Cup Doodle: February 2008

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Ink-o-rama

So I broke out the 'ol brush to give some of my recently acquired Japanese ink ago. It was alot of fun and I think I need to spend some more time to hone my brush reflexes. Usually I ink with Sakura Microns or trusty Pentels, but now and again I use a brush. Windsor Newton Series 707, #2-- yeah... I really should spend more time with it!

As much as I wish it otherwise, me and inking have had a rough road. I've an unreasonable fear of inking, that my ineptitude may somehow ruin my art. And alot of times it did! Because of that I developed a somewhat ridiculous process of lightboarding in several stages. So for much of my personal work I have multiple copies of art in various stages. I've worked this way for years and only in the past year or so have I begun to return to inking directly on the original art. Perhaps in a strange way inking via lightboard for so long strengthened my confidence, since there was less worry to "mess up" I got a bit more comfortable with the process. Sometimes I need to ink on the original just for the sake of time, or just because it is a relatively small piece of art. I'm not sure if the slow shift back to inking direct is as subconscious as I make it to be, though it would be nice to lose the paranoia.

ps, this is post #50 - woot!