- What's next?

Well, we're getting down to the last segment of the series.

So the next is gonna be a tad retro.

We're going back.

You don't need all the stuff that you could carry along, you only need your Pocket Sketching gear.

And we're gonna go back and do a monochrome, where we don't even use color.

But we're gonna do it from a color photograph.

Or you could do it from color outdoors.

Can't wait to have you come along.

(soft music) We've been a lot of places, sort of like Johnny Cash.

I've been everywhere man.

We've done discipline, we've done contrast, we've done focal point, scraping, wax, we've done a lot.

And we're coming now to the end.

So let's go back to the very beginning, it's kind of a fun thing to do.

You don't need much stuff, you don't need expensive stuff.

You don't need high quality stuff.

You simply need miles on the brush.

If you buy stuff that's too expensive you won't use it.

If you have stuff that's too big, you won't use it.

The more portable you are the more you can take everything with you.

And do it easily and quickly and put it away and not clean up, the more likely you are to use it.

So today, we're gonna go backwards a tad.

We're gonna go back to the monotone.

It's really fun.

So just to get the things out, there just isn't much here.

And the process of getting things out it sort of slows you down.

(film canister popping) I don't think I mentioned that before.

To open, if you're using a film canister, you squeeze it, you can open it with your teeth easily.

And I usually put the lid right there so that I don't lose it, don't put it down.

Get the pad of paper out.

All of this is sort of settling in, settling in to get going.

Because the monotone is really getting back to the very basics, water soluble pen.

I'll just show you a couple real fast.

There's not much to it.

Just not much to it, really.

But are they ever fun?

So just calm down, come along.

But I don't even need this pad, can put that down.

And this is what I'm gonna be working from this time, full color.

And you could be doing this outdoors.

But I know a lot of us are using photographs.

So why not?

Take a look at it, figure it out.

I'm gonna find my focal point and it's gonna be probably the base of the tree.

Probably.

Not quite sure, not quite sure.

And then I'm gonna go for the lightest light, it's right there.

More, if I narrow it, it's gonna go off the paper.

So why not?

And I love why not.

Why not?

Getting the shape.

A little bit more here.

Why is it gonna show?

If this is light, it won't show against light.

Notice in the photograph, it doesn't show, doesn't show against the light.

So now put a dark in next to that.

Where are the darks?

Where the darks?

How dark are the darks?

Fill a little bit more there.

(laughs) Fortunately, thanks to having ADHD I talk to myself.

It's rather interesting.

Little side note, I became aware of that and in a grocery store I'd see people talking to themselves.

So I go up to them and say do you happen to have ADD or ADHD?

You know what, everyone of them said yes.

We're the guys that talk to ourselves so we can remember what we're doing and so we don't get scattered.

And it's sort of, I'm looking for the darks.

I'm not just totally forgetting where I am.

I'm looking for the darks.

Scribble, your pen's your greatest dark.

(pen scathing paper) In brittle monochrome I do not have the advantage of color.

Coming up here, how do I make sure that that area is a little darker than another area?

There you go, in here.

A little darker than another area.

Are there branches that show up in here?

Are their branches?

In a minute I'll be adding water.

So anything I put in here is gonna run it's shadow, shadow comes down.

It's so basic.

Shadow comes across.

What about the reflection?

Is it in it?

Do I want it?

I can cut anything out of this.

It's my picture.

I love to say it's like playing poker and you are, you're the dealer.

You take anything out you don't wanna deal with.

Hey, are there rocks down here?

In the photo there are but will they distract?

It's really all about the tree.

It's really all about the base of the tree.

Water soluble pens don't come back in and work on a wet surface, they only work on a dry surface.

Do I have enough?

Is there enough dark to see the top of the tree?

I'm working out my lights and darks.

You do this, and you're pretty well gonna have it set up.

(pen scathing paper) That's dark.

Does it need to go darker?

And you just you just ask yourself these questions as you go.

And relax.

Oh, and if it doesn't work it doesn't matter.

You're doing this for pleasure.

I'm not doing this to get one to put on the wall.

