Oct 2016 - Oct 2017 Sketchbook

So I finally got down to scanning this sketchbook that I had completed a year ago. Gosh. Has it been that long?

With the advent of social media which made posting and sharing work more easily, somehow I got lazier at scanning my work. It's actually more beneficial to post consistently rather than post something and disappear for months. That has always been what I preach. But you do need the discipline to do so.

This particular sketchbook that I have was actually custom made by SPD Singapore a few years ago. I got them to bind a sketchbook with Fabriano Studio watercolour paper. Now that I've completed the sketchbook, I've got to say that the paper is great at showing off the vibrancy of watercolour. The only downside is it has only 25% cotton content so wet-on-wet blending techniques are still challenging on it.

First sketch was drawn during the Haji Lane sketchbook in 2016. I went back to Haji lane recently and many of the shops have changed hands. I've got to go back and draw from the Salad Stop shop again if that's still there.

The Limited Palette series of videos have been quite popular on my Youtube channel. I was lucky to come up with this idea because I really enjoy making these videos and learned a lot from using the colours featured. I can confirm that this series will continue indefinitely because there's endless permutations of colours that can be featured.

This is the sketch featured in the video "Pyrrol Scarlet + Phthalo Blue RS + Hansa Yellow Med (Limited Palette)".

This sketch was created for my patrons on Patreon. It was drawn from photo reference. The scene is good but I didn't particularly like this sketch. I'll need to go back draw this again on location.

This was also drawn for my patrons. Actually, most of the sketches in this book were drawn for my patrons. This is not a sketchbook for my location sketches, except for the very first sketch above. Here's the timelapse.

This was created as a video tutorial for my Youtube channel.

Another Youtube tutorial. This video is surprisingly popular and has more than 34,000 currently. The video actually featured the pen and ink sketch and not the colouring process. I wanted to record the colouring process but well, it didn't turn out too good so I scrapped that second video.

Another video tutorial. Many of the reference photos that I use are actually from Flickr. I usually find my photos from this Flickr Group called Architecture Travellers. My dream of course is the travel the world and draw on location. Since I can't do that, I'll just work off reference photos meanwhile. The sketches you make will have different meaning depending on where you draw them. When you draw on location, you'll be able to remember all the sights and sounds. When you're drawing from a photo, it's just another photo to be forgotten.

It's kinda therapeutic to just draw lines sometimes. Here's the timelapse.

Another crowded scene sketch. I think I used markers for this. Can't remember if I created any video for it.

There's a video for this.

Probably sketched from a photo because I can't remember anything about this sketch.

This was also drawn from a reference photo. I like this sketch except for the feet that coming out of that guy's backpack. This is one of those moments where you look at the sketch and tell yourself that you should have left those legs out or move them somewhere else.

Here's the timelapse video.

In 2013, I got some free Daniel Smith tubes to try out and there's this tube of Permanent Brown which has been with me since. It's still quite full. I can probably use that for another decade.

I believe this sketch was painted with Permanent Brown and other colours.

I actually booked a hotel room because I wanted to make a video for my location drawing course that's selling on Gumroad. This sketch did not feature in the course but there's a drawing process video on Youtube.

This was also drawn from the hotel. That's Masjid Malabar. There are some views you just can't draw when you're on the ground. I've got a timelapse video for this.

I believe was drawing with the G-nib. I don't draw often with the G-nib so I wondered why I used it that day.

Amazon's selling a primary and secondary set of Daniel Smith watercolour paint so I bought them to try. The primary set consist of Hansa Yellow Medium, Perylene Red and French Ultramarine. That's a very good set for beginners and worth the money since it's selling at US$25. The secondary set consist of Quinacridone Burnt Orange, Undersea Green and Carbazole Violet. You can skip the secondary set because you can mix secondary colours with primary colours. It makes more sense to get more primary colours in your collection. Here's the video on these six colours.

These are the colour mixes from the six Daniel Smith colours.

I used Dr Ph Martin's Coloured Bombay India Inks for this sketch. You have to use dip pens with India inks. I love how vibrant those colours are, and they are pigmented which means they are lightfast and can be used for professional work.

Testing out two inks that one of my Youtube viewers sent over. Lexington Gray is a beautiful graphic gray ink that's waterproof. Noodler's Golden Brown is a nice colour but it's not waterproof.

A sketch of some flower stalls in front of the temple for the Goddess of Mercy at Waterloo Street. Here's the timelapse video.

This was sketched from a photo that I had taken in Bangkok. There are so many things to sketch there. I could probably stay there for months to sketch if I have no commitments. By the way, I have a Bangkok Sketches tutorial set for sale on my Gumroad page. You can pay whatever price you want to get the set.

I like this building but I did not get the perspective right. This is the Territorial Defense Command building in Bangkok. I drew the sketch from a reference photo. I wasn't able to sketch all the things I see in Bangkok so I took many photos to draw at home.

I tried redrawing the sketch again but did not succeed.

This is Chinatown in Bangkok. Here's the timelapse video.

These are the colours included in the Bombay India Ink Set 2.

Here's another Limited Palette video featuring Monte Amiata Natural Sienna, Organic Vermilion, Indanthrone Blue and Phthalo Green (YS).

And this is the sketch painted with those colours.

Here's the limited palette that I used to paint the sketch below of the Grand Palace in Thailand.

Colours are New Gamboge, Quinacridone Red, French Ultramarine and Phthalo Green (YS). Here's the timelapse video.

Another limited palette. Colours are Lemon Yellow, Quinacridone Red, Phthalo Blue (GS) and New Gamboge.

I can't remember if I've created any video for this. Probably not.

This is the last limited palette in this sketchbook. I love this combination of Yellow Ochre, Venetian Red and Cobalt Blue.

You get a rather toned down look. It's like the light in the sky is of a different feel.

So these are all the sketches from this 40-page sketchbook. When I first made the sketchbook, I thought 40-pages was too few because typical watercolour sketchbooks have 60 pages, such as the Moleskine watercolour journal and the Global Art Materials watercolour journal. 40 pages allows you to fill up the sketchbook quicker and gives you a sense of accomplishment that makes you want to go one. It's also a good number of pages for a travel sketchbook. Actually for short trips, 40 pages is still too much. So I have to mix different trips into a single book.

I'll continue to post sketches on my blog. If you want to see more, check out my Instagram page and, of course, my Youtube channel.

And here's the Sketchbook Tour video of this sketchbook: