A Horsedog in a Buss with Socks

Photographer's Socks (ballpoint pen)

A Horsedog (ballpoint pen)

I was sitting on a bus and had planned to draw something. We were on our way to Helsinki with our photography students and planning to visit The Finnish Museum of Photography’s #snapshot exhibition. Luckily there was a guy on the bus sitting on the next seat and he decided to lift his legs up so I had something to draw. His socks and legs and especially all the folds on them looked interesting to me. I've noticed that now that I'm thinking about drawing much more than before I see everything as a potential model for a sketch. I'm staring people too long and bringing old, half-eaten vegetables home...

I had also given my students an assignment regarding the museum. They had to choose one of the works there and take inspiration from it. The idea was to draw something related to that picture or to draw the work as it was. For my inspiration I chose Theron Humphrey's photos of his dog and decided to draw one where his dog has a horse mask on. I wanted to see if I can draw it so that it looks right but I wanted to combine the picture of a dog with my own simple background. I made this sketch with a ballpoint pen and it was actually really enjoyable technique. Easier than fine liner, because you can create more shades by pushing the pen harder, but almost as rewarding. The fact that I was drawing in a bus made it even more interesting.