"White Ink"

My understanding is that white ink isn't really a true ink, as inks are always transparent and so white ink must have something added to it to make it opaque. Like acrylic binder.

With that out of the way:

I add light values to pen & ink drawings in a number of ways: colored pencil, gouache with a brush, and lately I have been trying some white gel pens.

I want a white I can use with a dip pen and brush, and so have been hunting for something that clicks with me. (Gouache out of a tube won't work well with a dip pen nib.)

The top "clouds" were applied with a No. 2 Robert Simmons Expression synthetic round brush.

The linear marks were made with one of my all-time favorite and most-used nibs, an Esterbrook 988:

Esterbrook 988 in a Koh-I-Noor holder.

My conclusion?

They all felt serviceable with brush and dip pen. I could make do with any of them if I had to. I think the Daler-Rowney flowed the best in the dip pen, And the cloud it produced has the most subtleties.

This drawing shows the effect of a dip pen putting in the light value lines:

 (I think the dark lines were a fine line marker)

Field Museum outing 2/05/2016

I went back to The Field Museum last week, mostly staying in the bird area and working in a Strathmore Toned Tan sketchbook.

marker and gouache

Pheasant-Tailed Jacana and Parasitic Jaeger

colored pencil

Great Black-Backed Gull

marker

White-Tailed Deer

Field Museum outing 1/13/2016

I took advantage of a free day (for Illinois residents) and went to the Field Museum last week, with art supplies in hand. I worked as fast as I could, not stopping for lunch, and got 3 pieces done (or started).

marker in Strathmore toned tan sketchbook with white gouache

I have always marveled at the massive antlers of the Irish Deer skeleton they have on display.

(I added the gouache highlights at home)

watercolor and gouache

I started this in watercolors and struggled as I do not have 3 hands and did not bring any kind of easel, so I took it a good bit farther at home.

pencil in Strathmore toned tan sketchbook

This is either a Blackbock Antelope or an Indian Gazelle

Figure Drawing (at the zoo)

Yesterday I finally did something i've been meaning to do for a while. I went to the zoo and drew animals from life. I have been drawing a lot from photographs, but there's nothing like the challenge of drawing a living, moving creature in front of you (that doesn't know you want it to stay still). The ostrich was the hardest, as I liked one particular head position it went into, and I had to keep waiting until it did it again.

An alpaca that everyone kept identifying as a llama (understandably)

Fun With Pen & Ink

I have gotten back into pen and ink work again lately as I am contemplating doing another Lincoln portrait. (see others here, here and here.)

A beautiful gnarled tree I found in Bunker Hill Forest Preserve.

Noodlers #41 Brown ink with Esterbrook 788 nib in Strathmore Toned Tan sketchbook

Horse and Round Tailed Ground Squirrel from online references.

Noodlers #41 Brown ink with Esterbrook 788 nib on Rives tan paper

Giraffe, the Third

watercolor and colored pencil with touches of gouache in Holbein sketchbook

I finally finished the third giraffe in my series.

I got a lot of great photos last February when we visited Brookfield Zoo. They were indoors and very close to us.

This was a great experience in developing technique for rendering animals. I like the process of watercolor underlying colored pencil work.

Here's all 3 as they appear on one sheet:

Brookfield Zoo Tiger

purchase on Artfinder

Brookfield Zoo Tiger

oil on board

Saint Louis Lion

I made a quick sketch of this ornamental grotesque lion's head at the front of the Saint Louis Art Museum, which I visited on Saturday.

graphite and Staedtler colored pencil on Strathmore Toned Tan paper

Yet another giraffe

Another Brookfield Zoo giraffe. A young one this time.

watercolor with touches of colored pencil and gouache

another giraffe

a Brookfield Zoo giraffe

(a past giraffe)

watercolor with touches of gouache and colored pencil in Moleskine Sketchbook