Pen and Ink Sketches

Happy New Year!  I've been doing some ink sketching for practice and confidence.  

The top drawing was done with Higgins Black Magic ink on Arches cold pressed watercolor paper.  I used watercolor paper because I wanted to leave the option open to add color, but Arches cold pressed paper has a great texture for inking.  I don't like it if I want the ink lines to reproduce cleanly though, such as with workbook illustrations.  The texture really breaks up the lines.

For this bottom set of sketches, the girl on the right was drawn with Higgins Black Magic and the others were done with Higgins Eternal ink.  For the black solid, I grabbed my Pentel Pocket Brush Pen.  The paper was Canson XL which I like for ink drawing because it has a soft texture and takes both ink lines and watercolor well. It's affordable too.

Illustration Friday: "Tension"

I wish I could spin some meaning into this, but in reality it was just about procrastinating, doing a fast sketch for fun and drawing thick lines with my brush pen!  It felt great.  When I realized it would work for Illustration Friday, it was a nice little bonus!

Illustration Friday: "Explore"

There's no need to rough it in order to explore!

I love Valentino's haute couture.  Click here to see the dress I chose to draw.  I used Pentel brush pen and watercolor on Arches watercolor paper.

Illustration Friday: "Lonely"

And...more bunnies

What always happens to me is that I'll get an idea for an illustration, do a sketch I like, and then not be able to decide how I really want to finish it. After finishing the Illustration Friday "silent" bunny from this week I still wanted to try it a couple of different ways.  Here they are:

The first one was drawn with brush pen on paper from an old Arches watercolor block.  The paper has a lot of texture to it and the brush pen really picked that up.  I think I like this one better than the one I posted for Illustration Friday!

The black and white version was drawn on watercolor paper too because I was planning to color it.  I have a thing for black and white art though, so the color never happened.  The paper is smoother than the other one, Canson Aquarelle, and I used both the brush pen and my crow quill and ink.

Funny isn't it, how different styles of finishing a sketch can have such an effect of the feel of it?  I haven't decided if I'm done with this yet.  If I try anything else I'll post it here!

Illustration Friday: "Obsession"

Mmmmmmm........cupcakes......

Illustration Friday: "Midsummer Night"

Full Buck Moon

Many Native American tribes called the full moon in July the Full Buck Moon because in July, deer bucks begin to grow that year's new antlers.  More information and moon names can be found

at the Farmers' Almanac website.

First brush pen doodles

I tried a brush pen for the first time today and thought it was great!  Mind you, I didn't do a whole lot with it but I love the line variety it gives and I loved not having to dip a brush!  The one I have is the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen.