Stampede at Sunset

For a better view, click on that image above. It's actually pretty big.

It's important to me to have a certain level of spontaneity in the look of my drawings. As an illustrator, this can be difficult. Final art is not created out of thin air. A first sketch is created out of thin air. A first sketch is completely spontaneous, but every step after can eliminate more and more of that look and vibe. Break it down:

A. Sketch 1--spontaneous
B. Revised sketch (a sketch based on a sketch)--most likely, less spontaneous
C. Final art (finished drawing based on a sketch of a sketch)--perhaps not very spontaneous

Add more revisions between B and C and spontaneity may be more and more corroded. I don't always have the courage or time or faith to experiment with this in contracted work, but I do like to play around between jobs and see how I might achieve more spontaneity in finished drawings.

For me, final art is pen/ink drawing with added watercolor. One way to reach this goal, is to eliminate the pencil drawing or planning stages (not possible, actually, in illustration) and draw right out of the gate in pen and ink (which, as we know, cannot be corrected). The drawing above was done with no planning whatsoever. No pencil ever touched this paper. (And, in spots, it certainly shows. But in my mind, these are some of it's best moments.) Also, very little image reference. Most of it came from memory and mental pictures.

More or less, this is pure spontaneity in final art. Does it work? Who's to say?

These are good little brain-limbering excercises that shall go unpublished. Good for the blog, though.