If I get one that goes on the wall, I am so lucky.

Oh, and most of my time, this is sort of a review for you.

Most of my time is spent on the sketch.

Very little is spent on the end, in this case I'm not gonna color.

So more time for the sketch.

This part's dark.

Parallel lines will attract your attention.

Make sure they're not quite parallel.

A little bit of design that goes in.

A little bit of thought, actually quite a bit of thought.

How am I doing?

Can I get a real dark out of this?

Can I get a real dark where I want the real dark?

It's gonna be right by the real light.

Does this background have any shape to it?

Could.

That little line that goes up, that's a mistake.

Remember, we hide mistakes.

We distract from mistakes.

We do not get bothered by mistakes.

Mistakes are just there.

Okay, far side of this is a little bit darker.

It's a really good dark.

Okay, and I will put this in.

So figure out the way the water flows.

Get it in a little bit.

That's probably about right.

And some rocks.

I like this 'cause this is design that leads.

It's leading into here.

That's design, that's in the clouds.

And oh, and I'm gonna put a borrow pit on this one.

You may or may not remember the borrow pit but it's over here on the margin source of ink.

For when I don't want sharp lines as in the sky.

Put the pen away and just relax as you start to get it.

Get some real darks in this.

I wanna preserve the real lights, some real darks.

I'm gonna start with, you start you want.

It's yours.

You want those lights to go into solution.

This is pretty much your review by the way.

You want the lines to go into solution.

So when you touch them wiggle the brush on them.

I want it to be dark enough up here that I'm going to see the tree.

Okay, which is darker?

You may have to squint.

This is still dry, I can play with it.

It's gonna be darker than the sky behind it on this side.

So I'm gonna put a little more ink in here right now.

It's dry.

I can do this.

Can't do it when it's wet.

Okay.

Come out here and you got the sky.

Okay, let this go.

Then in here, a little bit darker.

I want it... Yep, that's darker.

Lighter, darker.

This is just playing one against the other.

You can do anything Ansel Adams did with a brush.

A little bit more water.

I bet this is gonna be kinda wet I betcha.

Ah, I want it to be darker.

Bring this up right up to the sky.

And now, this is something we played with before.

Wait a few minutes before finishing this edge so that I get it to hold.

Coming in here now.

That's lighter at the top, darker in here.

Darker in there.

Really dark over on this part of the sky.

What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna strengthen this line to use it for a source of dark.

We've done this before but we're doing it again.

I wanna get that super, super dark up there.

Pulling away.

That's my source.

That's my bottle of ink right there.

And it's the sky.

So it's gonna have to be smooth after it leaves the tree.

Come in, play with the edge.

It's funny when you're doing this on your own, you don't have to think that it's gotta be done because you can always do another one.

But in this case, it's gonna have to be finished.

Okay, if it's this dark that's gonna give me a problem.

I'm gonna have to have more ink to make that fit.

Oh, well.

Just sort of think about it as you go.

Once the water soluble pen is dried, it's not going anywhere.

See that?

Hardly moved.

So you gotta do it when you have a chance.

One of my instructors used to say, "Strike while the iron is hot.

Do not wait.

Do not wait."

Then I want some dark.

Okay, borrow pit.

One little dark right in here.

That might have gone too fast, slow down.

Pick up some ink.

Move it here.

Put it in.

Now I want a little thin line in here.

There's a little thin line.

Sky in here is pretty light.

That's sky is quite light coming out here.

I'm gonna do that dark part later.

Coming in, okay.

The trunk, trunks.

This one's got lots.

Really dark.

Very important, dark.

And you know, every time you do this every time you do it you're gonna do it differently.

Not gonna keep doing it the same.

And every time you sketch, you've brought us sort of new you and you're gonna get different results.

Sometimes you're gonna be horrible.

Sometimes you're gonna go outside, and you're gonna get really dreadful stuff.

That day, do it anyway.

You won't like it.

Do it anyway, because the next day is likely to be terrific.

So go ahead and sketch on a bad day.

Don't beat yourself up, not too much.

