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  There's good inking & there's web browsingMar 14, 2012 7:58 AM PDT | url
 
Added 1 new A* page:I found this series of YouTube videos showing Japanese comic artist Miwa Shirow at work rather interesting; in this one, for instance, he's inking with the same disposable Copic Multiliner markers I've been using of late:
 
video on Youtube
 
And he follows a very elaborate method, which you can see if you watch the rest of them: rough pencil sketch, blown-up photocopy, final pencils light-tabled over those, dip pen inks over the lines, and markers to fill in black areas. I like seeing all this and how slowly he goes, since the final result looks so effortless that the tendency is to think the artist somehow just zaps those graceful lines out like lightning.
 
Also I found it interesting to see that he sits somewhat sideways, with the paper held slightly diagonally; I've been sitting straight at my drawing table, but I've been starting to have some muscle fatigue in my drawing elbow, which I think comes from not having it firmly planted on the table for support (because otherwise you're unconsciously using the elbow muscles to hold the whole arm rigid to support your upper body weight); sitting slightly sideways with the drawing arm forward so the elbow can rest on the table top like Shirow does would probably solve that (plus raising the table, which was slightly too low).
 
And I was surprised he was using the disposable Multiliners rather than the cartridge-refillable "SP" versions, since some web site told me refillable pens are seen as the way to go over there. I'm currently transitioning to them myself, in fact, since I've had a few of the disposables die on me, and if that keeps happening, the SPs will be the cost-effective way to go in the long run.
 
I actually found that video by accident; I was looking for information on Koh-i-Noor Rapidograph Ultradraw Waterproof Ink--this stuff is (made in U.S.A.? :o) meant to fill up the reservoirs of the Rapidograph pens Koh-i-Noor sells in the States, but I've heard good things about its use for ink wash, so I figured I'd get a bottle and give it a shot, as I really haven't experimented with too many inks; the Yasutomo Waterproof Black Sumi Ink I've been using is nice, but one likes to imagine there could be something better--something darker yet more fluid, for instance. In fact, I've recently acquired at least two pens from local stores that have darker, more fluid (and waterproof) ink than the Yasutomo Sumi stuff (which is about as black as Higgins Black Magic, if you need a more common reference point), so one would *think* it wouldn't be tough to find something similar in bottles. Of course, if I was going to go nuts, I could get into imported Japanese inks, or exotic fountain pen inks...but something not incredibly expensive would be nice. ;)
 
I might not have ordered the Ultradraw if I'd seen this brush inks for Comic Artists ink review first, but oh well, I can't cancel the order, and it'll satisfy some curiosity I've had about it anyway.
 
While I'm on the topic of ridiculous inking fetishes, I managed to waste quite a bit of time so far this week lusting after the Kuretake No. 50 Sable Hair Brush Pen, for no particularly good reason. :P And wondering if I would/should/could replace the non-waterproof ink it comes with with something like Platinum Carbon Ink, or maybe just use a syringe to fill up empty cartridges with something like Noodler's "Heart of Darkness"...or maybe Ultradraw! (And could I refill Multiliner SP cartridges with Ultradraw? :oo) Oh the possibilities I can't really afford. ;) I suppose that's a good deal of the attraction of wondering about it. :PP I should stop wasting time looking at this stuff on the internet (it is darn hard to track down info on whether some of these are acid-free, for instance--although apparently pretty much all "pigment ink"--which these mostly are--is kind of acid-free by default (?) anyway) and just get better inking with what I've got, but man, that internet.
 
 
 
 
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