Added 1 new A* page:I think I got out of that painting funk I was in for the previous several days, and if I did, I might owe a good deal of that to the inspiration I got earlier today when I found the work of Gabriel Hardman, a professional comic book artist. Hardman— Well, just look at what he does in ink and ink wash. What I like about his inking is the brushy quality he can bring to it, which makes it capable of communicating so much more than the hard smooth lines with which most professional inkers seem to content themselves. And that ink wash—jeepers! Stunning, evocative, effortless, and I wish I knew how he's able to go from pitch black so smoothly into dark gray, seemingly in one stroke. Man.
So that made a big impression, and I think brought me back to a more productive way of thinking about this ink wash business I was foundering in for the past few days. Thank you, Mr. Hardman!
And before that, last night, I was trying to think of ways I could get myself back on track, and one easy train of thought led to the materials I've been using—particularly, the paper. It's been this stuff, Strathmore's "vellum" Bristol board (Bristol board is a heavy, relatively stiff multi-layered type of paper with a fairly smooth finish):
If you look closely at the packaging there you'll notice that the "vellum" type says it's for dry media, whereas the "smooth" is also for wet stuff like ink. I tried the smooth first—in this test painting—but it didn't seem to allow the brush to spread the ink quite as densely and evenly as the slightly rougher "vellum" surface.
So I've been using the vellum for these painted A* pages (hm and according to Wikipedia, Bristol is what comic book artists traditionally use), but comparing the results last night with the old drawing pad I did most of my test paintings in—this one, for instance—I noticed that the ink had come out blacker, glossier, and smoother on that toothier old drawing pad paper than it has been doing on these fancy Bristol boards. And the rougher yet slicker surface of the drawing pad paper is an altogether friskier environment for the brush and ink, as I recall; the Bristol, by comparison, really sucks the ink in, making for slower going and a duller dried appearance. Oh, and the drawing pad paper warped less when wet with wash.
That drawing paper is from an at least fifteen-year-old (I used it as an undergraduate art student in college :P) pad of Bienfang Raritan Drawing Paper; it's old enough that it's from back before the current "acid-free" and "archival" craze, and I think it's yellowed slightly (by which I mean, it's slightly yellow, and I think more so than it was originally, although I can't say I remember its original color with all that much clarity). So I was a little worried that it might not be made anymore, but it is:
Acid-free now, too. I don't think I saw it at my local Daniel Smith art supply superstore, so I ordered some off the internet, and am looking forward to it arriving possibly some time next week. It doesn't come in 11x17" sheets (the size my scanner can handle) like Strathmore's Bristol did; the closest it comes in is 18x24", which is way bigger than I can fit in the scanner—but so big that I can cut one sheet in half and make two pages out of it, with a little trimming. :D I suspect it *isn't* quite as white as the Bristol, which means that the white ink I've sometimes used on the Bristol to cover over a mistake in black ink will stand out rather than blending in with the paper—you can see I sort of used it as a corrective *and* highlighter in that test painting.
So that could be interesting. Anyway, I think the zestier surface will help me keep a little more pizzazz in the pages, which *some* of the Bristol pages have been lacking a little.
Incidentally, the ink wash pages I've been happiest with so far are...hm well probably today's, and 140, 142, 143, and 146. How about you?
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