Sketching with the Tombo Airpress pen.

I'm not a big ball point guy, but the Tombo Airpress at JetPens terrific. It came in handy when  personalized copies of paperbacks that I had illustrated. I would prefer to use one of my favorite fountains, but with the pulpy stock I did not want to run the risk of making a mess of the title pages.

 Beowulf, Dante's Inferno, Ten Plays of Sophocles and Ben-Hur are just a few of the covers I've designed and illustrated for Penguin, USA. To say I was red-faced to be asked to sign some copies would be an understatement, but I truly appreciated the sentiment!

The Airpress has a nice smooth line and a chunky barrel that feels good to hold. It's also pretty cool looking, you can see the inside mechanism that forces air into the ink cartridge, making it easy to write (or draw) on tricky surfaces. Comes in different colors too. Ten buck us a little pricey for a ball point in my opinion, but it makes up for it in it's cool design features and usability.

I can only hope the owner of this book likes my sketch as much as I enjoyed making it! 

Thanks to Drew at Goulet Pens for ask me to sign them!

"After Goya" and Higgins Eternal

Goya's Los Capricos is one of my "desert island" books with so much to see and learn from the master draughtsman and storyteller.
As an exercise in design I tried creating a version of each one of his plates in pen and ink; one per night. I've posted a few below.

I used Higgin's Eternal ink with a Speedball handle and nib that I've had for so long that I can't read it's number; but it been beautifully seasoned with years of build-up... draws like a dream. These were done in a Strathmore 9x12 sketchbook.

The original "Porque esconderlos", etching by Francisco Goya, No 30

The original "Nadie se conoce", etching by Francisco Goya, No 6

The original "Ya tienen asiento", etching by Francisco Goya, No 26

The Dover edition of Los Caprichos is a bargain for under 10 bucks; not the most sumptuous volume available, but a great investment for your library. Pair it with Goya's Disasters of War and you've got an awesome set.

Ben Hur in print

I created the cover artwork for this new edition of BEN-HUR back in August. I just received an advance copy from Penguin Books that will be on sale starting April 3rd.

It was great to do a new edition of this classic story!

I used Noodler's flex pens and #41 brown ink for the drawings; all acquired at Goulet Pens.

Goulet carries the full line of Noodler's pens and inks.

I also used a reed pen in some designs.

You can see more about the alternate illustrations and cover designs at the original posting:

Noodler's Flex pens.