KRAMPUS CHALLENGE

According to Wikipedia entry, Krampus is a mythical creature who accompanies Saint Nicholas in various regions of the world during the Christmas season. The word Krampus originates from the Old High German word for claw (Krampen). In the Alpine regions, Krampus is represented by a demon-like creature. While Saint Nicholas gives gifts to good children, the Krampus warns and punishes bad children. Traditionally, young men dress up as the Krampus in the first two weeks of December, particularly in the evening of December 5, and roam the streets frightening children and women with rusty chains and bells. In some rural areas the tradition also includes birching by Krampus, especially of young girls.

I had started out to do this challeng over on Art Order, and even got the drawing done, but sadly enough I got busy with a few things and did not get home in time to send in the drawing, such is life, but I do not regret it since the time was well spent with my family, and they do come first.

Anyways here is the little ( 11 X 14 ) ink I did for the challenge. It is on a heavy Bristol and available for  $45.00 .

This will most likely be the last post for the year, I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Years, and that all will be safe.

Tracy

Quazi's Paradise

here is the painting just off the easel for BEAUTIFUL GRIM

BEAUTIFUL GRIM

This is for my friend..............

My name is Daarken and I am a concept artist and illustrator working for Mythic Entertainment. My friend Leif Jeffers, an animator at DreamWorks, and I are organizing an art auction fundraiser that will be held next year.


Earlier this year my girlfriend, Cat, was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 25. On November 3rd, 2009, she had a bilateral mastectomy after going through 16 weeks of chemotherapy. As you can imagine it has been hard for her, not only mentally and physically, but financially. In order to help alleviate some of her medical bills Leif and I wanted to throw an art auction. The proceeds that are left over after her medical bills have been paid will go to a breast cancer related charity to be determined by the artists in the coming weeks.

We currently have artists contributing that hail from all regions of the industry: concept artists, animators, photographers, sculptors, fine artists, illustrators, you name it. The theme for the auction is "Beautiful Grim." The interpretation of "Beautiful Grim" has been left up to the artists. A tentative deadline for the art has been set for February 1st, 2010. Venues to hold the event are also currently being researched, but so far we are considering either San Francisco or New York.


...............and yes I will be donating a piece to this.

LEAP

Here we have the completed painting detailed in the previous post.

REALIZING A PROBLEM AND MAKING THE CHANGES

Ok, in this one I  had a concept for a painting, liked the idea and did the little concept sketch, doodle, rough.......whatever you  want to call it, and still liked what I was doing..........pretty good so far. I have an idea, a sketch and am ready to start on the painting.

Now I get into the painting............things are going good in my mind and am just rockin along, background done, moved onto the central figure and thinking .....yeah, this is cool

the horse is doing fine, got the the dude working it with the axe ......cool axe Trace.......nice one there...........and then I sit back and LOOK at what I have done, and something just isn't right. Got sort of an S shaped pyramid compositional thing going on......some action happening, but still something is wrong.........Ah  Ha!! the arms aren't working .....too big, anatomy is off.........so I paint them out, but as I start to paint them back in..........IT still isn't right. So I just sort of sit back and really REALLY look at what I have going on here, and quickly come to the conclusion that it is the whole positioning of the rider..........it just doesn't work. Balance is off. Not believeable and he would fall off.

Back to the sketch book and play with it...............

                                           

.......now this really works for me, arms opened up for balance, still got an S like pyramid thing going, very fluid movement in harmony with the horse. Go with this I say to myself, so I begin to flesh it out and add a little detail to the figure..........if it doesn't work for this then I still have something I can play with later......... still a cool axe, so for a little bit of fun I scan the sketch and place it ontop of the painting in photoshop:

                                   

Now I really like it...............the changes were the right thing. They turned a painting that would never really work from a waste of time into a viable piece of work.  After seeing the potential for this in the little digital mock up, I truly begin to play with the figure and

add the details to it so that I can get a little better idea of what is going to go on. Big round belt buckle to mirror the roundness of the shield as well as the axe head. Two handed sword adding a third diagonal   and continuing the upward motion of the sheild arm as well as the horses movement .............directional lines are cool and an effective means of motion and compositional tools as well. Added a little oval thing to the harness creating a little triangle thing happening with the small circle of the shield and the belt buckle. All these little things that I am mentioning are what I saw AFTER doing them. While I was doing the drawing and adding this here and that there..........this was not going through my head, it was all subcontious activity and not planned.

