Ice Pony
Still enjoying markers, again on a Claybord, mixing ink and scratchboard techniques.
And to continue the chilly theme, here’s an exercise I completed for my embroidery class. This lesson was on value.
Author: horsenettle
Inktober
Using India ink has been eye opening. It’s lightfast, permanent, and waterproof. It’s available in many colors, and it’s mostly transparent. It can be a stick, liquid in a bottle, or markers. I guess I never thought about how perfect it is as a medium.
I think it creates beautiful, glowing colors. Unlike watercolor, I don’t overmix and create mud. I wanted to add a little opacity as well as some white here and there, however, so I bought a bottle of Dr. Martins’s Bombay white. That, along with the few dozen Faber-Castell Pitt Brush Pens should hold me for awhile.
I’ve learned to work from light to dark as once the ink is down, it’s not possible to lift it unless working on a surface like Claybord or Duralar. I’ve also learned to use washes and glazes. I don’t quite know how such an art supply fiend like me has managed to miss ink as a medium all these years. I’m pleased I finally found it.
More Marker Sketches
I love paint and I love pencil. Combine the two, and you probably get a marker, so what’s not to love? I’ve been using my Staedtler watercolor set quite a bit, like on the cow above. And I’ve ventured into the Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens. They use India ink, so the end product is permanent, water resistant, and lightfast. Both bird sketches are done with Pitt pens, and all sketches have a wee bit of a white gel pen here and there. Yes, I’m broadening my horizons and can now say it’s okay to use a white pen.
Watercolor Brush Pens
Maybe, just maybe, I’ve found a perfect medium, a cross between drawing and painting, the watercolor brush pen. I bought a cheap set and loved using them. I already have a set of Winsor and Newton watercolor markers but it never clicked. I’ll give them another try, but in the meantime, this set of 36 Staetdler markers are not lightfast, but they’re vivid and work well with a waterbrush.
