I was cleaning out the guest room/cat room/ art room/knitting room (new years resolution) and I found a bunch of stuff I’ve had since art center. One of which was a bottle of reddish calligraphy ink. I keep wanting to do caligraphy- I buy TONS of supplies every year only to just abandon it almost immediately. Perhaps taking a class and watching a tutorial or twelve on youtube would help in my efforts. Alas, I run out of ink in the actual pen and then it dries out in the nib and the cycle repeats. One year though I evidently got ink in bottles presumably for a dip pen I can only begin to guess where I put it. INK… woohoo! So I painted/sketched with it. There is more to this little painting but since I mostly Instagram my stuff it got cut off. They had cute shoes with bows on them… you just have to trust me.
I like the sketch! It’s fun. Full of indication and washy goodness. I just love basic value paintings. I never really quite appreciated as a high schooler just how difficult it is to be an artist. What I thought was art was really just copying photos. While this might help your technical skills for rendering, it doesn’t really help you be creative or even translate what you’re learning about value to art that comes out of your head. I don’t know ANYONE that can actually paint to the level of depth and creativity of what is in our heads. Most of us are limited by our ability. Kind of a bummer yeah? I wish there were drugs that made you super awesome at your craft instead of just years and years and years of repetition.
I have a love hate relationship with brush pens. I like them for their easy mess-free accessibility in my purse. You can whip one out anytime and draw. They’re a squirrly though and I can’t get a ton of control with them- especially around things like fingers if I am drawing small. I love the line weight variability, but I think what I am responding to most is that a brush, (opposed to a brush pen) has a really long bouncy stalk of bristles. Long brush bristles make me happy. The actual shape of the brush pen is the bothersome thing for me, the tip is super fine, but the base or stalk is kind of fat… so while you can get great line weight variability, it’s a real bitch to get a fine line if you happen to apply too much pressure. I don’t think of myself as heavy handed, I must just need more practice with a brush pen. There are people that are seriously masters of that medium, I am not one of them.
I did a baby infographic about the two types of brushes and used samples of artists that I admire to showcase the differences. Basically brush pen is more alla prima and messy and can make your work very sketchy and dynamic. A lining brush is a little more fussy, you have greater control and your line work and weight becomes a feature of the piece. It’s “in the moment” vs. clean and orderly.
-Trace
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