Another fun medium for landscape sketching August 4, 2009

Mudflat at Main Bird Hide

If you are feeling bored with your usual sketching medium, try something new. Charcoal, pencils and pastel are the usual ones I use. For want of a fresh approach and experimentation I picked up some marker pens to try.
In this sketch I did at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, using Letraset markers. You will note that a variety of gradation and texture quality can be achieved. The pigment ink from a marker pen is somewhat difficult to modulate and one has to be careful about the duration and pressure of contact between pen and paper. I managed to produce enough variety of strokes and intensity of pigment by deliberately controlling the contact time and pressure. Try these two aspects out separately before working on your painting.
Happy sketching.
Tham Pui San 4 August 2009