As you know from reading this blog I am a huge fan of Photoshop and use it for most of the projects I work on. Photoshop is the number one software program for professional artists of all kinds and is second to none. It is a big, big program with lots to offer and is a must for all serious digital artists. I’ve been using Photoshop for over ten years now and highly recommend it to anyone interested in producing top quality digital art.

For more info on this course, prerequisites or other continuing education courses please contact http://conted.waketech.edu/ Hope to see you there.

In the meantime I have listed The Bob O Show over on the Artcast Network . If you haven’t seen the show yet the first thing you’ll probably notice is that I like to have a lot of fun when I’m on air. I keep it loose and don’t worry too much about technical difficulties. I’m always happy to pause and answer technical questions… and as far as projects go each one gets the Super Official Bob Ostrom Studio stamp of approval before going on air.

Please check Twitter or on the Artcast Network for future broadcast announcements. See you on the next Bob O Show.

Classes:

• January 6th – 4-6pm For Kids ages 5-9
• February 10th - 4-6pm For Kids ages 5-9
• March 17th – 4-6pm For Kids ages 5-9
• April 14th – 4-6pm For Kids ages 5-9

For more info on the classes at Jerry’s please check out their website

Appearances: As of the moment my schedule is full. I will be adding appearances later in the year.

Videos: I am doing some more videos with the fabulous group of folks down at Burning Oak Studios this year. There are a few in production right now and we are in the process of scheduling another shoot. If you haven’t seen any of the vids yet please check them out at the Jerry’s Artarama site or you can find them on Youtube.

Ustream: For those of you who do not live in the area or would prefer to watch me on line…I’ve also added a Ustream channel. Yep, now you can watch me live on my very own Ustream channel. If you’ve ever wanted to see how a professional naps at his desk…..er works then you’re in luck…. this is the place for you.

What’s coming up: For those of you who are super-serious about learning art I’ve been working on a series of courses just for you.

Later this year I am planning to open up a subscription site with advanced classes and tutorials. These classes will not be free but they will be filled to the brim with amazing amounts of Bob Ostrom Studio artistic know how. You won’t want to miss them. I’ll have more about these at a later date.

Click image for a larger view

People often ask me about how I do my work. What supplies do I use? Do I use the computer or do I scan my art? What’s the best way to do it? How did you get this or that look? How did you get so darned handsome and how can I be more like you?

Well, those of you who listen to my podcast or have been following my tutorials already know that I do almost all of my color on the computer. It’s quick and efficient.  You can imitate almost any traditional look in about half the time and with a much truer color reproduction.

When I first started my career computers were slow, never had enough memory and were a joke when it came to any kind of finished art.  Almost every artist I knew produced their art by hand. Even as computers got better I can remember an old friend telling me, “Don’t worry Bob. They will never be able to imitate what you do on a computer”.

The computer has come a long way since then and there are fewer and fewer commercial artists who work traditionally. Sometimes I really miss the craftsmanship of those days which is why I still do all my sketching with a pencil and paper. As great as computers have become they still haven’t been able to match the feel of pencil to paper for me.

Here is a list of my favorites tools along with a few pluses and minuses.

Paper: I love Strathmore and Bienfang drawing and sketch pads. The paper has a good tooth, it’s strong and can stand up to heavy hands and a lot erasing. These two are the best of the best. When I travel I always have either a Bienfang or Strathmore sketch pad with me. When I’m at home and working in the office though, I work with regular old copy paper. It’s cheap, doesn’t cost a lot and it’s cheap. I do a TON of sketches for every project I work on. Unfortunately if I did it all on the good stuff I’d be out of business in a week. So for top quality I recommend Strathmore and or Bienfang drawing paper, for day to day… good ol copy paper works just fine.

Pencils: I prefer mechanical pencils. I have about a million of them. I’ve tried almost everyone I can get my hands on. I’m sure there a few I’ve missed but my favorites are:

.5mm Staedtler 9505. This thing is brilliant. It has a double clutch inside that allows you to use almost the entire lead with very little waste. It’s fantastic and I can’t recommend it highly enough. The only draw backs that I can think of are that I’ve only been able to find it in .5mm. If it came in .7mm or .9mm then that would make my day.

