Inktober Day 3: Rotting

#inktober Day Three, "rotting". Some fungi in a rotting log. I love mushrooms, they are so cute, quite yummy, and help out of the forests life cycle. Mushroom pizza is my favorite pizza, what's yours? 

Mushrooms were pretty fun to draw, I’ll probably try and incorporate them into more drawings., maybe with a portrait like I do with florals. I also tried to stylize this drawing more than my go to hyper to mostly realistic. I also learned I need to work on adding value more strategically with ink. I should have gone darker sooner and rendered the log out more.

I hope you’re still enjoying Inktober!

-Rebecca

Pigma Micron Ink pens
Black and white ink
Princeton brushes
And a Nikko G dip pen
on 4x5.5" 100 lb paper
Artwork is available for sale

Inktober Day 2: American Grotesque

America Grotesque. I was very loosely inspired by the prompt for this one. My thought process was a jumble of American Grotesque, to William Mortensen , to the definition of Grotesque, to creature and distorted, and then I though of Goya’s “el sueno de razon produce monstruos”, and here we are an an owl with some heavy Goya inspiration. 

This one was another challenge to my skills. I work with watercolor often, so I wanted to try and use washes of ink, rather than going for markers. It worked out better than I thought, but it was a very different experience than working with watercolors. I also loved using a lighter tone of ink with a dip pen. Since I work with dip pens in calligraphy, that felt very comfortable. I may use my Nikko G to ink over Micros. It’s less portable, but I have more control. I’ve also never drawn an owl before, and don’t have much visual vocabulary for birds so it was fun to try and evoke a sense of fluffiness with the feathers. I hope you enjoy it!

Let me know if you like soft washes of tones to add value, or do you prefer hatching and texture to produce value?

-Rebecca

Pigma Micron Ink pens
Black and white ink
Princeton brushes
And a Nikko G dip pen
on 4x5.5" 100 lb paper
Artwork is available for sale

Inktober Day 1: Chained

#inktober Day One, "chained", Daisy chained that is. I originally had a much cooler concept, but I wasn't sure if I could execute it in ink on a 4 by 5.5 inch card. However, this reminded me why these types of prompts are so good for me as an artist. Since I can always refer back to those early concept sketches later and bring some of my other ideas to life in a medium I'm more comfortable with. I am going to make it a point to revisit my current sketchbook in a few months.

A lot of Inktober prompts also seem to skew towards being creepy or haunted, probably since it’s during October. While my art tends to be more whimsical and lighthearted, so I am also challenging myself to think outside of the box to stay true to my art style and subject matter while still using either the #Drawnktober prompt list or the Official #inktober one.

Also realized I should have got some colored inks, any recommendations? Would you want to see colors incorporated?

-Rebecca