OVERCOMING THE PROBLEMS

Novices need to learn how to handle ink pens and work with India Ink neatly. We had a practice day learning how to control the flow of ink through the pen point. Pressing down too hard would make a puddle. Pushing the pen hard into the paper, especially on an upward stroke might cause the point to stick and splatter. Loading the pen point with ink was tricky. Too great a quantity on the back of the pen point would exit too quickly if the drawing stroke was not a light one. Some ink bottles had very small necks. Careless jamming of the pen into it and a fast withdrawal could spill the ink.

One little trick we did to make sure the contours themselves would be clean and clear, was to pre-draw all shapes with fine black markers. The pens would be used for all textures. Changeover lines were drawn with markers and inverted rulers. This allowed the pen drawing to end before the marker lines and keep the contour edges smooth. Finally, with pens in hand, we moved onward.

It is good to see objects placed in different positions and most considerations being observed.

Repeating and restricting the number of textures keeps the contrasts easily seen.

Some had extensions over as well as to borders.

This was a complicated assignment, having many aspects before completion. There was initial frustration at new terms and styles of drawing, especially gesture drawing, and it takes a good deal of determination not to "peek" when doing blind contours. Following this with handling ink pens and narrow bottles soon led students to learn to roll up sleeves before starting.

A note: Just because the changeover lines shown were straight, they don't have to be. Nothing wrong with curves or combinations!

Much was practiced and learned. Maybe next time we'll have 3 "different" changeover lines!