The Rough Sketches...

As part of the launch of my new book, I thought I'd run some of the sketch videos I made up way back when I was first starting the sketches.

This collection of very rough sketches is a collection of scraps of drawings that give an idea of how I assemble the sources to arrive at the final sketch.

I never just sit down and begin a drawing from start to finish like the French painter Ingres used to do! I once saw a painting by Ingres in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, where he showed his technique of going directly from the pencil sketch to the finish painting all in one piece! But I digress...

In my case it was interesting to try to find the right 'voice' for the drawings for this book. Being a non-fiction book, I still wanted it to retain as much personality as I could. But trying to match the period genre of illustration styles was the challenge.

The movie was done with my digital camera... all in one take. I just turned up the loudspeaker in my studio to record the soundtrack. All very high tech! The music is vintage jazz from the 1920's... one of my favorite kinds of music. It's full of charm and style.

I'll be the guest blogger on the Putnam's web site in a few days... so that ought to make for a bit of virtual excitement.

My new book's web site is here: Cromwell Dixon's Sky-Cycle in case anyone is looking for it...