Just like the legs of the horse and the arch of its back leading you up to the figure from the bottom.

After getting all of this going and transfered back to the painting it looks sort of like this:

                               

and here is a side by side comparrison of the old version and the new version......both in about the same stage of progress:

                         

At the writing of this, the painting is 95% completed and bennefiting from the changes made.  I am happy.

The ability to be your own critic and look objectively at what you do is a vital asset. Be open and honest with yourself .........an AD will as will everyone else looking at it .............and realize that not everything you do is going to come out exactly as planned. What looks good in a black and white pencil doodle won't necessarily be all it was cracked up once you start to add colour.

If you have any doubts about a piece, and you have the time......set it aside for a day or two, don't look at it and when you do go back to it, the answer might just be there for you. If that doesn't happen try showing it to a friend and see what it is that they are seeing in it. Be open to advice and try not to take it personal....especially if you want to improve and grow as an artist.

SNAP-SHOT DOODLING/MEMORY GESTURES

Last night I did something I hadn't done in a long time, I did what I call SNAP-SHOT DOODLING or MEMORY GESTURES. The basic concept is to capture a pose or "gesture" while watching a movement and then draw it. So last night while I watched my favourite monster movie...THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, I picked up my sketchbook and started to doodle some of the action. I know they are rough and not a refined image, but that is what they are supposed to be. Each little doodle was a captured memory of what I had just seen on the screen. The only intent of the drawings were to capture the gesture or moment of that memory of what I had just seen.

For me, this is a good way to incorperate a movement or to capture an action. No, they are not exact replicas of what just occured on the screen, but a flash picture of it. Once it is seen then draw it and try to capture the action of the pose.

I not only do this while watching the t.v./ movies, but when I go to some of our childrens sporting events as well. This is even better than doing it to the television........you cannot rewind a live action, so you must get that mental snap-shot and get it down right quickly to preserve the moment.

When I was in school we used to go to the zoo to draw the animals, and this is most likely where this concept originated for me. At that time zoos were mainly cages and the animals sort of just sat there bored and didn't move much, but nowadays with the advent of the eco-envirement zoo...........might be fun to do again if you get to see the animals at all you will get a good primer of animal movement.

Looks like we will be making a trip to the zoo at somepoint, and the sketches will be coming out. One example I have of this sort of thing is from earlier this summer when I did the llama doodles.

MAHAR SACRIFICE

 Ok, well its been awhile since I had spoken about this project............so long in fact that I had almost forgotten I had planned to do it. The project was my AT THE EARTH'S CORE portfolio, and yes it still is in the works. I had had a few things come up that I had to put aside the personal projects for, but now I am winding down on those and getting back to the CORE  of things, and wanted to show a CORE sample to let anyone who might have been interested in this that I have gotten back to work on it.

I know that originally this project was intended to be in ink, well that sort of changed last night when I sat down in the living room and started to draw..............this came out, and I LIKED it. So while sitting there watching Jules Vernes the Mysterious Island and hanging out with my family I decided that the pencil 'folio would be just as cool as doing an ink and so............the AT THE EARTH'S CORE portfolio will still consist of 6 black and white images and one colour, but the B&W stuff will now be pencil.

continuing with the Dental work

Just a little update on the progress of the most recent comission. The original pencil for this can be seen here . I have been having a blast with this one and will honestly be sad to see it go, but am glad to know it will have a good home when it is finished.

a Dino doodle

This little guy was done  while I sat at my table at Rush Fest, and is a one sharpener. Once I had set up and was waiting for folks to come by, I pulled out the ol' 11 X 14 pad of paper and it only had one sheet left in it so I figured I 'd better make the most of it, so this is what came out.

He's only $45.00.

RUSH FEST 2009

Well it is that time of year again, and I will be down at the 201 Building this Saturday, September the 26th for this years Rush Fest. We had a great time last year and thanks to all those who came by and said hey and participated in the event. I know that it will be even bigger and better this year, and can't wait to see every one who comes by.

This year we are doing something a little different with what works I'll be showing, we will be displaying some of the CHILDHOOD MEMORIES watercolours and have some prints available for purchase. Along with the "MEMORIES" series we have decided to include some of my HALLOWEEN images as well, these will include 2 of the Headless Horseman paintings as well as some of my pencils.

