"In order to create the backgrounds for Molesworth I have been studying Ronald Searle's drawings up close. The first image you can see here is a close up detail of an engine block (full image in the second picture). Ronald Searle drew many of his illustrations with a fountain pen and when you look at the originals up close, you will find that he did very little underdrawing. He used a pencil only sometimes, to very lightly block in a composition and then literally 'wrote' down the drawing as he saw it in his mind's eye. This must have happened very quickly. Many of the lines are not opaque because the ink flow of his pen wouldn't catch up with the speed he was throwing down the lines. He would then scribble over some of the lines again and again to darken them. Some people have described Ronald's drawing style as nervous and hesitant but it is quite the opposite. His drawings are so assured and confident, there is no sign of struggle or doubt. He had an incredible memory of what things looked like and rarely used any reference. His output was so prolific, he would create several illustrations of this kind every day. Ronald was left-handed and was lucky that he wasn't forced to write with his right hand when he was a child. When you learn to write you practise precision by crafting the alphabet with your pen and that precision is apparent in Ronald's every drawing. He drew like others would write letters, directly from his mind down to his hand and onto the paper. Marvellous!"
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