A Sketcher’s Audacity To Try

With audacity one can undertake anything, but not do everything. - Napoleon Bonaparte

So there I was, a street sketcher, faced with a room full of plaster casts.  No buildings to sketch.  No cars.  Not even a single fire hydrant to sketch.  So, with all the audacity I could muster, I decided to draw Napoleon Bonaparte.  And he was right; audacity did let me try.  However, my limited skill limited my ability to do it.  Such that it is, here is my pen and ink drawing of General Bonaparte, drawn about 10″ high using a couple Pilot Preras and Lexington Gray.

One thing that might interest to some is that I have diluted Lexington Gray about 50% with water and use this for most of the early ink work.  I follow this up with normal strength Lex Gray.  This approach seems to have some potential beyond my use of it as a quick-sketching approach.

Danny Gregory is also right.  Sketching is all about the process, not the end result and I had a lot of fun doing this one.