After setting up my objects I drew their shapes with pencil before using my ink and dip pen.
pencil sketch
I had initially intended on using just my dip pen. I used quick spontaneous gestures to shape and shade my objects. I made made looser movements for the lighter areas and tighter movements for the darker areas.
I was not satisfied with the effect of using only the dip pen so used a paintbrush and mixed the ink with water to do more shading. In some areas I worked with a paintbrush dipped only in water to make the pen lines bleed. I worked back and forth with the brush and pen until I was happy with the drawing.
The first part of the exercise I tried was the frottage. I went around the house looking for all sorts of surfaces to use. I also took some inspiration from the examples given in the exercise. Some failed completely however and so I did not put them in my sketchbook because no pattern or texture could be seen and it just looked like a scribble.
When I began experimenting with creating new textures I started off with doing it directly in my sketchbook but soon noticed that the watercolour was seeping onto the next page so I decided to make them on separate pieces of paper instead. The feathers, flowers and dandelion seeds were inspired by the textures i was able to create. Not all my experiments came out as well as I would have liked but overall I enjoyed just messing around with my drawing materials.
note: my painted dandelion seeds did not show well in the photos. I used white watercolour on slightly browned paper and in person it shows better. I thought while I was making them that using white might be an issue so I made some seeds with 2H and 2B pencils which show up better in the picture.
After experimenting with textures I went about finding objects with different textures to draw. I did the shell, granadilla and paintbrush in (2H, 2B, 4B) pencil and tried to portray their textures as well as possible. I then decided to do the rock and acorn in black ink using three different sized nibs. I liked the way I was able to create texture using my nibs and personally prefer my ink drawings over my pencil drawings.
Lisa's Art Log 