My Zanzibar Sketchbook

Wow! After I created the PDF of my Zanzibar sketchbook I forgot to share it here. Here it is, I hope you enjoy it.

Portrait delight

Lately I am more interested in portraits. My friends have to suffer

Karam is from Syria. We are doing a language exchange. I am teaching him German and he teaches me Arabic. I used  blue Caran D'Ache Watercolor Pencil to draw him, sprayed with water, let the colors fade a littel and thed apply watercolors. The hair is done with a dry brush technic. As paper I am use a Stillman & Birn Beta (for watercolor) sketchbook.


I went with Najeed and other friends to the lake on a sunny day. I drew him first with Pencil and added Watercolor. The skin color I created with Alizarim Crimson and some yellow, in parts I added cerulean blue to get the tones darker.Notice the red dots on eyes, nose, mouth corners and ears. These are color bridges and help to direct our eyes around the face.

Elvis is a dancer. we go together to the gym and sometimes later have a beer and enjoy the sun. I have drawn him many times. I drew the portrait with pencil and added watercolor later. For the lights of the hair I used a base purple and later cover it partially with sepia and dark blue.