INKtober Days 3 & 4

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I'm underwhelmed with this sketch.  I tried using the Pentel Color Brush pen in brown. Then added a water brush to make some washes. Not happy. Don't really love how reddish the brown turns when you dilute it with water,  Today I tried to rescue it with some Golden Fluid acrylics for a subtle touch of color, because in my world color makes everything better. :-D

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Color. Yet I love the look of other peoples black and white or monochrome  sketches. This is the same problem I ran into last year, I just couldn't stick to a single pen, and only working in black and white. This is the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen and Golden Fluid Acrylic.  It's only day four for heaven's sake. 

I suppose this tell me something important about myself.  I really, really rely on color to make my art. And that's OK, and good to know.  This is why this challenge and other "drawing every day" type challenges can be helpful. You learn a lot about yourself and your preferred methods for making art  when you commit to consistency and have some limitations to work within,

INKtober is Back!

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INKtober is back! This one month challenge began in 2009, and was begun by Jake Parker. It's meant to help improve your ink drawing skills by challenging you to do one ink drawing every day for the month of October.

Day One was created with a Platinum Carbon fountain pen, a Pentel light black brush pen and a UniBall Signo white pen.

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Today I used a Tradio Stylo pen and the Pentel brush pen in light black. 

Last year I only made it half way through this year I'm hoping to go the distance!

More #INKtober

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#INKtober continues along and I continue to learn about myself, my sketching preferences and my materials.  Above Pilot falcon flex nib fountain pen and a light watercolor wash.

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This one made with a Pentel Tradio, which has water-soluble ink and a Kuretake brush writer in medium brown.  This was a bold and interesting combination.

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And back to Pilot Falcon flex nib fountain pen and Liquitex acrylic markers for the Northern Flicker and the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen and Liquitex acrylic markers for the Red Winged Blackbird. 

One of the things I am seeing confirmed over and over again for me is that I like to switch tools and materials A LOT. The choices are driven both by the subject and by the result I want to achieve. I also think my mood also dictates what I want to sketch which then drives the choice of tools and materials. 

I think it's really exciting to have so many options at my disposal, and I keep reminding myself that keeping a sketchbook is about me, enjoying my art!  

#INKtober Continues

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As you can read in my journal entry I gave up on the Moleskine and the idea of having all the #INKtober sketches in one place. I was just so unhappy with the paper in the Moleskine, even though I used to use them all the time, with both markers and watercolors. Now I just can't stand the paper for sketching!

I was also hoping that #INKtober would give me the opportunity to bond with the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen, and in some ways that has happened. I've been trying since last March to really make that pen work for me. I was hoping its expressive qualities would make it my "go to" pen that most of my work was done in.  What #INKtober has taught me is what I had thought all along. I like the PPBP for some things, sometimes, but its not going to be my "go to" pen. It's going to be a tool I select when the need arises and the occasion is right.

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On this, the sixth day of #INKtober I went back to using a fountain pen.....a Pilot Falcon with a flex nib. As I note in the journal entry this pen has a scratchy kind of feel (unlike my very smooth writing TWSBI mini), which you would think would be a bad thing, but I actually like the scratchy feel of this pen. Not exactly sure why, but I know that it's the pen I often reach for.  Had some fun adding color to the background with a wide acrylic paint marker and adding some of the iridescent color of a starling with chisel tip acrylic paint markers (Liquitex).  I'm trying hard to stick with black and white for these ink sketches buuuuuut it's really hard for a color junkie like me!

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Day 7, TWSBI mini, ( I was trying to get a comparison going in my mind between the TWSBI and the Falcon, to see if I really preferred the Falcon....I'm still undecided), acrylic markers, Ultra Fine Point Sharpie.  More color than iIhad intended, just got a little carried away with all the great fall colors in these planters!

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OK, re-focusing.....working in ink only. Pentel Stylo sketching pen and a water-brush.  Indulging my fascination with paleolithic art and the origins of art in general. This (done from a photo) is the oldest statue of the human form in the world, 13,500 years old. Created before the agricultural revolution and the beginnings of cities.......mysteriously ancient.

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Maintaining my ink only focus using a Pilot varsity fountain pen. Sometimes simple is good.

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Learning some color restraint!  Just some color notes, trying to keep the focus on the lines.

More to come as #INKtober continues!!

More #INKtober days 4-5-6

#31 Days #31 Drawings

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 Still working here with a Pentel Pocket Brush Pen in a Moleskine Sketchbook. But very unhappy with the paper.

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#INKtober has been a good experience for me so far, in that it's helping me clarify my materials choices. I began a few posts ago by telling you that I was going to use a Moleskine sketchbook that I had started in 2012, but had only used a few pages of. I was excited by the prospect of 1.) not wasting the book and 2.) have all my #INKtober sketches in one place.

The challenges for me were going to be working in black and white only, and improving my skill with the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen. 

Well, things don't always work out as we plan.  I used to use a Moleskine sketchbook all the time. I have several of them filled with sketches. Then I moved on to the Pentalic Nature Sketch, sketchbook, which I still recommend (except that it has a paper cover and on a spiral bound book that means that the cover is going to most likely come all, or partially off just through wear and tear, if they ever make a sketchbook with a sturdier cover I would definitely go back to it). After that, Stillman & Birn appeared on the scene and I was immediately hooked. Best sketchbooks out there, in my opinion.  Still, I don't always use a S&B sketchbook, sometimes I like a book with watercolor paper in it, as opposed to mixed media paper.

I've read that Moleskine recently changed the paper in their watercolor sketchbooks and notebooks, I'm not sure if they have in their sketchbooks. In any case the book I'm using is at least from 2012, and perhaps older.  Me, no longer liking the paper, which I used to use Faber-Castell Artist Brush Pens on and then UniBall Vision pens and Yarka watercolors, may be entirely due to the fact that now I work differently.

Then there's the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen, which many, many people love. It's a very expressive tool. I've been trying for quite a while to learn to use it well. Sometimes I get great results, which often look like wood block prints. But other times I just don't like the look.  It's one of those very bold tools that show every mark, so you have to be very careful about where you place your line and the quality of the line.  If you are using line to find your way through a drawing (scribbly, repeatedly restating a line) and using this pen you'll end up with heavy black blotchy areas pretty quickly.  So I'm coming to the conclusion that I like this pen for somethings but not others.

The paper in the Moleskine which seemed far waxier and resistant then I remember it was a problem with this pen for me. The ink at first would bead up a little but then go on, but then as it dried it seemed to sink into the paper and become dull. 

First thing I did was make the decision to give up my hope of having all my #INKtober work in one place. I decided to simply incorporate the sketches into my daily sketchbook. That solved the paper problem. (see sketch of the barred owl above). But it still didn't solve the problem of whether or not I liked the look of the sketch made with that particular pen.  So today I made a complete break and worked in my regular sketchbook (at present a Handbook Journal Co. Field Book filled with cold press Fluid watercolor paper), with my Pilot Falcon flex nib fountain pen, Noodler's black ink and various acrylic markers because I could no long stand to be without at least some color.

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I never want these group sketchbook challenges to be torturous, they're supposed to be inspiring and fun!  So, although I had to rework some of my materials, (well, OK all of them) and reinvent my goals, which are now to 1.) complete the #INKtober challenge, 2.) use any pen in black, 3.) use minimal color as an  accent.  I'm much happier, and more likely to meet goal #1 and excited to keep going.  

It's always important to take charge of what you're doing and make it work for you. So while a few days ago I was dreading the rest of this month now I feel happier about it.  Once again, this is about me, enjoying my art.  Enough said!