Digger

In the baby books I read to my kids eons ago, this was called a digger. There are lots these in my neighborhood just now. They’re busy all day and only stop at night or for a lunch break.

So I stepped out to draw one at dusk last week. All I took with me was a sheet of paper folded up accordion-style, my Sailor Fude pen and a small backing board. There’s a lot you can get on paper with just one pen if you are willing to have messy hands from smudging and blotting the ink on your page for texture.

I walked around the digger, sketching it, moving along a little bit every so often. As the light faded, I had a strange machine on my page, but only in black and white. I’d have to come back at lunch the next day to finish it. (Wish I’d remembered to take a picture of the sketch in black and white, I didn’t)

Back the next day at lunchtime, I sat in the shade of a nearby tree and added in color. Here is the finished piece.

Here are all the bits of it in closeup.

I had so much fun with this. I’m going to have to think up some more places I could apply this idea of a “walk around”. It adds an extra challenge to the process of sketching and captures a constantly changing point of view.

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I’m taking a few days off from being on my computer to spend some quality Spring Break time with the kids. I just added a new session of my popular People Sketching Workshop, and it starts on May 8th. Check out the details and sign up here.