.7mm Penmate Dou Expert: I really like this pencil for one reason only… the grip. It’s the best. It never slips, even if I’m eating a stack of greasy potato chips this thing stays put and giving me the complete control I need.

2mm lead holder: I have no idea who makes this thing (see photo) although I think it might be a company called Anchor? Not sure, but I’ll update this post when I find out. I bought it quite a few years back and it’s a true favorite. Unlike other lead holders this one has a clutch that allows me to advance the lead like a mech pencil. Pretty groovy if you ask me. If you can’t find one like this Staedtler is your next best bet. Alvin also makes a pretty good 2mm lead holder.

Leads:

Pentel .5mm red Why Pentel? One reason alone, convenience. This lead is stocked in almost any store that sells mech pencils. There is nothing truly spectacular about this brand I find .5mm a little too thin, it breaks easily and it goes on pretty lightly. The main appeal for me is that I prefer to do my base sketches in red and this lead is super easy to find. I know I could find thicker leads by mail order or on line but I’m just not big on ordering this kind of stuff by delivery. Maybe someday… but not today.

Pentel .7mm B or 2B: This is what I use to do my tight sketches. Not too thick. Not too thin. Kind of hard to find though. In fact anything other then HB is pretty tough to find so if you happen to stumble on B or 2B grab as many as you can… chances are you won’t see them any place else.

Sanford 2mm Red Drawing leads: This stuff is the cat’s meow. I love it. Not that easy to find though. If you do happen to stumble accross this stuff make sure you pick yourself up a pack. It’s strong, marks well and is a joy to work with. If you don’t draw with a 2mm lead holder your missing out. The only drawback I can think of for the 2mm is the sharpeners. They can get a little messy, especially if you want to travel with them.

* Hint- It’s a good idea to empty your sharpener before you travel, then stick it in a sealed plastic sandwich bag. If you don’t you’re likely to find everything in your bag covered with graphite dust and that’s no fun.

Sanford 2mm 3B drawing lead Same as above only this is a graphite 3b pencil lead.Good stuff, get some.

If you are unfamiliar with how the numbers work here is the breakdown
Hard leads are are basically labeled with an H. The number in front indicates the hardness of the graphite. The higher the number the harder the lead. Hard leads are good for light lines but be careful too hard can dent the paper as you draw making them difficult to erase.
Medium – The middle range leads are – F, HB and H. HB is basically the same as a #2

Soft – Soft leads are marked with a B. Like the hard leads the higher the number the softer the lead. I prefer to stay in the B to 4B range. Soft leads are good for darker lines. They can be messy though as they tend to smudge. Very soft leads can also be difficult and messy to erase.

Non-photo Blue. If you choose to use non-photo blue stay away from the 2mm lead refill. The 2mm non photo blue is not a good lead for drawing. I tend to be heavy handed when I draw and the 2mm is WAY too fragile for hands like mine. It marks very lightly, crumbles and does not hold a point. If you’re like me but want to use non-photo blue try it in a wooden pencil I think you’ll be much happier. I used the prismacolor non-photo blue for years before I started working digitally.

Erasers:

When it comes to erasers there is only one company…General’s. Get yourself a General’s gum eraser, kneaded eraser and the best, of the best, of the best a General’s Factis Black 18, you won’t be sorry. Buy a bunch.

Ink

I’ve recently gotten back into inking by hand a little bit and when I do I like to use a brush pen by either Faber Castell or Prismacolor. Both are good. Faber Castell has a little stiffer nib then the Prismacolor. They both give a really nice organic line.

For more on my illustration techniques please check out this tutorial

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here’s a little job I did for Hooked on Phonics not too long ago. Enjoy!

Here are a couple more I did:

How to draw a cat.
How to draw a dog.

