My Secret Santa gave me Mars Lumograph black pencils. These are (I learned) heavier in the carbon, compared to Mars Lumograph (regular), which are more graphite. I’m assuming, until I look this up, that this is the way the carbon molecules are arranged. The result—for me, at the moment—is a rougher, darker pencil. So I’m just playing with those 2B, 4B, 6B, 8B…. (soft and getting softer, which means darkish to noticeably darker). 

Yay, play!

I keep adding more shadows and textures to this sketch (on cheap hotpress waterpaper paper in a spiral 5×7 “sketch” book from—probably—ACMoore). This was photographed with my iPhone in a darkish room while watching Star Trek: Discovery. (An advantage to drawing while streaming shows and such: it’s easy to not watch the discomfiting bits. A disadvantage: I miss some of the glorious set textures and lighting and visual palettes.) Anyway, so this image is kinda gray; the paper is more one of those random cream colors. But I do think it’s almost done as a sketch.

I might wind up scanning it and printing it lightly onto bigger nice watercolor paper and painting it. 

Then again, it’s not like I don’t have other projects too—

• working on the next 5 bird stamps (there will be a time-lapse on Instagram soon, just for fun); 
• learning why I won’t be able to livestream on twitch (hello, rural DSL. Aren’t you nice and…. relaxed);
• I still have some rainbow flower dragons to finish and some to start
• I’m still on letter Q of the Oddly Exotic Alphabet
• I have several stories I’d like to illustrate (varying from “get to it already you are taking too long” to “first, ask permission”)
• figure out revisions/new tiers, with the poll I talked about doing one or more posts ago
• a commission for a pen and ink drawing (this should be highest priority, probably, but I’m just downloading the brain right now)
• business-y things like reports and taxes and ordering supplies and online shop management and auto renews or not and all that
• practicing with the brand new whee!  iPad my family pooled in on for Christmas

And that’s just the art side of life!