REFILL YOUR BRUSH PENS

DON’T THROW AWAY BRUSH PENS! The video above shows my quick ink refill process for my favorite inking tool! Refilling is particularly handy when you have a lot of loose ink around. If you’re committed to the ink life like me, Higgens offers a QUART size bottle so if you’re committed ink like me then it’s worth investing in that to last you ages. Here’s the listing on Blick.

EDIT: I actually switched to Dr. Ph. Martin’s BLACK STAR matte waterproof india ink and I like the finish of it better.

I love my WATERPROOF Pentel brush pens and I do actually adore the ink that came with my brushes, so if you’ve never tried a brush pen I recommend the WATERPROOF brush pen with the GREY ink bladder body. NOTE: if you get the black bladder body those pens are water-based and will re-activate and bleed if you add watercolor on top of them! Here’s a link to the WATERPROOF brushpens.

This process also works for the color ink brush pens, make sure the ink you replace with a color ink with a close match to what you want before adding, but the process should be the same. Let me know if you have any questions about brush pens, I LOVE talking about them and showing them to folks, they are my favorite way of inking and I’ve been using them for about 2 years now.

DRAW LIKE A PAINTER

An edited entry originally published October 22, 2015 on deviantART

I wanted to share about my first year experience successfully completing the challenge! Today I'd particularly like to address a question I got about the materials and style I'm using for the project. You can find more information about the challenge on Inktober.com or watching this video by Jake Parker.

BETTER TOGETHER

This is my first year successfully participating and completing the challenge. My friend Bridgett challenged me to participate in the prompt list shown on the left. It may seem like a simple thing, since I already was planning to participate but it's been a wonderful to have accountability participating with a friend. Plus, really fun to dream up a concept for the prompt then follow up with Bridgett to see what she came up with! If you are planning to participate in Inktober, I highly recommend getting an accountability buddy.

It's been exciting to how differently we handle the whole challenge. From tools to execution, we both have very different voices, but I spend a lot of time thinking "wow, that's so clever I should have thought of that!" when seeing Bridgett's creativity and imagination at play. It helps keep me engaged and focused on the challenge. In addition, it also gives me a clear idea of at least one person I’m drawing for since I know my friend will see my work!

THE SKETCHBOOK

Like many artists, I have found sketchbooks to be intimidating and difficult to complete. My last full-sized thick sketchbook took nearly three years to complete, and I still left it with empty pages. At the beginning of this year I came across an alternative to the thick ring bound books I have been buying. What I found was a small paperback sketchbook alternative. It made a world of difference not only in lowering the intimidation of completing the book but also to the transport and ease of pulling out a small sketchbook around a group of non-artists. The last book was from the brand Art Alternatives but this time I decided to try out Moleskine brand.

I used gouache watercolor for the cover out of habit, but next time I would switch to an acrylic gouache or at least seal the cover with a fixative to keep the paint from re-activating. I ended up grabbing a pack of three lineless Moleskine cahiers. Initially the paper seemed impossibly thin, that the ink might soak right through it, but I've been impressed with how well it holds up to super wet puddles of ink without bleeding. The pages do buckle with heavy liquids, but they still didn’t bleed. When applying straight black ink, the pages remain flat. I've been able to tell there is line art on reverse pages but not enough to make drawing on them issue in most cases (with the exception of blocked in black areas).

There's also a pocket sleeve in the back cover of the books, shown here (the book is upside here by accident). I'm not sure I'll end up using the pocket, but it's a nice touch as I'm often taping in pockets to my sketchbooks. With the paper this light that would be impossible, but a sleeve in the back could be perfect for slipping a scrap piece of paper or cards.

PENS & BRUSHES

Each has pros and cons, but it has been a revolutionary experience finally unlocking a visual texture I have so long admired in other artist's work! The first image below was completed with felt-tip Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pen while the second with the Pentel brush pen.

I've been using the Pentel brush pen shown below. There's another model that comes with the ability to have the ink cartridges refilled but I wanted to test it out before committing. The Pentel is waterproof which would allow me to fill in the lines with washes.

TONE WASHES

Life isn't polarized in black and white, and since I really wanted to work on value, I wanted to incorporate the flexibility allowed by tones. Enter the dynamic quo, Higgens Non-Waterproof Drawing Ink (no. 44021) and watercolor brushes. In fact, the brushes are the same ones I've been using all summer for my gouache painting, so by this point I feel really comfortable with them.

I've been using a miniature plastic palette to hold the ink and the cool thing about the ink is that it will dry if left out between sessions, and the ink can be reconstituted with water. I picked up this mini spray bottle in LA during spring for the Toughpainter workshop and have found it to be quite handy for not only gouache, but for transparent watercolor, and ink as well. If you need to keep a surface moist without running the risk of creating excessive runniness—it works wonders.

TIPS & TRICKS

I'm writing this on October 14th, just about in the middle of the challenge. Wouldn't you know it, at the end of the blog post I've found another traditional ink brush that I think I'm going to end up trying next week! But for the most part I've established my routine and from here out it's more an exercise in and seeing how I can stretch myself with the materials listed above but I've also learned a few things about keeping my little sketchbook and attempting a month-long challenge you may find helpful that I'd like to share with you.

I've been using this style of paper clip to ensure my sketchbook doesn't go flying open and get papers bent when I throw it in my bag, it can also be used to hold down one side of the sketchbook while working in the opposite side without having a page fall on wet ink.

I have noticed the pages erase better with a standard eraser rather than a kneaded type. Graphite pencil erases the best (but I have a feeling smudges the most on these pages) meanwhile any red or blue line pencils once drawn won't really erase. Also, take caution and try to clean up the line art before most of the inking, because the standard eraser will pick up ink. Maybe in that case, if you're using graphite using a kneaded eraser gently would work out better to remove pencil lines after laying ink.

I've read and heard from many artists how they fell behind in the challenge, or have struggled to keep up. If you're like me and work keeps you busy, I end up working in batches. I'll allocate my day off to drawing the challenges for the week ahead. I also keep a set of sticky notes in my sketchbook so I know what days to upload each prompt online.

Now, I'm aware that my approach to Inktober has produced a look divergent from many participants, some of used color, others monochrome in red or blue, while still others have focused on precision inking, or taken their ink drawings and fleshed them out in full color with markers—like my friend Bridgett. If you're participating in Inktober, let me know what you're using and share a link with your work! I would love to see it. What do you like best/lease about your chosen technique?