These are the prints that will be available that day*, and will be $20 each:

A)   TUBIN' **     ( this image hangs in the Rush County Library in the Children's Book Section )

B)   DROW  VS. FLAYER

C)   BUBBLE CONTEST

D)   HEADLESS III

E)   ICEWORM

F)   EMPEROR WORM

G)  THAK ATTAK

H)   TAR SWANG

* prints are available year round, just contact me at anytime and I will get them to you

** Five dollars from each sale of this print will go to the Rush County Library.

Hope everyone who can make will come out, and if you can't send someone down who can.

Thanks for stopping by.

Tracy

WIP'ed out...........St G. and the Dragon parody completed

Just finished as we speak. ....now  on to the next one.....which is a painting my dentists kids as barbarian/pirates in the mode of my Childhood Memories Series.

A LITTLE DENTAL WORK

As I am  finishing up one commssion, I am in the process of starting another as well. Here is a preview of the latest painting I will be doing, it is also the first of its kind..............one of my CHILDHOOD MEMORIES series images, but done in oils, all the others are in watercolour and a sepia toned ink.

KEEPING IT IN MIND.........

I posted this image over on my Facebook page, but as I did it, it made me stop and think a bit about the image, how it came to be, AND the fact that this is a memory picture.

I was driving home one day when I passed this old guy on a scooter and the image stuck in my head, his positioning, the body posture clothing, and so on. The cigars in his pocket, the beer in the milk crate on the back all of this came into mind when I sat down to do this drawing this morning ( 9-5-2009 ).

There is something to be learned here...................drawing from memory. Pulling things from your head and lifes experience is a valuable thing. We cannot always find an exact reference photo of something, cannot always take the photo ourselves, and on occaision we have to make stuff up, and having a visual memory of things is a valuable asset.

Next time your sitting around wondering what you should draw or looking for something to do............think about it and then draw something you remember. See what comes out.

A BIT OF WORK IN PRGRESS......

Just for fun I thought I would post a little bit of progressions on a piece I am working for a private commission, the shots take you fromthe intial rough, to a more "completed" rough to an in progress shot of the painting.

The concept was to do a painting based on St. George and the Dragon and use a portrait of a real person as St. George with a few symbolic things thrown in to personalize the image and

The sketch above is the original doodle based on the concept given to me by the clent, very rough indeed......

....here we have a tighter sketch with a few minor changes to the design ...............

..........and here is a small taste of how the image is coming along. The face s blacked out just because of the most remote possibility of the St. George individual some how finding this blog and seeing his portrait in the painting...............would not be cool since this is a surprise gift for them.

If I can ever remember to take the time to take the photos, I will eventually show my whole process on a painting from beginning to end.

FOOTLOOSE the musical

Rush County Players Presents: FOOTLOOSE tonight and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. at Rushville Consolidated High School's Laughlin Center for Performing Arts. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for studetns K-12.

I have only seen parts of this one in rehearsal stages, but what I have seen tells me this is going to be a GOOD one. So, if you are in town or near the town or passing through the town or Rushville this weekend................go see the show!!

The logo is one of my little inks as well.................

THE BELL RINGERS DANCE

This started out as a doodle, and then became a rough for a painting I still intend to do, but in the process somewhere along the way I felt like doing it in pencil as well. Althought the painting will be similar............it will be done slightly different and more like the original doodle. Once the painting is done I will post the doodle as well.

14 X 17 on Bristol

$120.00

Drow VS Mindflayer

Done for the Art Order cover challenge.

14 X 18 oils on Tracy-nite, if you are interested in purchasing this image please feel free to contact me. Would love to see it get a nice home.

R.I.P Ellie Frazetta

25 years ago I was a young college student who was slightly bored, and sort of depressed with certain situations, so on a whim I called information and got a phone number. After dialing I got to speak with Ellie Frazetta, of course I asked for Frank but that didn't happen. It was much to my fortune tho, that I did speak with her. It changed some of my views and kept me persuing my dream of drawing and painting.

In speaking with her I felt connected and over the past 25 years I have called and spoken with her, been to the museum, even got to meet Frank a couple of times and spend some time in his studio with him. As much of a thrill as the experiences with Frank were, I think the quiet times that I did get to spend talking with Ellie are my favourite memories.

