Inktober 2017

I'm not really an inking artist, so I thought this year I might try learning. The biggest challenge so far has been getting used to the materials. I've been experimenting with different papers, inks, pens and brushes. 

Also, I wanted to focus on one subject, memento mori. I've lately been looking a lot at medieval art and especially love reliquaries. So beautiful and creepy! 

I usually started with a sketchbook drawing which I then retraced using a lightbox onto new paper (usually using a colerase pencil - my favorite)

I filled in the dark areas with sepia acrylic ink for this one.

But I wanted to see what I could do with the materials, so after I painted the acrylic ink above, I brushed on a thin layer of tan acrylic on top to seal it. I like the way it makes it look more weathered and imperfect. After the acrylic wash was dry, I used pro-white and black gouache to model some tones. 

Not sure I liked the way I drew the drapery on the ghost, BUT I did enjoy this technique a lot.

For this one I was mainly interested in a white shape against a black background. I spattered on some prowhite after it was dry to get a speckled effect in the background. 

Thanks for taking a peek at my inks! Hopefully by next year I'll have learned a few more techniques. I plan to keep trying out various ways to ink throughout 2018. (and continue on a few of my other projects...coming soon!)