Week 22: Cursed Girl

 Inktober Prompt Week 3: Trap

Well! There certainly are some tricky prompts in Week 3 - CursedGirl says it took a while for her to choose which to draw and style of drawing. She  has created a Halloween treat for us with her 'Devils Trap' drawing. CG used simple materials to create this design - her sketch book, a black ball point pen and a ruler. Once again she has drawn the circle freehand (work of the devil!) without the help of a compass or shape. The ruler was used to assist her to plot the five points of the pentagram equally on the circle, but the connecting lines are done freehand. 

Its an interesting design and those symbols are positively creepy. I suggest we all print out a copy and stick it to our front doors to keep the devils away this All Hallows Eve! 🎃

'Devils Trap' by CursedGirl

Week 22: Inktober Week 3

 Prompt list for Inktober Week 3

Some good ones this week! Tricky...

15. Outpost

16. Rocket

17. Storm

18. Trap

19. Dizzy

20. Coral

21. Sleep

'View from Tibouron (Storm)' by Linda Weil

Dip Pens, Art Spectrum Acrylic ink, 250gsm Bristol Board

Week 21: Inktober Week 2

 Don: Throw

This charming little ink sketch from Don is his contribution to Inktober for the prompt 'Throw'. He tells me he ran out of time to do a more detailed drawing this week, but I don't think that undervalues the charm and worth of this little piece. Drawn in the Windsor Newton 120gsm visual diary with Copic 0.03 and 0.05 Fineliners it is a quick 30 minute sketch of Don's grandson playing with Max, the crazy spoodle. 

With this rapid drawing techniqe Don has captured the spontaneity of the game. The drawing has life and movement and joy. You can just tell that Max lives for a game of fetch and is begging for someone to play with him. With fast lines and quick drawing Don has captured a special moment between a boy and his best friend.

'Throw, dammit!' by Don

 i

Week 21: Inktober week 2

Some great ideas and drawings coming through for Inktober,
Week 2. Starting with:

 Silke: Hope

I looks like Mr. Bulky and his friends managed to escape last week's box and they are now travelling hopefully into the future. Silke has used the same media as previous; fineliner, black Japanese brush pen, grey Ecoline brushpen in the Handbook watercolour book. The addition of some watercolour brightens the work and advances Mr. Bulky's journey.

Love this series and I am wondering if Mr. Bulky and team revist us next week?

'Hope' by Silke

Jean: Hope

Jean also chose the theme of Hope for her drawing this week but has looked at it from a different viewpoint. She has drawn an Iris flower; in the language of flowers the Iris means faith, hope and wisdom. The blue iris symbolies faith and hope, the purple wisdom and the white purity.

Jean used simple Windsor and Newton ink washes with detail applied in a Pilot black fineliner on Fabriano HP 300gsm paper. Its a clean and effective work. No more shading needed Jean, this works well - perhaps a line or two on the leading edge of the leaves?  

'Hope' by Jean

Monika: Armor

Challenging herself to learn how to use her Rotring pens 0.1, 0.3 & 0.5  Monika has made a copy of the Albrecht Durer wood cut of Emperor Frederick III in armour. I am not familliar with this particular artwork, but making a copy of a master's work is an excellent learing process. Using this process Monika has experimented with different ways to create hatching and cross hatch fills as well as how to best use thick and thin linework. This is good work to see and great to see you master these skills.

'Frederich III after Albrecht Durer' by Monika

JD: Throw and Fish

JD was inspired by MK's idea and also created a throw on a chair. Done in a Windsor Newton 200gsm diary JD got a little carried away adding bits and more things to try and make it more interesting. Always worth having a go at this... I am of the school of thought that starting with a plan creates a better composition but I think JD has gotten away with it this time.  She says her blue wash was a 'disaster' so she cleverly disguised it with a pattern. The work IS a bit on the busy side, but is interesting all the same... I see the chair from Van Gogh's room, a painting of Cezanne fruit on the wall of Victorian paper and a Whistler staging just waiting for mother! It looks like you had fun.

'Throw' by JD

Last week JD ran out of time to finish her Inktober work, so she asks to show it this week: Butterfish. Created on Eraldo di Paolo Hot Press A3 paper using washed watercolour pencils, dry Faber Castell polochormo and Uni Pin Fineliners in light grey/dark grey and black 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 this is a beautiful work that JD should be very proud of.

'Butterfish' by JD

Rosalie: Inktober

Busy with several other projects, Rosalie has been enjoying watching you all create works for Inktober. She has sent this interesting LINK spotlighting Windsor Newton Inks.

Pencilly!! Plus Week 21/Inktober 2

 Pencilly!

