Weekly Drawing: Commonplace 1

To keep the blog fresh and active I'll be uploading a new illustration per week. As of late I've been shifting my focus from natural forms onto man-made objects. I'm calling this series Commonplace, made up of everyday landmarks I photograph on the street.  Here is the first of (hopefully) many to be coming at a (hopefully) weekly rate.

I used sumi ink and chalk pencil on textured brown paper. Its a new technique for me, combining two methods I've used before, ink and chiaroscuro. I used to do drawings like this with charcoal, a much messier, crude medium. With the ink I can achieve charcoals mid-tones and sharp black lines.To get these gradients with ink I let it dry out enough to thicken, barely load the bristles and lightly brush across the high points of the paper's texture.

I really like the look of this, so perhaps after some more practice, I'll try inking a whole comic this way. No promises...