I hope you’ll reconsider. Do the arithmetic. Buying first class sketchbooks rather than lesser versions costs what, maybe $5-8 more? Divide that by the 124 pages of an Alpha series sketchbook and what’dya get? At $8 that’s 6.5 CENTS more per page. And $8 is less than the price of a single movie ticket (2 1/2h of entertainment?) – less than three lattes. Yet those 124 pages will provide hours of enjoyment and the confidence that comes from using first-class materials.

My first hardbound sketchbook cost me $10. The street price of an S&B Alpha series of the same size is $15 or roughly $5 more. I made a few attempts at pen/ink/watercolor sketches in that first sketchbook, the paper was horrible. I gave up. I’ve nearly filled the S&B sketchbook this summer…100 hours or more of fun. Which one was cheaper? You decide.

I hope this answers those who ask why I like the S&B sketchbooks. I’m not affiliated with S&B except that I’m a devoted customer. If you try their sketchbooks, I suspect you will become one as well. You can find more information Stillman & Birn sketchbooks from their website at: http://www.stillmanandbirn.com/

Cheers — Larry

larry@larrydmarshall.com

Inuit Urban Sketching

Posted on June 13, 2012 by Larry Marshall

Here’s something you won’t see in many urban sketcher’s sketchbooks, an Inukshuk. The Inuit have used these for years to provide directions, mark locations, and even to aid in caribou hunts. Because of this, you can find these human-like rock piles scattered across the northern parts of Canada… or in souvenir shops, as miniature versions are quite popular.

This one, however, is in downtown Quebec City, on the Parliament grounds. I’d guess its height at ten feet. Yesterday wasn’t the optimal time to sketch it as there are barriers up around the grounds due to construction so I couldn’t get as close as I’d like, nor could I view it from its front, the optimal way to sketch an inukshuk (“in-ooo-shuck”). But, I was there; it was there; and I sketched it as, these days, I’m interested in rocks and how to depict them.

This sketch was done in a Stillman & Birn Beta (6×8) sketchbook, using a Pilot Prera pen filled with Noodler’s Lexington Gray ink. Winsor & Newton artist watercolors provided the color. I REALLY like the Beta sketchbook paper. So thick, so friendly to both pen and watercolor. I’ve become quite spoiled by my Alpha series sketchbooks but the Beta series is yet one step better for the kinds of sketching I do.

Any inukshuks in your town (grin)?

Stillman & Birn “Beta” Sketchbook

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Larry Marshall

When I got interested in sketching I found it pretty easy to find good watercolors, brushes, pencils, and pens. What was harder was finding sketchbooks that served my purposes as a pen/ink/watercolor sketcher. I spent a lot of money and now own a bunch of sketchbooks with 2-3 sketches done in each before I rejected them.

Then a couple artists started talking about Stillman & Birn sketchbooks. I bought one. Then another. Then another. And I’ve never looked back. They are simply the best I’ve found. Mostly I’ve been using sketchbooks, both bound and spiral, from their Alpha series, which have nice, smooth, 100lb paper. I’ve also tried the Epsilon series and while a bit smoother, I don’t really see much difference between the two but I’m a rookie so what do I know.

And over my few months of using them, lots of other sketchers have started using them too. We’ve all reported to Stillman & Birn that their Alpha (white) and Gamma (ivory) sketchbooks can handle a lot more water/washes than their advertising suggests. Many of us are as surprised as S&B are about this, as 100lb paper is about the minimum for doing washes in my experience. But there’s something about the sizing of the paper that causes it to act ‘heavier’ than it is when accepting watercolor.

It’s not that you can’t buy heavier paper from Stillman & Birn. They have a Beta (white) and Delta (ivory) series that contain 180lb paper. But Stillman & Birn advertise these series as being “rough” paper and that’s the last thing one wants if you’re going to be pushing an ink pen over the surface. So I’ve avoided them…until now.

I’m a curious kind of guy so I’ve now got 6×8 spiral sketchbooks from the Beta and Delta series and…shazaam…the paper isn’t rough at all. In fact, it’s smoother than some cold-press watercolor papers I’ve tried. These papers do have a bit more tooth than my Alphas but I got quite excited when I received them because the paper is very heavy, smooth, and inviting.

A quick test demonstrated that my fountain pens like these papers. I tried a Kaweco Al-Sport, Lamy Safari, Noodler’s Ahab, Pilot Prera, and Hero calligraphy pens. I tried Platinum Carbon Black, Noodler’s Lexington Gray, and Noodler’s Bernanke Black ink. All the lines were clean and crisp. It might be my imagination but I feel that watercolor washes are easier to do with these papers too but I can present no data other than ‘seems like’ to support that view.

And so this morning I got up, looked outside and saw the sun. I headed out with my new Beta sketchbook in search of something to sketch. This lasted about 15 minutes. It was sunny, but ugh; it was cold… cold… cold. Temps were only a couple degrees below freezing but the winds were howling and so being the sissy that I am, I hustled myself back home.

Not to be defeated by Mother Nature, I went through my photo library and came up with a photo of a sign I’ve been wanting to sketch. It hangs high over an intersection in our downtown area and I love the flourescent pink lighting around its periphery. I started sketching, not fully realizing that I had no clue how to draw flourescent lighting.

I’m going to really like this Beta sketchbook. At 6×8 it’s a good size for portable sketching, though I’ve become quite attached to my 10×7 Alpha sketchbooks. Here’s the end result. I did this sketch with a Pilot Prera and Lexington Gray ink.