I remember one trip to the musuem where while my wife Dana wandered about looking at the paintings, I sat on the patio overlooking the lake with Ellie just talking, we covered a lot of topics in that conversation, love, life, happiness, even talked a bit of art and Frank, but just sat a talked like 2 friends. Now I cannot claim that she and I were friends, since we had only met a few times, breifly spoken on the phone on occaision quite infrequently, but that is what it felt like to me, and that is what I will always remember and cherrish about the memories of a dream come true, the unexpected connection I felt with her the first time I spoke with her as a young kid from Georgia who made a phone call hoping to speak with his idol, and got something more. Meeting Frank was a dream come true, feeling close and sharing personal and intimate moments of conversation with Ellie was beyond a dream come true.

All our thoughts and prayers are with the Frazettas at this time of sorrow and loss. I know where I will meet her again and look forward to the day that I do. God bless you Ellie and see you again.

Tracy

Thunderfoot Part II

Ok, just for fun here are some of the thoughts I went thru in creating the Thunderfoot dragon.


The first sketch is the basic idea and position I had for the image, a note to myself on his feet to help add to the concept. As I was sketching and coming up with all of this, I was making some mental notes as well, those didn't make it to the sketchbook, but were used in the image none the less.

After the initial concept, I continued to dwell on the subject and honestly to some degree obsessed over it, making notes and refining sketches and the concept..........

At one point I took the time to work out the bone structure for his wing and shoulder mechanics...........I am actually still playing with this structure, just because I am not satisfied with the anatomy and I feel I can do better..........

.....the image as I posted it .....................

...............and the whole thing put together with text and completed.

Thunderfoot

A little dragon piece I was working on for a contest over on ArtOrder. I'll post more about it coming soon, or you can go over there to Jons site and read about the contest for yourself now if you would like. I will be posting some of the skeletal structure doodles and stuff I played with while I was coming up with this little fella.

Llama Fashions

This past weekend I got to spend time with my brother and his family as my niece Caroline, participated in a 4H competition involving Llamas. It was a blast!!, and gave me the opportunity to view and sketch an animal that I never would have considered drawing.

The Llama is a camelid.....which is to say a member of the camel family, which includes camels (no brainer there), alpacas, and dromedaries. The llama is the South American version of the camel as it were. They were used as pack animals by the Incas, you can click on the link and read more about them if you want to.

The Llamas all had fabulous cuts or coiffures as a fashion statement as well as a way to dispence heat. These cuts also made for more fun in drawing since I could come up with my own names for the cuts and differentiate the animals by other means than just colour.

MAN OR BEAST

An illustration based on Mary Shelley's Frankenstien. This is the first of more to follow. I hope you enjoy this image and are like me looking forwards to the next one. Thanks for stopping by and if you are interested in purchasing this drawing please contact me for information on it. This is 14 X 17 pencil on bristol.

All the best to ya'll Tracy

Tracy@tflynnartgallery.com

BOREDOM

Just a qucik thought on one of the best things about being an artist.

I often hear the words " I'm bored", "there's nothing to do", and many similar phrases, and I say to myself...."how can you be bored" but then again I realize not everyone draws or sketches to pass time away as I do.

The images posted here are from two of my little Moleskin Notebooks, the 2 in back are from a 5 X 81/4, for those days when size isn't an issue, and the one in front is my pocket pal a 31/2 X 51/2 for ease of carry and concealment.

I always have something on me or near me to draw with, so for the most part am never bored. It is really an amazing thing the gift of drawing, you will always have something to do. I personally feel that everyone HAS the ability to draw, what comes out might not be a DaVinci or a masterpiece, but it is something that has its own merrits no matter the ability level. I think the thing that keeps others from doing it as a way of passing time is the want to. I always want to draw.....especially during those times when I shouldn't or seemingly have nothing to do. It relaxes me and I enjoy it.

In a world where most people need the aid of electricity to make them happy or keep them from being bored, I feel most grateful to have the ability and the desire to draw or sketch. To make use of my time enjoying the simple things like drawing a lamp post while waiting on a train, drawing the scene of my car window and reflection of the mirror, or trying to capture my daughters face as she competes in a speach meet, and yes making up a frog prince just for the fun of it ( and for her).

So maybe next time you are feeling a little bored or seem to have nothing to do, find some paper and a pencil and sit down and doodle. It doesn't take much, is quite easy and passes the time. Just do it and see what happens.

KULL

KULL
THE ORIGINAL MAN FROM ATLANTIS

Ok....so in the post GOING WITH THE FLOW I said it was going to be sepia toned.......I didn't like it so I went with the black ink, which is sort of following the post of going with the flow.

