Darren Hester's Uploads

Watercolor sketch of fish I did last year.

Scanned from one of last years sketchbooks. Micron pens for basic sketch, added shadows with Koi watercolor pen, and used acrylic paint for the green background.

Ink and watercolor sketch of a scruffy cat.

Ink and Watercolor sketch of octopus. Normally I start with a pencil outline, then go over it with micron pens. But I'm learning to skip the pencil step and just sketch with ink. I helps you not to overthink things. Once you lay the ink line down on the paper it's there to stay. You can't erase and there isn't an undo like you have when working digitally. You just have to work around any "mistakes" you make. I'm also working on sketching faster because I just don't have that much free time these days. Trying to produce a new sketch every day is a real challenge.

Colorful Goldfish - Another watercolor sketch from my newest sketchbook. I'm using Strathmore Mixed Media 300 Series (5.5 in x 8.5 in). It has 40 sheets of 90 lb. vellum surface paper. They cost under $10 and can be used for most anything including wet media (light washes) without the paper falling apart or warping badly. One of the best all purpose sketchbooks I've found and the size makes it easy to toss in a backpack and carry daily. Anyway, just wanted to share my good experience with the group. What's your favorite sketchbook brand/format?

Cowboy portrait from one of my old sketchbooks. I did more pencil sketching in the past, but eventually moved into ink and watercolor. I like to experiment with different styles and mediums.

Ink drawing of swirls around coffee cup. Based on this artwork: https://goo.gl/images/xhd87c

A quick sketch of a man holding a cup of coffee. This was drawn from a reference photo. Lately I've been practicing portraits. Trying to limit myself to 20 mins or so and just draw the basic form as best I can. Otherwise I'll fiddle with the details and spend hours trying to adjust things. Sketching in ink helps also since I can't erase. Need to get more comfortable sketching faster, but I like the way this turned out.

This is from one of my older sketchbooks. I used salt on the red watercolor paint while it was still wet to get the textured background effect.

Portrait of an old fisherman sketched with ink and coffee wash. Trying to experiment with some different styles and techniques.

Watercolor and ink sketch of Batman in storm.

Watercolor sketch of Samurai Jack.

Ink and watercolor sketch of pirate.

Watercolor sketch of coffee and donut on blue plate.

Sketch of a green tree frog I did last summer while on vacation.

Seahorse sketch done with ink and watercolor.