Added 1 new A* page:If today's page looks familiar, you may recall one of the first A* ink and brush practice pieces I did back in October:
I always did like how kind of loose and wild that one was, especially in the hair region. I can't use that old acidy paper for the real A* pages ;_;, but maybe I can try to get back to more of the way I did that one, having to do a lot of the design work in ink because the pencils were very sketchy. And anyway I've found I tend to be happiest with the pages in which I kind of let the ink do its own thing (or rather, it does its own thing on its own), like
and
and I don't think I remembered to mention it at the time, but this one was done without any preliminary pencil work--just straight ink on paper:
I can't usually get away with that, but still I want to try developing the images more with the ink. So we'll see! (Huh those ^ were all straight-on eye shots...) Something that ought to help is getting some a fresh brush to paint with, since this nice Winsor & Newton Series 7 I've been using can't quite keep a point anymore; it kept its point for about two months (40-some pages?) I think, which was about twice as long as the Da Vinci "Maestro" brush I was using before it, which was half the price--go figure!
I think I'll also pick up a dip pen (sometimes called a "crow quill") too, since they're pretty affordable, especially compared to the nicer brushes, and I realize now that a lot of the artists whose ink work I like used them--those old black and white pulp adventure strips, for instance. I do find it interesting though that all the stuff I've read from people comparing pens vs brush for inking says that the brush is a lot harder to get used to--whereas I feel perfectly comfortable with it for some reason. So I should probably just stick with it, but I'm curious about the pens so I at least wanna see what it's like to mess around with one. And I would think I could find some sort of use for it alongside brushes.
So starting next week the art might be getting a bit (more) experimental and weird for a bit while I try out some different techniques and approaches. I'll try to keep it mostly legible... Thanks for sticking with me as I figure out how I want to ink stuff! :)
|