TRADITIONAL TECHNOLOGY

Although I am a traditional artist, i.e. I do not work digitally, I do at times use the technology available to me to make my life easier and to achieve my goals at times. In saying , here is an example of what I mean.

The images you see in this post are scans of the actual size of a piece I started the other day, and was not happy with the face I had draw. So instead of reworking it a bunch of times on the actual image and ruining the surface of the paper, I scanned the head in actual size. Then I just made a couple of sheets with the multiple head "blanks" on it so that I can work it out that way thus preserving the original piece.

A little extra work, but if you think about the time doing this verses the time of re-drawing a whole image.......well worth the effort.

One other thing done in this is after scanning the image, I flipped it around so that it is a mirror image to the original, that way when I go to transfer the image via tracing paper, all I have to do is go over the lines twice instead of 3 times.

GOING WITH THE FLOW

After waking this morning and as I was enjoying my morning pot of coffee, I sat down at the drawing table and got out a sheet of parchment paper, as I was wanting to do an ink on parchment......actually a sepia toned ink.... just for something different and just the fact that I hadn't done one in long time.

The image on the above is the rough I did for this idea, and yes it is indeed rough. I actually drew it out on a scrap of bristol I keep on the table to wipe excess ink on when I am inking a piece.

After getting the concept down, I pulled out the parchment and as that it is a touchy surface, I got out my old friend the tracing paper and started to roughly sketch out the the piece. Now the more I drew, the more fun I had and the more I enjoyed the process, and ended up with something not quite a rough outline for the inking and something not quite a finished piece either. Yet as I was enjoying this freedom of just drawing and seeing what was coming out, I just sort of went with the flow of the day and the piece.

Now after about an hour or so I have a really nice "rough" and if I wanted a finished piece, but I think this is as far as I want to go on this one for now. I do still have intentions of doing that ink with this, but as I have a more detailed rough now, I will hopefully have an even better ink.

The face and right hand are a bit awkward, but I will be addressing that in the final image.

The ability to recognize when a piece is taking on something more than you intended is a good thing to have......like knowing what to leave in or take out, as well as when to stop. The time to be able to go with the flow is a wonderful thing and getting the chance to go with one is a good thing. In this one I reached a stopping point and said ok.

Will I take this farther, yes, but not on the tracing paper. I will post the ink when it is done, but for now........I am just going with the flow.

Tarzan, The Phantom, Devil and the Griff

Just a recently finished commission. This was a fun piece to do, I loved the concept of having the Phatom and Tarzan meeting a dinosaur, and having just rececently finished re-reading Tarzan the Terrible, putting the Griff ( a Tricerotops like dino ) in the piece seemed natural. It also combined 2 of my favourite elements to draw........Tarzan and Dinosaur(s), so it was a plus.

THE MERRITS OF THE MUCH MISSALIGNED TRACING PAPER

The other day in conversation, the topic of tracing and tracing paper came up with the phrase, " well at least your a real artist and don't trace stuff, you can draw ". I really found this kind of funny since I use tracing paper ALOT in my works, I like the term "Layout Paper" but it is all the same to me.

Yes,I do draw out all my own stuff, but tracing paper is a vital tool in the artists tool box, and does tend to get a bad rap. As most of us already know there is no one right way to do anything, and as time goes on.....there will be even more right ways. There are some artists who use a projector to transfer their drawing onto their painting surfaces, some whom I have heard will take their image, scan it enlarge it, print it and the paint right over the scanned image...........all cool to do, it is their image and their works. I myself will take my drawings scan them, enlarge or reduce them to the size needed for the space I'm working in. No one way is right and the fact that they were traced, or scanned or whatever does not change the fact that the image was originally drawn by the artist using it, and as I have grown as both artist and person, I find myself using more and more "aides" to create my works. Some of it is convenience, others practicality, time constraints and even just plain lazy.

Just a few of the ways that I use it :

A.....to work out or fix a part of an image so that the erasing doesn't ruin the original paper or whatever I am working on.

B.....these are images straight out of my sketchbook that I liked so much that is didn't really see any point in "re-drawing " them and loosing what it was that I liked about the image. Each of these two examples were actually taken and then scanned into my computer, and enlarged to fit onto the board they were going to be transfered to.

C....these two images were drawn directly onto the tracing paper while sitting on the board they were intended for so I could get the sizes right for the painting.

So just because you see tracing paper laying about somewhere, don't automatically assume that it is being used to copy something that shouldn't be, and don't get all high and mighty about not using it either. The stuff is good, practical, and a lot cheaper than having to start over if you ruin the surface of the original paper.

