Currently Browsing: Book Arts 978 articles
How I Use Gesso: Some Approaches and Thoughts
Recently a subscriber on my Patreon site asked me about a gesso comment I made during a webinar. It seemed easier to answer the question with a video response. And once the video was finished I realized a lot of readers here would probably like this information as well. It’s something I’ve discussed in past […]
Still Not a Waste
To continue my thoughts from Monday’s post I just had to share this page spread from one of my journals. Typically in this type of book (a commercially bound, lined journal bought in a bookshop and made for notes not illustration) I’m pushing the boundaries of what I can get away with using my usual […]
Trying Out Some New Watercolor Brushes
What better time to test different types of watercolor brushes then when you are filling up the final pages of a journal made with great gelatin-sized paper!? That’s what I’m up to as the year moves to a close and I have 16 page spreads left in a hand-bound journal. Studio unpacking has progressed to […]
Making Pamphlet Books
This weekend I posted my six-part video class on making pamphlet books. This was originally a free class I had available for several years on my Ruzuku teaching platform—when that was active. I’m going into the new year with some suggested projects for my Patreon subscribers and I realized while making examples to discuss and […]
In Context: Minimal Collage
This is one of those posts where the in context page says it all. Or does it? I could go on. And on. Let’s just say this was a bookbinding scrap of my handprinted paper. It showed up while I was clearing things away and boxing things for the downsizing. I love it. Lots of […]
Drawing on Scraps of Paper
I love to draw on scraps of paper. As a bookbinder I have a ton of paper scraps leftover after any binding session. There are trimmings of course, but typically because of the way I want my handbound books sized, I fold and tear away bits from the main paper sheets before I start making […]
In Context: The Trouble with Double Vision
Page spread in an 8 inch square, hand-bound journal made with the OLD Gutenberg paper (which is not the same as the currently available Gutenberg paper which I do not recommend for visual journaling). The text on the page explains everything, oh, with one “writo” as I like to call them. In the second paragraph […]
When Is It a Good Time to Sketch in Pencil?
Usually I answer the question “When is it a good time to sketch in pencil?” simply by saying “Never.” I reside in the camp of, sketch in ink, live with the odd-off strokes, the pentimento. Use it all to train your eye. But sometimes you want really smooth lines, or don’t want to risk missing […]
Another Hat
I found some more hats from the hat project in 2018. I was working in an 8 inch square hand bound journal I’d made using the OLD Gutenberg paper from Hahnemühle. (Remember I don’t recommend the new version of Gutenberg now being sold. It still binds up great, but it doesn’t work with wet […]
More: Tools Really Do Change the Way You Draw
This is part two of the current series on tools changing the way that you draw. Specifically pens! You can see part one here. Today I’ve putting up three sketches of musician and artist John Lurie. He has had a series on HBO about his life on a Caribbean island. It’s a show where he […]