After watching Vilppu’s little DVD on
fountain pen and wash sketching, I thought ‘That’s the thing for me.’ It’s
loose, it’s chaotic, it’s quick, it’s clean, and it looks great. But after
buying Rohrer & Klingner Sepia India ink (supposedly India inks are washable) and
an extra-fine nib fountain pen, I set to work on my first sketch on the rough
80-pound paper I’ve been using for figures. Something about this combination
doesn’t work. It looked promising whilst wetted with the water-filled brush pen,
but the next day I realized the ink hadn’t washed at all. Not one to make the
same mistake twice, I searched around more and replaced everything: the pen
with a broader nib, Noodler’s Ink (as recommended here: http://www.inknouveau.com/2011/06/beyond-pen-fountain-pen-ink-as.html), and a pair of
watercolor pocket drawing pads.
Since watercolor paper is rather expensive, I
decided to try out Daniel Smith Watercolor Ground, a sort of paint-on
watercolor primer that works on just about any surface. It smells like paint, and that’s a problem
for me. I’m overly sensitive to that sort of thing. Gasoline and bugspray give
me headaches, and I’m uncomfortable having a similar chemical hanging about the
room in which I spend my days and nights. I sealed the pages in a box to hide
the odor. The ground warps the paper a fair bit, but not enough to make it
unusable. The real problem is the texture. Put primer on a wall and drag a pen
across it. It’s like sandpaper. This isn’t good for fountain pens and can’t be
good for brush pens. If I were working with normal brushes and pigments, the ground
might work. But it’s odious, expensive, and the bottom line is it simply
doesn’t work for my purposes. It’s disappointing, but I’ll make the most of the
watercolor pocket pads.
The “Resurrection” picture was my third
attempt on grounded paper. You can tell it came out rough. Now I’ve got a drum
of ground that won’t be used for a long time. Oh well. A good artist needs to
experiment, and experimentation is costly.
I can see myself getting into an ink
collection like Vilppu; experimenting with different mixtures. I hear bad ink
combinations can damage pens, so I guess I’ll have to start up a collection of
those, too. I’m on a budget at the moment, so this will have to wait. Counting
the recent purchase in transit, I now own four fountain pens, a brush pen, and
four different inks. But the only things I’ll be using them for in the near
future are quick sketches. I quite like the look of copic markers, but after
seeing the price of these buggers I’ve decided it’s best to build up my skill
in other media first. I will be trying them out someday, though. Next year,
perhaps.
These figures were done with a Pilot
Penmanship fountain pen (extra fine nib) and Rohrer & Klingner Sepia ink.
The ink won’t wash (I'm not using the watercolor ground), so I put some diluted ink in the brush pen. You work with your problems.
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| 10/06/2014 |
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