Yes, this is officially Inktober month, but you all know my first and best love are pencils. In yesterday's Age there was an article about a new Australian online boutique wooden Pencil shop: Pencilly.

Who could resist? Not me, and I have already been shopping for pencils and accessories. Andrew, the owner/manager is very helpful and if you email him a request he will do his best to find that special pencil you are looking for. He sells one of my favourites, the Mitsubishi Hi Uni pencil. Also the iconic Blackwing pencils which I have been aching to try. Have look and support this great Australian shop - the more we buy, the more his stock and variety can expand.

Moving on to a couple of wonderfully imaginative responses to Week 2 Inktober Prompts:

 KM

Innovative and creative, that is my respons to KM's drawing this week. Using the Prompt 'Teeth', her drawing is done on coldpress paper with Faber Castell Pens, a black Sharpie and Metallic Derwent colour pencils. It is KM's reaction to the current Covid lockdown here in Melbourne. As she says:

"I loved Silke's Bulky last week so I wanted to do something a bit less realistic so choose teeth on a mask. Added in the slipper and you have part of the lockdown uniform... on the slipper the anchor represents 'hope' in the trio of faith, hope and charity."

It's fabulous and I love it!

'Lockdown fashion' by KM

MP

A more realistic approach, but no less creative, MP has chosen the Prompt 'Throw' as her subject this week. Taking a throw, she has thrown it over a chair and drawn the result. Drawn on 220 Canson drawing paper with a Black Uni Finline 0.1 and supported with watercolour pencil washes this is a delightful drawing.

The fabric folds are well observed and the way the plaid design curves reinforces the folds is expressive. The hanging tassels create added interest. The chair is simply drawn, almost all linework which helps to focus our attention on the throw. Just a bit of subtle crosshatching shadow on the legs of the chair makes the chair a three dimensional object rather than a flat form - this extra shadow was very well judged and executed. Its a fine line between just enough and too much - this is perfectly balanced! MP debated putting a shadow under the chair, but wisely decided not to. I don't think it was needed and would possibly have overpowered the throw. 

Very well done MP!

'Throw' by MP

Inktober

 Check out Inktober!

Have a look at the wonderful work being done by artists from all over the world on the Inktober INSTAGRAM page.

and here we have a late entry to Week 1 Prompts from:

Monika: Fish

A lovely practice fish done in ink in her sketchbook. Monika has been following various YouTube channels and did this fish as one of the exercises. Looks great - if this is her practice I cannot wait to see her final!

'Practice Fish' by Monika

Prompts 21: Inktober Week Two

 7 New Prompts!

A new week of Inktober prompts for you. If you wish to participate daily and find out more of Inktober go HERE. For this prompt series you only need to choose one of the 7 daily prompts, and you must use ink in some way in the drawing. It doesn't have to be completely ink, you can use other mediums as well. The prompts are:

8. Teeth
9. Throw
10. Hope
11. Disgusting
12. Slipper
13. Dune
14. Armor

I have choosen Armor - and here are some illustration pieces did many years ago for Your Garden magazine when it was still printed in black and white (olden days). Insects with armor! The works are drawn on Drafting Film with Rotring Rapidograph pens .01, .03 & .05. Each has been rendered using a  'Line & Dot' technique that suited the offset lithography printing done at that time.

Week 20: MP, Don, Silke & Jean

 Week 20/Week 1 Inktober continued...

MP: Blades

Guess whos been doing a bit of gardening this week? MP pulled up some grass and drew it from life  using a nib pen with Amsterdam Black Acryic ink on Canson 220 paper. She has added a bit of olive green watercolor pencil washed to add some green hues to the drawing. Additionally, the shadows are created with diluted ink and brushed in with a great result.

This is a very good drawing MP! The composition is great and the way you have used the shadow and line is effective. The addtion of the tangled root system works well and is mirrored by the one right blade that is dried off and reflects the squiggles of the roots. Nice work!

'Blades' by MP

Don: Whisp

Don tells me he tried a few of the prompts before settling on Whisp. He has used black Uniball 0.1 and  0.2 fineliner in a Windsor Newton A5 drawing pad to create this portrait of a young woman with a whisp of hair across her face.

I think this is a great interpretation of the prompt. As well, the facial features and proportions are quite good. The mouth especially is well drawn. Don has also captured the piercing, slightly confronting gaze in the eyes well. The hair is quite stylistic and translates to 'whisp'. I am not sure that the squiggle lines was the best way to add tone to the skin. But this is difficult to do if you have never tried it before. There are some different techniqes - one is pointilism which we have discussed before and is tedious - another is using contour lines. A great video I have used before HERE demonstrates this and is well worth a look. 

