Pens, Inks and Drawing in Inktober 2021

Blind contour drawing - that's me, but it doesn't look like me, thanks to the blind contour.

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October is Inktober - a month when many people who are nuts about drawing with pen and ink, or brush, or markers, challenge themselves to do a drawing a day. This seems like a good time for a post on pen and ink drawing. I will intersperse a few of my drawings from this month.

Blind contour and hatching. 

The main time I draw is in the evening, sitting with a cat on my lap and a cup of tea. I don't want ink that can spill, so fountain pens are ideal. I need ink that is water proof so I can use my drawings for collage. I prefer to refill a fountain pen instead of buying a new one, or buying plastic cartridges. And you can mix inks in the same brand to get a wide variety of colors. I often use black or brown, so I'm not sure this is a big deal to me. But I want options.

Judith Hoffman blind contour with added hatching

I have finally settled on De Atramentis Document Inks. Jane Blundell's posts about fountain pen inks are very helpful, this is where I first learned about the De Atramentis inks. This seems to be her most recent post, it includes links to previous posts. Note the Document inks are the ones that dry waterproof. They are changing their bottles and name, the newer Artist Inks are the same formula.

Couldn't find my pen, I really like the weird bottle shapes.

Many fountain pen inks will bleed when wet media is applied over them. The De Atramentis Document inks have been waterproof for me with a few exceptions. My usual method is to draw directly on the substrate - which is usually collage held down with Golden Matte Medium, or to draw on architect's tracing paper, and then use that as collage material. Either way the drawing ink needs to be waterproof.  The De Atramentis Inks work great. The one exception is their white, which seems to be made in a different way. It will settle in the pen. You need to shake the pen a bit and scribble on scrap paper to get it going. The white sometimes smears a bit when I am collaging, especially when I have drawn on a layer of acrylic paint. When applied to the architect's tracing, it smears a tiny bit where it is very thick but works well all in all. I try to just paint over the collaged paper with the matte medium, then squeegee off excess with a rib squeegee. I don't work over the same area multiple times.

Blind contour with hatching, Inktober 2021

In the last 5 years I have tried a number of inexpensive fountain pens. Now I am using what pen nerds might call an affordable fountain pen, but to me it is fairly expensive. It's the Twisbi Eco, $35.50 at JetPens. I switched to the Eco because the ink in the nib doesn't dry out. I can lose a pen for weeks, find it under my chair, and start drawing right away. There is a piston filler that works well, but you have to be careful not to twist the knob at the end of the pen when there is ink in it. If you do, ink will leak out. 

Insomnia. Inktober 2021.

I get most of my pens and inks from JetPens. They have a number of short videos explaining and demonstrating paper, pens and inks. Here is an article about fountain pen nibs. Another place that has been a good source is the Goulet Pen Company. They have the De Atramentis Document White. I haven't used them as much as JetPens, but have been happy with both places. Please Note: I am not affiliated with JetPens or Goulet Pens in anyway, I just want to suggest places I have found to be reliable. Both are in the US.

Strange rabbit from Svankmeyer's Alice. I like to experiment with hatching styles.

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A New Plan for Inktober

 

Two Inktober sketchbooks made with 7 pound canary tracing paper.

In early August I planned to do my Inktober drawings in a sketchbook I made with old envelopes. (That post is here) Recently I have been drawing on a pamphlet stitched pad of yellow 7 pound tracing paper so I could use the drawings in collages. Tonight I made a sketchbook with the tracing paper to use instead of the envelope sketch books. The new one is about 7 x 9 inches, a size I usually prefer for sketching. It's also just a stack of papers pamphlet stitched together. When I am done I will cut the thread and coat all the drawings I like with matte medium.

Interesting layers of images may lead to a new idea.

There is an additional benefit to this paper. There are times when I get composition ideas from the layers of sketches. I am using d'Atramentis document inks in grey, dark red and a mixture of turquoise and brown that is very close to black. They are a little slow to dry but these colors are waterproof once they are dry.

Preparing for Inktober I made two small sketchbooks from envelopes

 

I have been saving envelopes for a couple of years, ever since I bought a few sketchbooks made with mail from Helen Coldwell at badbooks on etsy. I used one of Helen's books for Inktober in 2018 and enjoyed it very much. She isn't making the mailed format any more, but does have mixed paper books in several sizes. I just recently bought a couple of those, they are equally fun, and I didn't have to make them.

This year I thought I should take out the big pile of envelopes and make them into something. I did add in some graph paper, some gridded paper, a few other things. But it's 90% envelopes. The cover is an old cardboard box, covered with an envelope a dear friend sent me stuff in. (Thank you Wendy!) I lined the spine with some super to make it stronger. 

This year I plan to do a very low pressure Inktober. No pressure at all actually. I will draw with ink every day, but it may just be a 5 minute doodle and I won't feel bad about that.

Summing up Inktober

My earlier post says most of it. I would add the selfie ring light was handy, it was a little quicker to get the photos into my computer. I suppose if I blogged from my phone I could be even faster. The blog is a good record for me. Next year I may remember to read it and see how things went. The biggest problem was my internal resistance to any outside pressure. While I draw almost every day I just don’t like to have a schedule or expectations. Toward the end of October I took an online class for drawing on the iPad which was a distraction. Since the second lesson on hatching I have been drawing some in Procreate, a drawing app.

I do feel burned out right now. And it wasn't horrible, just a little bit of pressure. Still, it's supposed to be fun, right? Next year I may do a drawing a week, working on it a little every day. Some people make drawings that span the month on one page. The second drawing by Jake Parker on this page may be an example. I can't find a lot of information.

