InkTober, Days 21 - 26

 

10/21 - 26/23 Platinum 3776 Century fountain pen with music nib; Diamine Eclipse ink in Uglybook (Earthsworld reference photos)

In a couple of cases, I used an ink wash (without 
drawing a line first) to "paint" the negative space.

For Oct. 21 – 26, I tried something I considered doing for all of InkTober last year: hatching without making a contour drawing first. Thankfully, I waited a few moments, and the feeling passed. This year, six days of it was plenty!

Inspired by the artist kiwon.05, I first tried hatching without contours earlier that year. I speculated whether it was similar in concept to direct watercolor (which I hadn’t yet done at the time) – painting without the guidance of a line drawing first. Now that I’ve done direct watercolor myself, I’m here to say that it’s very much the same: Searching for the shapes, values and forms instead of the line. When I had a pen in my hand instead of a brush, the hard part was stopping myself whenever I went on autopilot and started to draw an outline! This technique requires focus before putting the pen point down.

Platinum 3776 Century pen with music nib

And speaking of pen point, for this page spread, I used my Platinum 3776 Century fountain pen with a music nib, which I hadn’t inked up in years. While it’s a lovely pen to use, it’s not my favorite for drawing (it can’t hold a candle to my beloved Sailor Naginata fude). It felt good to say hello, though, to a casual friend I hadn’t seen in a while.