I have finally picked up the dip pen and more to the point got the new nib working. I couldn't get the ink to transfer onto the paper and was getting a bit frustrated with it but I now think it might have been a problem with the ink?? (Correct me if I'm wrong). I have had this ink a while and when I looked into the pot it looked pretty thick so I added quite a bit of water to it. I've never added water before to ink when doing line work, only ever for washes, but it did the trick and the nib started flowing over the page with nice smooth lines. So with the pen suddenly making marks I drew Lox asleep on 'her' chair. If I had known I was going to have this success I would have got myself set up a bit better as it is a bit of a reckless endeavour using ink in my lounge...I have a light beige sofa, white table and white rug and they are all brand new!! Fortunately all the mess I made away from the page has only ended up on my fingers.
After the dip pen lines I did an ink wash with the black ink watered down and used some blue ink for the cushion stripes.
I'm really pleased with how this has turned out as this is I think something along the lines of what I have in my head for the book I'm trying to illustrate. I really have had in mind that the illustrations in the book will be black and white with grey ink washes and just one or two spot colours. I have done a tiny bit of ink wash in this sketchbook previously and wasn't 100% happy with how the watery ink sits on the paper, it looks a bit fluffy. I prefer when ink washes have very crisp edges and you can really see the layers of ink on top of each other, but actually I like how this fluffyness has given the cat fur a soft texture.
No comments:
Post a Comment