| Posted: 28 April 2010 at 5:20pm | IP Logged | 12
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I got around to inking the pencil sketch that I posted a couple of days back... 
One of the things that I was learning (or re-learning) about using dip pens on Bristol board is just how much more quality some brands will have than others. The old Strathmore series is still head and shoulders above some other, less expensive brands that I've tried. Hardly a "bleed" on the line art in sight. I use Pelikan brand India ink. It's head and shoulders above the next most common brand in my area and manages to keep its line under eraser pressure more (though you can still get smudges and "rub-out"). Finally, I'm going through all the pens and some of the brushes here, so the piece remains more of a sketch than a finished work. I settled on keeping a few of them ready, just for specific purposes: - Larger nibs will be used to outline figures and objects, and provide the basic line art for larger / closer figures and objects.
- #00, #1, and #2 brushes will be used for varying thicknesses on lines, but the latter will be used more often on black areas requiring some degree of fill-in detail.
- Smaller nibs will be used more often on small details, but I may skip the crowquill in favor of a slightly larger nib which seems to keep its line more consistently.
One more thing about the nibs. I've found that, with my drawing style, I may still need to use PITT markers for some techniques, such as inking in billowing smoke and dust clouds. I didn't do so bad here, but I did notice a tendency to splatter ink if I started pulling back in a particular direction. I also got a nasty little reminder that some of the nibs don't lend themselves to "loading up" on ink (the big spot on my sig in the chunk of debris at the bottom).
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