Tag Archives: Berlin drawing

The horror of the Pencil Cleanse continues! A visit to the Australian Embassy, and one to Impala Coffee.

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Australian Embassy Comics Event Feb 17 2020 by Suzanne ForbesI was invited to the Australian Embassy this month.

It was for an Australian comics event, and I had never been to an embassy, so I went! Of course I ran into someone I knew, because English-speaking Berlin is small 🙂 Since I was drawing civilians rather than performers, I decided to take a chance and start my Pencil Cleanse that night. Above, the Australian Ambassador to Berlin introduces the panel.

Impala Coffee Pencil Cleanse Leap Year Drawing Feb 29 2020 by Suzanne ForbesI was at the Schöneberg branch of Impala Coffee, the excellent indie Berlin chain, today.

For a long time! Because my foggy anxious brain (I am in the high-risk group for COVID-19 vulnerability) got me there two hours early to meet my friend. So I made this Pencil Cleanse drawing.

It’s so hard, and takes so long, to go back to pencil only!

Pencil cleanse WIP second state Suzanne ForbesI also worked on the pencil unterwegs, for a whole nother bus ride, though you’d never know it!

Can you even tell the difference after another forty minutes of work? (Today is on the right, previous on the left!)

Pencil Cleanse Unterwegs WIP Suzanne Forbes Feb 2020It is more accurate, with more precisely judged perspective and scale, than anything I’ve done in ages, and I feel like I’m forced to observe so carefully, yet I can’t record with the same authority I can with ink. I know I keep correcting the angles, keep checking the perspective, and that it is good for my draftsmanship to draw this way. But dangit, it’s HARD!

Feb 2020 Unterwegs – Valentine’s lovebirds, grayscale and Pencil Cleanse!

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Unterwegs with Valentines lovebirds Feb 20 2020 by Suzanne ForbesMy husband and I saw this sweet couple on the U-Bahn on Valentine’s Day.

The elegant lady was giving her partner a comforting touch on the shoulder. She noticed I was drawing them and I gave her my card, I hope she sees this!

Unterwegs Feb 20 2020 Grayscale by Suzanne ForbesTen years ago Brody, a cool person I knew in the Bay, did a Grayscale costume and makeup for Santacon.

It was so incredibly good that I have thought of her look (also known as Desaturated Santa) every time I see or type the word “Grayscale” ever since. I thought of her when I drew this grayscale unterwegs on gray paper! You really don’t see anyone reading a full-size or even a tabloid size newspaper on the subway anymore, and I miss it.

Pencil cleanse WIP by Suzanne Forbes Feb 24 2020I am conducting an occasional Pencil Cleanse.

Before I started working as a courtroom artist and then in comics, there was a period, ’89 to ’91, when I carried a sketchbook everywhere but only a mechanical pencil to draw with. All of my drawings were pencil only, or ballpoint if I ran out of leads. And they were great! They had a slow magic and a loose rhythm that my faster, rough-pencil-sketch-which-is-immediately-inked drawings of today lack.

I’d love to take a month to draw ONLY in pencil, but I just don’t dare. I don’t want to lose the chance to document a great performer because I can’t move fast enough with pencil. So instead I am doing pencil-only drawings when the stakes are low, like with unterwegs.

IT TAKES SO LONG!!!

This one is in process, with a couple hours on it already, and hundreds of corrections, perspective adjustments, and scale fixes. And yet it doesn’t look like much, right? It is the bones and vitamins of drawing, though.

You can see hundreds more unterwegs drawings celebrating life on Berlin’s public transit system here. All unterwegs drawings are courtesy of my Patrons on Patreon whose monthly financial support allows me to make this free art available!