Confessions of a Paper Junkie

Confessions of a Paper Junkie

The good folks at Strathmore Artist Papers™ were curious to see inside my actual art studio, and wanted me to draw something in their sketchbook. I told them, I draw on hundreds of sheets of Strathmore® paper a year, plus anything else I can get my hands on. But by all means, please send more. I'll be happy to draw on it, give a tour, and nerd out about paper anytime!

So, last month we filmed this video.  :)

Here's the transcript and some random screen shots:

Art Directors used to call it taking an idea out for a walk. That…it's, it's the best part of the project… it's when…you can just grab ideas from anything, and anything goes… and you're always on a deadline, so you are drawing as fast as you can.
You grab your sketchbook and you just start…drawing. 

 So, you explore every graphic permutation of an idea with little sketches - to develop the idea into it's best possible form. You make lots of little sketches, and follow wherever they lead.

If I'm drawing figures for an art book, I'll prep a sheet of Strathmore® Drawing Paper with a light acrylic wash… (to) give it a textural feel, and a tone to work from. Then I'll go to town with colored pencils, or ink, or anything else.

I use the same technique on this creature series. This is acrylic wash over Strathmore drawing paper. I imagine the creature, and render it with, uh, graphite and chalk. I'm combining imagery from classic(al) antiquity, (and) Victorian Flower Language to create deities from an imagined past.

Basically, I craft an image to suit a story. I'm an illustrator, and at the most basic level I take ideas and turn them into things we can see… and drawing is the very first step.

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For my art nerds that read all the way down here, here are the process details. The type of sketchbook "the girl with black hair "is drawn in is Strathmore Toned Tan (5.5x8.5"). It's nice! She's an imagined character, drawn with colored pencils, with acrylic paint washed over it, then black china marker, and more colored pencil.

I filmed this in my studio, with help from art school assistant, Britney Sharp. She climbed up the ladder to hang the art, and worked the camera. A big shout out to Alberto Ruiz for the video's name. Yes, Strathmore send me a big box of sketchbooks. No, you can't have one. Go get your own.

Photo Gear: Canon 650D (t4i), Canon 50mm f 2.8 lens, Canon 18-135mm STM lens, 2 softboxes 5000k, Rode VideoMicPro, Davis and Sanford Tripod, Cowboy Studio slider, edited in iMovie.

Credits:

Strathmore: strathmoreartistpapers.com
illustrator website: grahamsmithillustration.com
video: vimeo.com/inkdrawing
music: freemusicarchive.org

Music: There It Is by Kevin MacLeod (cc) by 4.0
Music: Astronauts On Earth by Cosmic Analog Ensemble (cc) by 4.0
Video: Copyright (c) 2015 Graham Smith/art/camera 1/edit
Camera 2 /Assistant: Britney Sharp
Models: so many models! thank you all.