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pen and ink
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anyone do pen and ink drawings?
can you recommend a particular pen to draw with? i am particularly interested in drawing over acrylic paint. thanks.
can you recommend a particular pen to draw with? i am particularly interested in drawing over acrylic paint. thanks.
Answers
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For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.It depends on the style of drawing you want. Rotring pens are great, but each one will give you only a single width of line.Tenniel didn't have access to them, and he would have used a steel nib where the line width changes with drawing direction of the nib on the paper, and the amount of pressure applied.
naz, have you used rotring pens yourself? are they 'scratchy' to use? i'm looking for something which is fairly smooth and also a bit wider than a normal writing pen so the line will show up fairly well over paint.
heathfield, have you used one or can you tell me a little more about what i should be looking for?
thanks.
heathfield, have you used one or can you tell me a little more about what i should be looking for?
thanks.
Nib pens do tend to be a bit scratchy, while Rotring are very smooth in use. But what are you going to use for ink? With Rotring, it would have to be a drawing ink and on gloss acrylic this might bead, breaking up the line. With a nib pen, you could use well-diluted acrylic paint as the ink, which should take more readily to the background medium.
http://www.jacquiblackman.co.uk/dip_pens.htm
http://www.jacquiblackman.co.uk/dip_pens.htm
I use classic dipping pens with a variety of inks most designned for drawing but at times use coloured calligraphy inks, ground pigment block inks (from suppliers of japanese/chinesepainting/calligraphy materials) and conventional fountain pen ink I change the solvents too water if \i want to add brush shading and alcohol for sharp clear lines as it evaporates quickly without smudging...
of the 'drawing pens' there isa good reason rotring are brand leader....they are excellent but the techniques are completely different
of the 'drawing pens' there isa good reason rotring are brand leader....they are excellent but the techniques are completely different
If you want a bold lively line with varying thickness that will glide over dry acrylic you should try a bamboo pen, you can buy them, but also make your own - just google 'how to make a bamboo pen' and there is lots of info. You don't need expensive calligraphy ink either, you can make that too from lots of substances, soot with gum arabic and water. I've even used an ink made from soaking steel wool in strong tea.
Yes, you don't have to go that far, but I would suggest you have some variety of 'ink' the wire wool and tea is more of a wash, but if you buy calligraphic ink, don't only use it 'neat', make up say 3 lots in 3 jars; keep some original, which will be as black as can be, then some for middle tone, and some for light, you will find that using the variety gives vibrancy to you drawing. Use brush as well as the bamboo pen, Van Gogh used this type of pen for his drawings, they are fun to make and each one has it's own characteristics, I have just counted 6, all much used, I have made standing here in a jam jar. Let me know how you get on.