But do something because the next day is likely to be good.

Now I want this ink before it's dried to make the shadow.

Bring it down.

Make that shadow.

That's part of it.

Look at that go to that shadow.

That's lovely.

Okay, now what about down in here?

This shore, I'm pulling that same ink.

Pull that same ink over here.

Look at it build.

Come over in here.

There's the shadow.

Incidentally, you never quite know what you're gonna get.

But it doesn't matter.

It's actually the getting the counts.

It's doing it.

Does it bring you pleasure?

Was it fun?

Is there a reason why you'd ever come out and do it again?

Now, how am I gonna get that tree?

We got grass in here.

We got grass.

Can I pull it out of here?

Can this, can it pull that grass out of here?

Yeah, I'm using the point of the brush.

And I'm using the borrow pit.

That was my source.

Then this is dark.

This is relative dark.

See, it's building.

I'm gonna go after the real darks.

That's all very wet up there still.

Because I want some of this ink to play with the background, an edge that's important.

(chuckles) I just remembered something.

The next time I'll do it differently.

This was going to be that part of that foliage.

So I've changed the design a tad.

Oh, well.

I remember it had mistake over there.

Not anymore, it's gone.

Gets real dark.

And I'm gonna want some of that real dark motors, just picked it up from there, brought it down here.

And there's something that's happening here that's really cool.

Don't often do this, but I carry two brushes.

And this is just sort of a little stubby brush.

I'm gonna put a drop of water right here on purpose.

Because I can see a bloom starting to happen.

And I wanna catch it.

So many things that you've learned during all of this.

Pocket sketching is such a, it's a feast.

Okay, this plant, that side of it gotta be coming in now and making the whole thing work.

Get it pretty soon, it's a little bit more shadow out there.

Do I want that as light as the lightest parts of the tree?

No.

Not as light as the lightest parts of the tree.

Lightest parts of the tree are special.

Now, how am I gonna get some of the foliage in the tree?

Come around under here.

This is fairly dark in here, fairly dark.

Bottom of the tree.

So that it would make that darker up there.

That's beginning to form a bloom.

These happened very, very slowly.

So you see that edge, what it does is the water expands out.

And then as it dries, it dumps the ink 'cause the ink is heavier.

Don't want this bright light back there.

Get rid of that.

Don't want that as light.

Get rid of that as far away.

I want you to see the tree.

Bring this in a little darker here.

(pen scathing paper) Beginning to get, don't want this to be getting your attention.

See if I can pick up a little ink up there.

(chuckles) This is gonna make some more texture.

Now, if I want a little bit more ink, wanna I get a feeling of the branch.

When it's dry, I can put lines on if I want to.

When it's dry.

Do we have it?

Now, one of the things that's kind of fun.

Okay, remember I was gonna make the sky darker up there?

I'm feeling it.

It's dry.

I can put more ink up in here, which I'm gonna do right now.

Getting down to where I have to finish.

So don't wanna spend too much time on this.

There's your dark sky.

(murmurs) a little more ink.

Than this side, make that sky... No, the trees darker.

Make the tree darker.

Need a little more ink?

Is it dry?

If it's dry, I can put some ink on it.

And you wanna know if you're done.

When are you finished?

By the way, if this is dry, few branches, not much.

Just a few.

Just a few come in here.

These, these are dark.

And the rock, give it a rock type edge.

Put in another one.

I'm just just solidifying a few things.

And it's kind of interesting, really.

Now, I wanna know whether it's done.

By the way that was clean up.

You've seen that before.

Something that a lot of people take with them in the field is a mirror.

And I want to know if this is finished.

So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna hold it up to a mirror like I do.

And what you do is you get the image backwards.

When the image is backwards, your brain can't handle it.

And you see it as if somebody else had done it.

This is really cool way to check.

So you look at the image backwards in a mirror.

And then you can say is it finished?

Is it not finished?

How about the design, does the design Work?

Did I do what I wanted to do with it?

It's a real cool thing to bring, bring a small mirror.

I brought this for demonstration.

But bring a small mirror along.

