Process of Drawing the Vandevender Gates in Forest Park, St. Louis, MO

Pen and ink Drawing of the Vandevender Gates in Forest Park, St. Louis, MO. Drawn by Michael Halbert of INKART Studio.
The drawing began with on location sketches (en plein air sketching) and some reference photos taken with an iPhone camera. This reference is primarily intended as just a reminder of the feel of the place, the light, and any noteworthy landmarks, such as the Gates.
Back in the studio the finished drawing is started on a piece of 7 x 5 inch Ampersand Claybord. Claybord is a brand of scratchboard, but unlike most brands of scratchboard, which are coated with black India ink, it is not coated with black ink. It is white. The natural white of the clay. That gives the artist the option of drawing with black lines on white, or coating areas of the white clay with black ink and then drawing with white lines. Scratching the black coated areas of the clay with a sharp knife (like a scratchboard knife) leave very clean, sharp white lines.
There is no drawing transferred to the Claybord. The finished drawing is begun directly on the board with pen and ink and brush. There is, however, a grid of thirds drawn on the Claybord with pencil. This grid helps a little with drawing things in proportion, but its main purpose is to help with composition.
The finished drawing was drawn by hand with a Crow Quill pen with black India ink. A small brush with India ink was also used. The surface is Ampersand Claybord (white) 7 x 5 inches by 1/8 inch thick.
Music is from the RUclips audio library:

[@celeb_edit9152]

It's beautiful! Would love to see the entire process.

[@MichaelHalbert-yp9yl]

I plan on doing more process drawings on this channel, so please check back. I don't think anyone would watch the whole process. Even a small drawing like this can take 8 or more hours. I spend 2 to 3 hours just doing the rough sketches on location. The pen and ink for a 7 x 5 will take 4 to 8 hours. If you really want to get carried away with detail, much more than 8 hours. What I didn't show in this video, is that some of these small drawing turn into large linocut prints later.