You might remember this drawing that I posted back on Easter weekend….I was so tickled with it, and wanted to find time to work on the rest of it. Well, I’ve been hard at it! Probably about 30 hours worth. My problem was….I forgot what I had planned to do with it, and started winging it. Things did not go well.
Tutorial: Patch hatching, a tiny studio visitor, and a DISASTER (Pen and ink technique series #2)
Watch the video below and scroll to the end to leave comments or questions — or click HERE to watch it on YouTube and leave comments over there. I read both dutifully!
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Paper
Dip Pen
- J Herbin Belle Epoque pen set
- Nikko G nibs
- Bombay Pen Cleaner: BLICK AMZ
- UK: Artisto Pen Cleaner
Ink
- Platinum Carbon Fountain Pen Ink AMZ
The problem
That border! Ugh. It began by not planning a border that would fit the character of the subject. I’m not certain I had a style in mind back at Eastertime – but I definitely don’t remember it now! I do know I had planned on using another inking technique, but that didn’t really happen – I was just doodling swirlies…with a totally different pen width, and that made the border significantly darker than the main image. And then I also had made the vertical borders on the sides a different value than the horizontals on top and bottom. Watercolor couldn’t fix that – and once I had tried, it was clear the border was NOT working. I had to get out an xacto knife and just remove it all!
The result
Not everything went badly – fortunately just that border this time. Once I lightened the load, watercoloring the bird was a joy! The background blue is all colored pencil. Want to try it yourself? Here’s the reference photo!
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The takeaways
- Stay present with your art. Don’t let deadlines or speed or anything else interrupt the process you’ve honed.
- Be willing to part with what’s not working. Letting a random idea (“a few weeks ago I had an idea that I forgot…”) take you off the rails isn’t worth chasing. It’ll come back.
- Learn everything you can from every piece of paper. Even if tossing it, use the empty space to practice the techniques you’ll need to repaint/redraw it. You’ll be better prepared!
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