Love your handlettering, too, rgperedo!
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Love your handlettering, too, rgperedo!
I just wanted to say that I love your sketches. Please keep them coming.
It's been incredibly cold here in NY so sketching only happens indoors or from a car. This is a drawing of the apse of Saint John the Divine, this church is all the way uptown. It is an amazing Romanesque/Gothic revival church. This is the back of it, which I thought was interesting, and there was a lot of parking haha. Cheers.
http://s30.postimg.org/d7dazn29d/IMG_4275.jpg
Awesome post. I love these. keep them coming. 7
Thank you all for the words of encouragement.
I decided to go to the Met museum and finish off the last 6-7 pages of my sketchbook. This was the final page. This was done by an American sculptor named Janet Scudder. It's part of a bronze fountain she designed in 1906 called "Frog Fountain" which is in the American Wing if anyone is interested in seeing it.
As usual a Lamy Vista EF with Noodler's Black, a TWSBI Classic 1.1 stub with Noodler's Black, both in a Pilot penholder (holds only two pens).
http://s7.postimg.org/ium6ksc8b/IMG_4827.jpg
Excellent. Did I ever ask if you make a preliminary pencil sketch and then ink it?
I don't know if you've asked, but I'll answer anyway. I don't do a preliminary drawing with a pencil. I go right in with the EF nib and make small marks then I make guiding lines and eventually when I'm decently happy I start making thicker lines and shading. In the later stages I use the stub to darken in the darkest values and punch in bolder lines where necessary. These are all in a sketchbook so I'm not so worried about making them look "perfect" when I do commissioned drawings I start with a pencil sketch first, but otherwise I enjoy the construction of the drawing all in ink.
I can see the guidelines if I look hard. Okay, you've inspired me! Thanks.
You are very talented. I wish I could do that.
Grad school is killing me, but I did manage a few drawings/paintings. If you didn't know I study art history and my concentration is late Romanesque/Early Renaissance architecture. So I was doing some research and decided to draw some of the buildings I'll be writing my thesis on. Here is the first: Santa Maria della Carceri in Prato (Tuscany) It was done with my Lamy Vista EF, TWSBI Classic 1.1 stub and watercolor washes added on afterwards.
http://s21.postimg.org/dqos48ruf/Full_Size_Render.jpg
Ooooooo........and such beautiful handwriting, too!
A picture is worth a thousand words, but so is, "Grad school is killing me, but I did manage a few drawings/paintings." Keep it up!
Do you use permanent ink? How think is the paper? I've trying to use ink and watercolors together with mixed results. Any words of experience to share?
I only use permanent ink when I draw or write. I use Noodler's Black and it serves this purpose well. I haven't had trouble with it, except of course you have to wait for it to dry before you put watercolor over it. For that little watercolor sketch I used Moleskine sketchbook paper. I actually don't really like that paper, but someone gave me a large sketchbook and I felt like I should use it.
I actually prefer Fabriano sketchbooks. Fabriano makes a book called Venezia, it is awesome. I started buying it when I was away in Italy and I bought a few to bring home with me. I still haven't found a place that sells them for a fair price. Canson makes excellent paper as well, I would definitely try their watercolor sketchbooks, they are economical and the paper is nice to work with.
For heavier watercolor use I would suggest Arches 140 lb paper. I buy the blocks and they are definitely the best. Daler and Rowney make a more economical paper that comes in a block and is pure cotton (like Arches) that is nice as well. I hope that was helpful, please feel free to ask more questions about supplies.
Thank you so much. Your answer is very helpful.
I actually had terrible problems with Noodler's ink on watercolor paper. (Arches, Fabriano, Strathmore, Waterford) No matter how long I let it dry, it still bled instantly into any paint I tried to wash over it.* I moved to Platinum Carbon Black, which has never let me down. I also recently tried the DeAtramentic Document Black ink and had very good results with it as well. It's a little cheaper than the Platinum.
I second Rgperedo's love of the Fabriano Venezia books. There's another brand I highly recommend as well: Stillman & Birn. They have several different types of notebooks (different type of paper in each) and all of them can be used with ink and light watercolor washes. The heavier papers (Delta, Gamma, Zeta, I think) handle similarly to traditional watercolor papers and can take more paint without warping. I have filled many of these sketchbooks over the years.
Another option is to look at what are called "mixed media" papers, which are designed to work across a large variety of dry and wet media. Strathmore's 400 series Mixed Media sketchbooks are just fabulous for pen and watercolor wash drawings. I also like Canson's Mixed Media books.
* I have a suspicion it may be due to how wet/dry one's pen writes. Too much ink on a coated paper like watercolor stock may exceed what the paper could completely bond with.
I've had a hard time with paper. It's too thin for multi media art. Thanks for the tips.
Noodle's doesn't give me a problem with smearing unless it isn't all the way dry. I also use the Platinum carbon black and Sailor's nano black. If i had to put them in order of most water resistant to least it would be : Platinum carbon black, Noodler's black, and finally Sailor's nano black. I have been using the same bottle of Noodler's black for a while, i'm almost half way through. I wonder if the ink changes slightly from bottle to bottle?
I have Platinum cartridges which is why I don't use it as much, and the Sailor I find to smear even when dry on most paper. I never tried DeAtrementis document ink, but I'll give it a try.
I will try to see if the Noodler's misbehaves on different paper. So far on the Moleskine sketchbook it's doing well.
Oh and I have a sample pack Stillman & Birn sent me, so eventually I'll see which one i prefer. I know they make great books I know i used a few before, but not with watercolors or light washes. We'll see.
Yes, I've been disappointed with the Sailor nano black as well. It's a very nice ink to write with, but it's not waterproof by any means. What pen are you using with the Noodlers? I generally use ink brushes or vintage flex pens, both of which lay down very wet lines. I wonder if your pens make drier marks, and that's why you get better results with it.
The Stillman & Birn paper isn't watercolor paper, so it reacts differently to heavy washes than traditionally sized sheets. (It's rather absorbent, so there's less opportunity for pigment granulation and color migration in large pools of paint.) But the heavy papers can deal with a lot of water and scrubbing before you see any surface degradation, and even the lighter papers like the Alpha and Beta do quite well when wet.
I use Noodler's Black in a Lamy Vista with en EF nib and a TWSBI Classic with a 1.1 stub. The stub I must admit isn't very juicy and the Lamy definitely isn't. Perhaps that's it?
I am definitely going to get into the Stillman & Birn books after this sketchbook is done. I'll write my opinions on this thread.