Sketch Book

Today I sat down to finish a strip - final brush and ink over pencil - but my hand was shaking a little.  It had been a few days since I'd inked anything in and sometimes being out of practice causes this...but this was a little more - maybe just low blood sugar?  Anyway, I had to abandon the finish work and just worked in the sketch book - going over some older stuff in the book with the pen and ink I already had out.  I've been interested in using a "freer" line and so this seemed like a good time to experiment a little. I'm not ready to jump in and redo all the strips I have - but I could see using a looser line as the strip progressed.  Charles Schulz after having heart surgery was left with a shaky hand - I'd assume at first this must have been devastating to him - but of course he continued Peanuts and this, although not entirely intentional, shaky hand gave him a new expressive line for the strip - improving it that much more.  In my case, I probably just need to eat a bagel - but at least it gave me a chance to test out the looser line. 

Best,
TT