Drawing with ink

17/09/2014 - In this session we were experimenting with using ink. first, we got into small groups and had to collect two natural forms from outside, such as leaves and conkers etc. we then put these on a plinth in the centre of our group, and arranged them so that each person had a good view of the objects to draw from. We used natural forms such as leaves, pebbles and conkers to draw from. We did exercises again that helped us to look at and think about the properties of the objects, such as drawing in 3 minutes, 1 minute, 30 seconds and with our opposite hand. I used a fine liner pen to draw outlines of the objects, but without taking the pen off the page, making sure I used one continuous line, creating a 'web' of the objects with lines through it. I then used water to add tonal detail to the drawing, this is my work:

I found drawing the objects quite easy and think the shapes and proportions were accurate, but found it difficult not to take the pen off the paper. I was quite pleased with this work, however, the next task was to draw the same objects, but using a dip pen and ink. This was the first time I had used this technique so I found this really difficult to control, and also struggled with adding tone by cross hatching and I wasn't really pleased with the results. To extend my skills I will practice using cross hatching, and using a dip pen and ink. I will also look at some artists that use ink.

I have looked at some other artists ink drawings, and have found quite a few that I like and think look really good. I can take inspiration and learn from these existing examples to improve my own work. I think that the cross hatching works well on these examples, and cross hatching is something I need to improve.

This image in particular is very similar to the piece of work I created, as it uses both ink drawing, and tone which has been added with water, and the subject of the work is a natural form.

Cross hatching