An Inktober Update

At the two-thirds point in Inktober some thoughts have been coming back fairly often.

First Inktober drawing, after van Dyck

The whole endeavor is a lark--it's fun to step away from other work I've been doing and explore the medium of pen and ink (and brush and marker) on a scheduled basis. Although my original training in drawing decades back involved the use of pen and ink, it's been a long while since I've done more than an occasional sketch, if that. Taking up various ink-spreading devices again has been a little bit like oiling a favorite garden tool. The tools are familiar but until they work smoothly the results are less than optimal. My first efforts this month were inevitably more stiff. Fluency in drawing is a lot like fluency in a second language--takes practice.

My first Inktober effort was a drawing after Anthony van Dyck who was a pupil of Rubens. The original drawing was made with black chalk. Although the drawing itself is serviceable, it lacks smoothness and the hatching is less convincing that it should be. But the key was to begin.

Zeus, an Inktober study

Although the Inktober organizer provides a schedule of suggested subjects and advocates posting a daily drawing on social media, the whole thing is very relaxed. You can do a daily or weekly drawing and choose your own subjects, which has been my choice. That means I've been doing copies of master drawings or sometimes my own subjects. It also means mostly using pen but also Copic markers and brushes. As an example, by the end of week one my line work got more relaxed and I began using a brush to add shadows (and therefore enhance dimensionality). So the sketch of Zeus (right) which was posted earlier shows more fluid lines and shading, particularly in that huge mustache.

Copy of a master drawing, an Inktober study

Copying masters' works is always useful. Over the years copying what others have achieved is a way to teach myself at least a little of how to do the same things. Copying a master draftsman like Michelangelo helps me to begin seeing, in part, how they saw. The astonishing thing about the drawings of people of the past is that those drawings were made from life or from memory before photography existed. That means the observational powers of the masters was amplified far beyond our own, seems to me. One look at a finished drawing by a master is enough to persuade me.

In the drawing of a man's head (left), said to be by Michelangelo, my main interest was to draw the profile in a believable way using ink. The original was in chalk, but hatched in a similar way to my copy. Ink is quite unforgiving--lay down some ink in the wrong place and you potentially ruin the work. What I generally do is make a graphite underdrawing, then ink and expand the final result. That's how I did this particular profile. But in the end the underdrawing is only a guide though it provides opportunities to make errors that can be corrected when inking. Comic book artists did something similar before the advent of digital art. They used a team, going from rough to finished pencil lay-in, then ink, then color. Each member generally handled only one task.

Spilled Ink, and Inktober drawing

Since subject matter is up to the participant, my own has not only involved heads and faces but other subjects too. Although no cityscapes or landscape have come out of my work, I've managed a still life or two among others. Another interesting way to work though an extended project like this has been to use different techniques, when able. In pen drawings, that means different ways of shading--hatching, cross-hatching, stippling, etc. Also, glass and light transmission have been interesting to me for years. This drawing (right) was done from a photo reference (no ink was harmed) and shaded using ink and brush. The challenge for this 5x9 drawing was two-fold: get the glass and shadows right but also show spilled ink accurately. This particular drawing was done using a flexible nib dip pen and a small watercolor brush. The technique is very like that of certain others from a century or so ago.

Inktober is continuing and for me is a continuing challenge. Not only is exploring the use of pen and ink important, but exploring subject matter, lighting, and different kinds of techniques is also useful. More to come.

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Previously
Inktober Plan
Another Shot of Ink(tober)
More Inktober