In spite of my reservations about the skin tone, the more I look at this work the more it engages me.

'Whisp' by Don

Silke: Bulky

Silke has embraced the entire INKTOBER concept and is doing a drawaing a day. You can all her works on her Instagram page HERE, but she has selected 'Bulky' to show on my blog. She has picked up a heap of new ink related art supplies she is experimenting with. For this drawing she has used a new Handbook watercolor book which is a lovely 200gsm cold press paper. She has drawn with a fineliner, and a black brush pen she bought in Japan and a grey Ecoline brushpen.

This a really fun drawing and it expresses the theme 'Bulky' in a excellent way. I love the way the large figure is pressed up against the confines of the page border, squeezing his smaller friends. Keep up the good work Silke - I will enjoy watching your Instagram page.

'Bulky' by Silke

Jean

Windsor & Newton ink with a nib pen on 300gsm hot press was Jean's choice of media this week, and 'Whisp' was her theme. She tells me she found it hard to get contrast and fine lines and even used the back of her nib to try and get very fine lines. She has asked me about her technique and isn't quite happy with the result - which has me a bit flabberghasted! I LOVE this technique Jean has used and really enjoy this result. Perhaps it is a bit dark in some places, but overall it works really well. It has a very graphic and design feel to the work that I think is very successful.

If Jean wanted to, she could remove some of the excess and thin some lines  by using a very sharp scalpel blade and carefull scratching linework back. This is most successfully done on a hot press or bristol board, but you do need to be gentle and very careful and lightly scrape the ink only to avoid digging holes into the paper. Also, you can't really draw over that section again because the surface will be roughed up. I don't think it is really needed in this drawing, but if you wanted to try it see how it works on the leaves first.  Personally, I think it is a great drawing.

'Whisp' by Jean

*DID you know that the Collins Street Falcons have hatched? Watch these little murder-floofs grow HERE.

And the Sydney Sea Eagles have almost fledged! HERE

Week 20: Me, KM and KKat

 Week 20/Week 1 of Inktober

Not much response this week from you all- too many subjects to choose from? Different time frame? I had to start this series of prompts on a Thursday due to Inktober starting on October 1st, but I hoped that would give you the weekend to work on your ideas. If you have done something please try and send to me today or at the very latest early Thursday morning Melbourne time. 

To inspire here are some works, one from me, and another from KM. And an update from KKat.

Me: Rodent

This was done with Inktense wash followed by Staedler Mars Black Pigment liners on Lana Cold Press paper. A friendly black rat.

'Rodent' by Linda Weil

KM: Blade

KM found this week challenging with the wide choice of prompts, but in the end chose 'Blade'. She also challenged herself by only allowing 1 hour to do the drawing in. This is a great way to hone your observation and drawing skills KM! Giving yourself a tight timeline means you focus on essential elements and design and don't get too bogged down in finicky detail work.

Created on cold press paper KM has used Derwent colour pencils to draw the grass and moss overgrownbrick spoon drain in her yard - interpreting the grass as 'Blade'.  For the ink part of her drawing she has used brown and black fine line pens as well as a Faber Castell connector green pen to accentuate the details.

This is  great little drawing KM. I like the composition, especially the long blade of grass trailing down. Gives the work an interesting design. The perspective on the bricks is NQR, but the shapes are good and tell the story. Plus the little detail touches of moss work well. A good drawing that shows a creative way to describe 'blade'. 

 'Blade' by KM

KKat: Rodent

KKat has just sent in this delightful little rat drawing so I will quickly update this post to include it. This cheeky little fellow has been dipping his tail into something tasty - a barrel of molassas perhaps - but he sure looks happy. Drawn on Daler Rowney 150gsm cartridge paper 148 x 130mm in size with a Unipin fineline .05 and a Staedtler pigment liner .10

A very cute cartoon style ink work, KKat - it looks like you had fun drawing him!

'Rodent' by KKat

Grimm #2

 The Old Griffin

Jack (or Hans depending on your edition of Grimm), has to complete a number of tasks before winning the hand of the Princess - who is not too keen on the idea generally of being auctioned off by her father.  I mean, really, are we surprised? But anyway, the final task is to steal the tail feather from the Old Griffin. Another tale of humans cheating or stealing from the fae; you can read a synopsis HERE. Oh well, happy ever afters...

'The Old Griffin' by Linda Weil

*NOTE* if you are joining in to Term 4 prompt drawings, your first work is due tomorrow - Wednesday the 7th. New prompts will be posted on Thursday late.