Wax Bloom

Just shy of a month since I started a new drawing…phew. Work has been pretty busy – I switched teams about a month ago to work on the new AIM Express client, so getting up to speed, adding new features and fixing bugs on the product has taken up just about all of my time. We launched Beta 2 of the app this past week – give it a try and let me know what you think!

A few months back I ordered some Carbon Pencils – I had read about them on someone’s blog, but I can’t remember who it was now – it might even have been a thread on Wet Canvas. At any rate, it was specifically about how that artist was able to get such vivid blacks without the reflection that comes with graphite, and how smooth the carbon pencils laid down on paper. Sounded interesting, so I thought I’d give them a go:

Clara, Profile, Carbon Pencil on Cold Press Illustration Board, 8 x10″

These pencils are very nice, to be sure. The blacks are incredibly rich, they blend really well and they don’t reflect like graphite does. They are a bit messy, like charcoal, and its odd for me to force myself to work from top left and down to prevent smudging, but so far so good I think.