Faber Castell Pitt Pen Demo

I went to a Faber Castell Pitt Pen demo by Don Colley at Texas Art Supply this past weekend.  By letting us have a peak into the contents of his sketchbooks, we were able to see a variety of effects that could be obtained with Pitt Pens.  He shared a few tips and tricks for achieving the effects, such as applying a layer of white grease pencil as a base for an area where you want a color to be brighter than it would be if it was applied directly to the paper. Apply the Pitt Pen over the grease pencil then smear or smudge to create various shaded/textured effects.  He discussed layering pens and putting ink on your fingers and then using them to apply the ink to the paper.  He also shared with us how he has perfected the ability to draw people without them knowing he's drawing them. If you set up your drawing surface in front of you at such an angle that all you have to do is move your eyes up from the paper to see your subject, you will not attract as much attention as you would if you had to move your head up and down to see them and then your paper.  You can move your eyes down quickly, when necessary, to avoid the person(s) seeing you looking at them.  

I admire people who  spend a lot of time drawing and sketching the scenes around them.  It's been long time desire of mine to sketch on a regular basis.  Maybe I'll make that my new year's resolution, but I'll have to learn to draw a lot faster if I want to be able to draw people or animals.  Maybe I'll just start with landscapes and buildings first :)

Check out Don's website www.buttnekkiddoodles.com.  And watch this video:


BTW, the demo was very effective as a means for selling product : ) I bought several new Pitt Pens in basic grays to practice value drawings with.  The friend who went with me also bought products mentioned during the demo. 

One other thing, anyone know where I can find an old ledger?  Used is okay. Don uses them a lot.  He said that in the old days they were usually made of rag paper so the ink from the pens they used would not soak through them.  Pitt Pens won't soak through them either so you can draw on both sides of a page without worrying about the ink soaking through.   Just another excuse to indulge my love of used old books?