OPEN TO CHANGE PT II

After writing all that about being Open to Change, and saying I had come up with the image....well when I sat down this morning to work on the drawing, I realized that the sketch wouldn't work, so I drew this out and am sure it is the final position for the piece. Using this figure will also add another element of depth to the composition as well so, there you.......be open to the changes that present themselves.

OPENESS TO CHANGE

O.K., I know this is going to sound pretty simple and very basic, but being able to go with the flow or OPEN TO CHANGE is in my humble opinion a key to being a good artist/illustrator. It also sort of helps in your day to day life as well.

Getting stuck on a certain position for a figure or what not in your layout can hinder you or set you back on whatever it is your working on.

Changes can even happen at the last minute by the client, the AD or whomever maybe involved with the piece. The change may come just because of something like it just isn't working, or "I don't like it". Which is exactly what has happened to me on an ink I am currently working on. After doing 2 pages of roughs working on a position for one particular figure in this piece, I just was not satisfied with the action, position, and all that, so I just sort of put it up for the night and was going to come back to it in the morning.

As can be seen in the two pages of doodles, there were variations on the theme. So, even as I am fleshing out the idea, I am playing with the concept of maybe this will work better.

Well the morning came, and I pulled out the ol' sketching stuff.........not hard to do since it is everywhere .......and said to myself, "what if I did this?". Well I did it, and sure enough it is the right one.

Being open to the change as well as being able to recognize it and accept it are keys to getting the work done and having a good piece. So be open minded in what you do.

Simple to say, but sometimes not all that easy or simple to do. Very basic, but without the basics where would we be?

ITS ALL IN THE BAG

A little more on the subject of the Setch-A-holic.


I am a card carrying confirmed sketch-a-holic, and am proud to say incurable. It is something that I cannot stop doing. If I don't have a pen or pencil with me, I am honestly composing and sketching images in my head.....these are just harder to keep track of and catalog as I get older, when I was younger they were easier to recall and put down, now I have some masterpieces that only I have seen and you will just have to believe me on that account.
When we go places there are certain things that have to go with me. Right now I have what I think is the ultimate in sketch equipment, it is a canvasmessanger bag , and is just chock full of pockets pouches and compartments for all the things needed to keep the compulsion to sketch and draw fed.

I do know and realize that I have said in a previous post "you really don't need a lot to do this with if you really want to." All of this stuff is not really a necessity, but it does make things easier for me if no one else, and may God bless my wife Dana for putting up with it and me. I will draw on anything, and have.........borrowed pens and stuff from people to get it done.

A) the aforementioned Creativo Messenger Bag

B) Tracy-nite panels for sketching out paintings........8 X 10 and 9 X 12

C) Moleskin Notebook

D) coloured pencils

E) a little watercolour set...this one is a cheapo Prang thing, nothing fancy just gets the colours down

F) a little metal clip to hold paper down if it is a windy day

G) Strathmore Bristol pads....8 X 10, 11X 14, and 14X 17......you just never know

H) an aluminum ruler........it was longer but a hacksaw solved the problem of not fitting into the pocket chosen for it

I) a smaller Moleskin Notebook....pocket sized, more later on that one, but I have been there before in another post

J) loose leaf paper

K) sketchbook

......there is also a refillable brush pen on one of the pads that I just forgot to give a letter.

Here is a look at some of the pockets..........I mainly keep 2B's and HB's with me. The HB's are good for sharp lines and give you some good darks, and the 2's are good for softer things.........but you all know that.

This bag stays with me 90% of the time and I will not go anywhere without it. It will travel with me even if it never comes out of the car. I sort of have other things that come with me in those situations that call for me to be more discreet or just won't allow the bag to come with me. For thosetimes I have my commando supplies.........

......THE COMMANDO KIT..............

Yes that blue thing is a travel toothbrush holder, the pencils, eraser and sharpener fit perfectly into the thing. I would almost swear that it was intended for the use of holding sketching stuff and that the whole toothbrush thing was an after thought.

The Moleskin Notebook is 3 X 5 and fits into most any pocket, the pencils are usually the same, one HB, and one 2B, the red pen looking thing is an eraser, and a bullet pencil sharpener...........those things are the best.

If anyone out there has any suggestions or just wants to share what they use or carry, let us know, we all might learn a new trick to the trade.

Thanks