You know, with Pocket Sketching and I bring a small mirror, it has to fit in my bag.

But if doesn't fit in the bag I don't want it.

If it's too big.

Now, how am I gonna make this work just a little bit better.

Those extra lines, wet them.

If you don't want them they're gonna look out of place.

What else is gonna...

I'm going to want a little bit of, woo, I've got some ink in the brush from there.

I want a little bit of the features that are in this part of the tree just a bit.

I like the dark sky up there.

I really like that dark sky.

So if your really like the dark sky, get more of it.

Just put some more ink on.

Get a little bit more.

I like that effect.

That's bringing out that side of the tree.

Then this side was supposed to be darker than the sky that's behind it.

It's all a push-pull.

I just wet that.

And I don't wanna get it as abrupt as the pen would make it.

So a bit...

Remember, this is gonna be out of the framed area.

So if it's out of the framed area, it doesn't matter.

There you go, darker than the sky behind it.

It's all push-pull.

Push-pull light.

Is it lighter than, is it darker than?

Does it work?

What about in here?

Should that be darker?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, maybe I'm about done.

Maybe this is about all I can get out of this one.

If you keep going, what you're gonna do?

You're gonna wreck it.

So if you keep going you're gonna wreck it, something I haven't done.

Now, I'm okay with this.

I'm totally okay with this.

But what would happen if it had a touch of color?

What happened if?

What would happen?

Not a whole lot, a touch.

A touch of color in a monochrome.

Why not?

It's mine.

Dealer's choice, it's mine.

What would happen if, a touch becomes a lot by the way.

If it's too much if it's too much lifted back off.

It's yours.

You can do whatever you want to it.

A little bit in here.

And then leave it.

Was there a little bit over here?

And then leave it.

Leave the (indistinct).

Remember those rocks?

That's changed it a touch.

Now, what if that weren't that sort of yucky yellow?

What if there's just a little bit of burnt sienna in there with it.

Gonna be better or worse?

I like that.

Now remember, you can lift it off.

Don't like it, you can change it.

And it's yours.

Nobody else.

Nobody else ever did this one.

This was water and it's reflecting.

Why wouldn't this be down there?

And then... Oh, and over there.

And maybe it's time to quit.

Pick this up, put it up there.

It's kind of an interesting change, isn't it?

It's yours.

Why wouldn't you do anything to it?

I mean, for goodness sakes.

It's yours.

Try not to overdo it.

Try to keep some whites.

Try to have a difference between light and dark.

But the whole thing is all about fun.

Pocket sketching is totally portable, totally clean, not much equipment.

You can take it anywhere.

I've done it in a bad lecture when I was bored.

I've done it in an airplane in coach it.

The whole deal is not much stuff, not much experience.

There's nothing threatening here.

It's a whale of a lot of fun.

And you can take it just any place you choose to go.

The chances of getting something fun, this was at a dog show.

I gotta show it to you 'cause it's one of my favorites.

This was done in a dog show.

I wrote down, it's a petit basset griffon vendeen.

A PBGV.

A darling, hyperactive dog.

And the pen and the brush are perfect for catching this.

And then you take it someplace more serious, total monotone.

But it only takes minutes.

You saw how fast this worked.

Another monotone, just to see how fast this works.

Another one with a little bit of color.

There's almost no limit to what you can do.

It's amazing what you can get out of this.

And I'm so glad you've come along.

It's been such fun that you've come along for Pocket Sketching.

You've seen how compact.

You simply put everything away and walk off and you don't clean up.

And there's no mess.

And there's no kitchen sink full of equipment to just haul along everywhere.

No, everything goes back in this one little bag, and you're ready to go.

And you can get on with your day and have more fun.

Happy sketching.

I've loved having you come along.

Want to learn more about the wonderful world of Pocket Sketching?

Then visit my website @pocketsketching.com.

We have so much there for you to explore including free tips and training videos, the Pocket Sketching supplies, photo galleries, and how to access additional training.

All this and more is available @pocketsketching.com: learn enough to play for a lifetime.

(upbeat music)