Molson Golden

My 200th post!

I was cleaning out a closet the other day and came across this, a picture of a poster I drew in college for an aborted competition. While the competition fell through, at least I got credit for the work in my illustration class. This is pen and ink with watercolor. As a side note, I wrote the words Molsen Golden in very tiny letters up and down the cliffs to add a bit of texture.

Rare Caricature

Here is a look at a couple of caricatures that were part of a larger project I did long ago for some gals at work. They wanted the entire finance staff caricatured as a gift for their supervisor. They each ended up as a ‘President’ on a single cartoon $3 bill, were all combined into one full color sheet as if it had just come off the press at the Federal Reserve, which was then framed.

Bronco Pig Lineart

Inked. The color version will be posted on Thursday.

Deep Sea Diver

Here’s an inked cartoon of a deep sea diver that I created to put into a simple CS4 Flash animation while trying to learn the program. It’s a re-creation of the fish tank scenario where the treasure chest opens every couple of seconds to expel a few bubbles. This one is a small departure from my usual inking technique, in that I’ve given it a touch of a woodcut effect.

Caveman Cartoon

Here’s a recent cartoon for a little league soccer team. I’ve also recently started using a brush pen for inking. It seems to give me a smoother and more dynamic line than the steel nibs. It’s very easy to get a broad stroke and transition to a fine line. It also encourages me to be looser with my inks and I like that.

Inking

Everybody has their own inking style and tool preference. Some use a brush, some use markers, others like myself, use a variety of whatever feels right at the time. Generally though, I use a dip pen and india ink. It allows for a widely variable line and lends a more organic feel to the finished cartoon. I can turn the pen on it’s side and crosshatch hairlines, or hold it normally and press firmly for a bold, black slash.

On occasion I will opt for a marker, usually when I want a thick outline or want to cover a large area with black. When I use a marker, I’ll save the dip pen for the thinner interior lines.

Before I start inking, I make sure to have enough toilet paper or paper towels on hand. The paper towels are mostly for cleaning the pens, but I have been known to spill a bottle and some drops here and there, so my pens are not the only things that might need cleaning.

Once you sit down and get comfortable, loosen up. Remember that your inked drawing will be scanned into Photoshop where nearly any mistake you make can be easily repaired. Photoshop is the ultimate white-out and allows you the freedom to be bold with your strokes, and not worry that you need to ink every line perfectly.

One thing to keep in mind as we ink, is whether the final image will be color, or black and white. If it will be in black and white, you’ll want to build up forms and volume with hatching or stippling, since we won’t have color to do the job for us.

I use a combination of Hunt 99, 512, 513 and Gillott’s 170 nibs. I also have a few Rapidograph technical pens left over from the Dark Ages. Which one I use on any given drawing will usually depend on how much variance I want in the line work. For something a bit more “formal’, I might use a stiffer nib, and something that is really intended to be fun and loose will benefit from a more flexible point.

Your preferred paper choice might also affect the type of nib you choose. A crowquill will have a greater chance of catching the tooth of a cold press, then spring and splatter. Hot press has a smoother texture and is more suited for a crowquill for that reason. I use a Strathmore 300 smooth.

Once you get started, ink from top to bottom as much as possible. Working this way will minimize the opportunities your hand will have for smearing wet ink. I also like to put a piece of paper under my hand for that reason and to act as a blotter of sorts when I do need to work over an area already inked. One artist I used to work with used white gloves with the fingers cut off.

The ink I use is whatever india ink I find on the shelves. Currently I am finishing off a bottle of Speedball Super Black, with two bottles of Dr. Martin’s Bombay Black waiting in the wings. Some artists will add a bit of water to their ink to thin it and make it flow easier, especially as they near the bottom of the bottle and evaporation has thickened it a bit. I find that the blacker the ink, the less it will pickup as I erase my pencil lines after I’m done inking, so I leave my inks as is.