STEP 1.
STEP 2.

Step 3.

Step 4.

STEP 5.

If you want a totally free print out of this lesson just click the thumbnail to the right. You can print out as many as you like and share them with all your friends. It’s totally free…please just don’t try to sell it or pass it off as your own work. Other then that … have fun!!!

For more free art lessons please visit often or check out my free videos at Jerry’s Artarama

I know what you’re thinking….A platypus? How am I supposed to draw a platypus? I can’t even spell platypus. Don’t worry. Just follow this easy, super simple method and you’ll be drawing platypus’s before you know it. The really cool thing is this method works for drawing other stuff too.

Step 1 Rough it out.
Start with a very rough drawing. Don’t sweat the details yet. It’s very important to stay loose. The idea here is just to get everything laid out and positioned where it’s supposed to go. This drawing is all about the gesture. Think of it almost as a stick figure. In this step we’re focusing on two things… finding the pose and roughing out the shapes.

Step 2 Adding a little detail.

Now that we have the character roughed out its time to begin adding some detail. By gradually adding detail we begin to visualize what this little guy is going to look like. This is a great time to try different things. Keep an eraser handy and remember…STAY LOOSE

Step 3 Adding More Detail.

This is where the fun starts to happen. As we add more detail our character begins to emerge. At this point I can begin to see some of the traits I’d like to bring out.  He looks like he is going to be a pretty fun little guy. Most likely the life of the party. I think I’ll start him out with a pair of swim trunks.

Step 4 Adding Personality

So now that I’ve figured out who this little guy is… it’s time to add some personality. I’m thinking a loud Hawaiian shirt and a brightly colored swim trunks will bring out the personality I’m looking for. So let’s rough them in. Again remember our mantra…STAY LOOSE !!!

Step 5 Tighten up

Are you still with me….Great! So let’s continue…Now that we have our character down let’s go ahead and tighten him up a little. You’ll notice that I switch from red to blue when I tighten up. This helps me see things more clearly. I’ve also begun to add a background just for fun. When I add the background I go through the same basic steps:
1 Rough it out and block in all my shapes… remembering to stay loose.
2 Begin adding detail.
3 Gradually continue to add more detail… (again don’t be afraid and try new things).
4 Bring it home- once you have your detail it’s time to add some personality.
5 Tighten up. This is the stage where we go over our rough sketch and tighten it all up.

Dropping out your Sketch Lines and Preparing for Ink

Once I’ve completed my background I bring the image into photoshop and use the Hue and Saturation sliders to drop out my red sketch lines. That leaves me with a good clean blue-line sketch.

At this stage I usually drop the opacity and print out a very light version of the blue line. Next I ink right on top of the print out using the blue-line as a guide. 

Ink- Just like it says. Now we ink. How you ink is up to you. Everyone has their own style. For this drawing I’ve used a brush pen and added a bit of detail with a finer quill pen. I don’t usually use a quill pen but I wanted to try something a little different and I happened to have one that I’ve been wanting to try for a little while now. This seemed like the perfect project to bust it out.

So you’re probably wondering about the blue line underneath my ink. It’s no problem at all I just use the Hue and Saturation sliders again but this time I remove all the blue. Once the blue is removed I have a nice clean ink to work with and can bring it into photshop for color.

Congratulations you have now completed this tutorial. Your next step will be to add color if you wish…but that’s a lesson for another time. I hope you had fun and learned something from this tutorial. If you have any questions please leave a comment or send me an email. You can find more of my art at: Http//:bobostromstudio.com

If you’d like to see the finished version of this art please click on the thumbnail link below:

Visit my website for free coloring book pages.

Love to color…. Love free stuff well you’re in luck. Just go to my website and you can download as many coloring pages as you like. They’re all absolutely free. All you have to do is find the ones you like, click on the download button and then print them out. Pretty simple huh? I’m always adding new stuff… So make sure you check back from time to time.

If you want to find out when I’ll be adding new pages just follow me on twitter for announcements.

Follow me on twitter.

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