Since I always like to have at least one image to illustrate blog posts, I'll leave with this digital drawing, done in Procreate with a tweaked 6B pencil tool. The proportions are not right, but I liked the effect.

The End of Inktober!

I have lost track of how many I did, some days there were two or three drawings in my hand, others not so many. But I feel pretty confident it's at least 30. Every time I say I want more interesting content in my drawings, it doesn't happen. Inktober is the wrong environment for that - the emphasis is on speed and production. And I can't produce and also explore content. It sounds easy, but it's not for me.

A quick selfie. After I finished I realized the ceiling fan looks like a giant bow. Not my style.

From a photo taken in the Zymoglyphic museum.

And so I’m done. I may add to the evaluation in a few days. I can say I did it, but the question is, would I do it again?

Inktober

I'm nearing the end - a few more days.

My friend Karen on Sktchy. Black Pitt pen, Caput Mortem brush pen.

One of those days when I was unfocused and just doodling. Pitt pen.

Scribbling while watching a movie. Pitt pen. Can you tell I'm loosing steam? I hate to quit this close to the end.

From a photo on Sktchy. Pitt pen, white Posca.

Another from Sktchy, quick and easy.

This was an interesting photo - a collage of several images.

Another interesting photo. This particular security pattern is very hard to draw on. It has a strong diagonal that seems to accentuate the ink lines and make them hard to control.

Inktober early evaluation

I decided to take stock now, before the end of the month. I'm deciding what to prioritize and what I'd like to do in the remaining time. My notes went into my little sketch book. Yesterday I didn't draw, I wrote up my notes and then read for awhile. I wanted to take the pressure off, which also makes me want to draw. Today I did a drawing, trying to follow my "new" plan. I will also do a wrap up at the end of the month, but it will probably be short.

First the drawing:

Done as usual in my envelope sketch book. It's from a digital collage I made - my grandmother's silhouette and a skeleton. She was German, a lucky coincidence, since the envelope is from Germany. Done with a Pitt pen.

The first page of my notes - I won't bother you with all three, but here are the notes:
Pros: I have come this far, at least some kind of sketch every day. (Here I list the images I do like. My pages are numbered so easy to refer to.) I like most of the text pages - do more. I especially like drawings in my previous post of the figure and the face. The figure is painterly, and the face gets a little dreamy. The size is good - not intimidating. Cheap paper is good, although not really cheap in this case. (the notebook was made by BadBooks on Etsy, but I could make more myself)

Cons: Don't like all the drawings - some done too fast. Next year I need to consider doing fewer drawings and putting more time into each one. Tired of the small size and cheap paper - can't use my favorite ink pens, they bleed thru. (yes, I am contradicting myself) I'm tired of the pressure - have been gardening a lot, a bit short on time. (The weather has been perfect and I have done a lot in the front bed.)

Do More: Text pages. Daily comments, life in general. More like the (previous post - face) drawing - fine lines, minimal outline. Also more like (previous post - figure) drawing. More painterly. And more like Big Mouth (last image on linked page) - splats, small drawn texture in background, drawn from collage. Also more like double exposures (this post).

I think a wrap up at the end is useful, but checking in mid-month is also a good idea. If you have favorites, especially from this month, I'd love to know what they are. I hope you are getting some time in to draw. Try to not get discouraged if you are short on time. I have several friends who can't draw regularly. Just keep plugging away when you can.

A figure, a frog and a face

I realized haven't been posting in the same order on sktchy as I have here. I guess that doesn't matter - they are drawings in pen and ink.

October 18. This guy's face is long, but not quite that long. I had to scribble on the background with a white posca pen to cover the dark grey on the envelope. In the end I rather like this one. It's a little weird. I took his head into Procreate (drawing/painting app for iOS) and attached it to another body. I liked the size mis-match so left it that way. I also like the background doodles.

October 19. An awesome toad or frog from Sktchy. Pitt pen. My biggest complaint about Sktchy is that most people post the most boring selfies - looking straight forward, frontal lighting, grinning. But now and then there is some awesome interesting photo.

October 20. Another Sktchy drawing.

A doodled page, something I haven't really counted as a drawing. This was a dream, I woke feeling very frustrated about this. Done with a sepia Pitt pen. I like doing these pages of text now and then. I do figure it's still keeping the pen moving, and I am drawing shapes, as opposed to writing. I am still loving the torn envelopes, they have a nice irregularity. Getting tired of the smaller size. Getting tired of worrying about having a finished drawing every day. I had thought I would evaluate at the end of the month, but thing I'll take stock tonight, and again at the end.

This one was done with a black Pitt pen. I just thought I'd include these as part of the record. I do like doing this in my journals now and then. I don't record much about most days, am always trying to remember to add more.

So far, so good

I am sort of keeping up with Inktober this year. I did miss one day, but did two sketches the following day.

October 15. Experimenting a little with combining photos. I would like to be doing more content oriented drawings but realize it will take more time. I have been doing a lot of gardening, the weather is mild and rain will start soon. For a couple weeks Jim and I watched two episodes of The Good Place every evening. By the time evening comes around, I don't always have a lot of energy. So for now a quick drawing is good.

October 16. Done from a photo on Sktchy. This guy took a photo at the bank teller's drive up window. I like the composition very much.

October 17. This is from a photo of a friend on Sktchy. She's at a Yayoi Kusama exhibit, Infinity Mirror. I like this photo very much, another composition that appeals to me. I just realized I am a day behind, one drawing short. Better get to work.