Drawing Tutorial 022 - Drawing materials(part 2)

In our last tutorial on drawing materials we covered paper, pencil, eraser and sharpener, the basic tools with which one can start drawing and sketching.

Today we will look into one fantastic sketching and drawing tool and medium. PEN and INK. Pen and ink is considered one of the most bold drawing instrument/medium. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that unlike most of the drawing mediums it cannot be erased once applied and that limits the wrong strokes by deliberately being more careful with each stroke. Though it may seem to restrict the creative freedom, on the contrary it bolsters confidence by eradicating use of erasers or other masking layer to cover up errors. It helps learning the importance of strokes and therefore leads to minimizing unnecessary strokes creating a wonderful story.

Having said so, pen and ink can be used over light pencil drawings for a controlled and intricate drawings. But it still holds true that marks cannot be erased in most cases although white inks can be used to add some make up over erred ink lines.

Pens can be used to draw line drawing, drawings with hatching of different styles or with brushes similar to watercolour. Different application styles give distinction in the final result and is appealing in their own merits.

Materials:

Ink

Water soluble Inks are most commonly used in fountain pens. These are die based ink which means the colorant is dye which is dissolved in water to make this ink. The ink being water-soluble is normally not waterproof. However, it has one big advantage that it can be kept inside pens without worrying to clog the feed and cleaning pend nibs, brushes etc are much easier as the ink dissolves in water. Also, die based inks come in so many different hues to choose from making the colour palette  wider.

There is a special dye based ink by Noodler's called bulletproof ink which is highly water resistant and UV resistant. The ink binds to the cellulose of the paper thus giving it resistance to water and alcohol based solvents.

In pigment based ink, ink particles are suspended in water rather than being dissolved in it. This has some advantage and some disadvantage. The ink is naturally water proof as it cannot be washed by water once dried after application. The ink particles not being dissolved in water, tends to clog the feed of the pen and therefore not suitable for use in fountain pens. Other instruments like brush or bamboo pens needs to cleaned after application. Also, the hues in which the ink is available is limited.

Therefore the selection of ink depends upon the requirements like ease of use and maintenance, colour requirements, cost and preservation.

Some ink recommendation

Daytone fountain pen ink - Cheap but comes in a wide range of colour. Good for pastime sketches with brush application.
Kuretake zig sumi ink(black) - Cost reasonable. Quick drying pigment based ink which is waterproof after drying. Good for calligraphy, illustration and graphic application. Gives true black and clean lines. Not to be used on fountain pen.
Noodler's bulletproof ink(black) - The ink is really adorable. A waterproof ink that can be used in fountain pens.

Pilot Iroshizuku fountain pen ink - Great inks for fountain pen and comes in so many colours.

Pen

Fountain pens are great for loose sketching on the go as it can carry ink within it without the risk of spilling inks. With nibs that can give a bit of line variation. Pen nibs with nib holder are great for using with pigment based inks like sumi. Fountains pens from Lamy, Sheaffer, Hugo Boss, Waterman , sailor etc offer good nibs and barrel and are worth posessing but may seem costly to a beginner.  In a lower price range Parker, Baoer, Jinhao offer quality pens.

Bamboo pens and quills also work great with ink and offers line width variation that fountain pens can't offer.

Brush

Any watercolour brush will work with waterbased inks. Having said that, its is good idea to save costly watercolour brushes for watercolour only and keep a separate set of brush for inking. For line works, small sizes brushes work perfectly while for blocking broader areas large brushes are fir for the job.

Paper
Ink drawings can be done practically on most of the papers. But on smoother the paper it easier to do intricate and accurate drawings with lesser blotting. Paper with a bit of grain is good to sketch loosely. Smooth papers like Bristol makes the pen nib glide over the paper surface without damaging the paper or the nib.

Styles and techniques

We will discuss about the styles and techniques with pen and ink more in future.For now here are some ink drawings of various degree of association and with different styles & techniques.