As you may know, I’ve been trying to concentrate on my pin up art, but my drawings have been a bit – well, crappy…

So, I thought I’d try a few things out.  Firstly, I changed my pencils from my trusty Berol Verithin (sky blue) to Col-Erase blue (which I really like, because they hold a point for longer).  The results were… inconclusive.  I struggled to get the small detail I wanted (a problem which I thought switching to the Col-Erase mgiht solve) but then I looked at the sketchbook I’m using.  It’s a cheap L&N sketchbook that I bought for caricature work, and it’s got a LOT of tooth, so I thought to my self “Is it the paper?”

To cut a long story short, I changed the paper to standard copy paper, and the Col-Erase simply flies across – much better!  I then looked at my style…

I’ve always had a problem with detail – I concentrate too much on it, to the point where it takes over the whole drawing.  I’ve tried writing this mantra on top of each sheet…

C-KISS = Cartoon – Keep It Simple Stupid!

That, and referring to a copy of Christopher Harts “Drawing The New Adventure Cartoons” whilst I’m drawing has helped a lot.