A New Method of Working + The Brothers Karamazov

Blue Pencil. I've used it before, but only when I would transfer my pencil drawing to bristol board by way of light table. I've never used it for actual drawing purposes, for whatever reason, most likely my own comfort with my materials. However, after this weekends FallCon, and seeing how other people work with blue pencil in their drawings, I decided to give it shot with the drawings below.


So, what's the big deal? These drawings are a lot cleaner than the drawings I've been doing for years. The trick? You can't even see the blue pencil, which I used for the under structure of the portraits. This way, when I finally put an HB pencil to paper, my line was more assured, and I knew what I wanted to do. And when I scanned the drawing, the blue pencil either didn't show up, or just barely. A quick Levels adjustment soon made it disappear.

And who are these characters, you may be asking? They are the Brothers Karamazov, from Dostoevsky's novel of the same name. From top to bottom, they are Dmitri, Ivan, and Alexei. I've been slowly reading the novel, in between my work for thesis and school, and I've just had such a vivid perception of the characters, that I felt now was a good opportunity to draw them. We'll see how they look once I ink them.