I can't leave good old Artist and Craftsman Supplies without buying a Sketchbook. You know how it is. And my hankering for a nice, thick Watercolor paper sent me home with a very unusual one.
This is the Shizen Design Rough Surface Watercolor Sketchbook and it is a beauty. The covers are gorgeous and sturdy, I love the ribbon closure, and it's nicely crammed with thick, handmade paper.
Emphasis on the THICK. This is thick, rough-surface watercolor paper. I like some heft in my drawing paper and I like a little tooth but this was almost like drawing on a pile of paper towels.
I have to say, I was struggling a bit - until I chanced upon something I wouldn't have expected to help.
Nintendo Power magazine on the Internet Archive. I found this in Autumn and read up until about the early 2000's. It was more fun than I ever would've expected and even prompted my very first Bluesky thread (and my goodness, I hope this embed works and is also in order, ha ha. If not, have a link).
So I’ve been reading this almost-complete archive of #Nintendo Power magazine and finding some pretty cool art and stuff. (Might fool around and start my first Bluesky exclusive thread…) archive.org/details/Nint...
— Trish (@babbletrish.bsky.social) December 1, 2023 at 5:09 PM
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As you see, I fell in love with the art. Up until a certain point, I guess, Nintendo did not have their own in-house illustrators, and the "default" look for their many characters hadn't been nailed down yet. They hired illustrators from around Kyoto and so we get delightful results like Shotaro Ishinomori's "Link to the Past" comic and whatever this incredibly Kid's Magazine From the Late 80's art style is.
And at some point, I decided, "I love this so much, I should draw these in my Sketchbook. It's not great for doodling, but it's perfect for long... I'm going to call these Master Studies." And so:
These was so much fun! I ended up using the softest pencil I have and a double-ended permanent marker for the lines and my trustiest set of watercolor paints. you can see how soft and toothy the paper is in these scans.
I couldn't not draw Megaman as he appears in "Captain N: the Game Master". Look at him! I really do think "Draw Your OC/Favorite Character/etc. In the Specifically Wrong Way DiC Would've in the 80's-90's" would make for a great drawing challenge.
Next week: A Sketchbook for a Good Cause.
