Category: art

Demain dès l’aube

Branch of a blooming tree, done using grey Brushmarkers and alizarin crimson watercolor:
Branch of a blooming tree, done using grey Brushmarkers and alizarin crimson watercolor. The artwork is on a wide drawing book on a table, next to the pens and paint.

Adding details in black, using a Pentel Brushpen:
Branch of a blooming tree, to which I added a few black spots. The artwork is on a wide drawing book on a table, next to pens and paint.

To fill the (future) white space under the blossoms I adding soft patches of that same pink, pale blue and a bit of green. In retrospect, I wish I hadn’t.

Then I wrote a Victor Hugo poem on tracing paper using India ink and nib, and glued the side of it vertically at the left of my watercolor:
Wide drawing book where I wrote a peom in black on tracing paper underneath which are visible spots of pink, blue and green, and the branch and blossoms.

Here is the poem from 1856:

Demain dès l’aube

Demain, dès l’aube, à l’heure où blanchit la campagne,
Je partirai. Vois-tu, je sais que tu m’attends.
J’irai par la forêt, j’irai par la montagne.
Je ne puis demeurer loin de toi plus longtemps.

Je marcherai les yeux fixés sur mes pensées,
Sans rien voir au dehors, sans entendre aucun bruit,
Seul, inconnu, le dos courbé, les mains croisées,
Triste, et le jour pour moi sera comme la nuit.

Je ne regarderai ni l’or du soir qui tombe,
Ni les voiles au loin descendant vers Harfleur,
Et, quand j’arriverai, je mettrai sur ta tombe
Un bouquet de houx vert et de bruyère en fleur.

Dragon to test {Brush|Pro}markers (alcoholic ink markers)

As an early Christmas treat I got myself a series of Brushmarkers and Promarkers in cold and warm greys, and in colors. The pens come with a blender.

Wooden storage box with a handle full of thick pens

In theory the blender helps blend colors together by wetting the surface of paper. In practice, colors will blend in any case (except with black) but will do so more smoothly on a reasonably wet layer of color. I have probably not mastered it as I find it’s more of a smudger than it is a blender, giving edges fuzziness, even on non-bleed paper.

To test the grey series I went for a dragon that adorned an Alfons Mucha poster of 1896 for the Lorenzaccio play:

Tall narrow rectangle filled with a green dragon that adorns an Alfons Mucha poster of 1896 for the Lorenzaccio play. The dragon has its mouth open and is surrounded by geometric motifs.

I sketched the outline:

Rough pencil sketch of the dragon within a tall and narrow rectangle

I marked the outline using Uni-ball pin pens (0.05, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.5 mm):

Black ink outline of various width

Black ink outline of various width now covering the entire sketch. Pencil erased.

Then I applied layers of grey. I had to use a white ink Posca pen to cover some overlapping black lines in the moustache. Here is the finished version:

Layers of grey ink of various intensity

⚠️I learned that the alcohol ink smears pencil lines and even the Uni-ball pin pens ink, so it’s better to go easy on the outline and add those or add finishing lines afterwards.

I got a silver and black Decopatch sheet that I applied with glue/varnish to the square wooden frame and tada! The frame is now on a shelf in the room of my little boy who loves dragons.

The finished piece: the dragon occupies the left half of a square white sheet of paper. The square frame is adorned with silver and black metallic paper.

#inktober 2017 days 26-31

[Inktober: 31 days 31 drawings, following a prompt list.]

Voilà, Inktober 2017 is over. I really enjoyed doing it this year again and will probably do it next year. I was not inspired every day but most days I was. I’m quite proud of most the drawings I made and I hope you liked them as well. (Interestingly some of those I didn’t particularly like were liked/favourited more than I anticipated, and by the same token, a few of those I found outstanding didn’t garner a lot of popularity.)

Day 26: ‘Squeak’. Black and white ink drawing of a cat playing with a mouse, against a circular background of red watercolour.

Day 27: ‘Climb’. Black and grey ink drawing of the silhouette of a woman rock-climbing.

Day 28: ‘Fall’. Grey India ink soft brush pen, black ink pin pen and black ink brush pen drawing of a man falling from a skyscraper. For this one, I had to hold a soft brush pen in each hand so that the dark and light greys would blend better. I don’t know how others do it.

Day 29: ‘United’. Grey India ink soft brush pen, black ink pin pen and black ink brush pen drawing of two carps, forming a circle.

Day 30: ‘Found’. Grey India ink soft brush pens and black ink pin pen drawing of a foundry and tiny people. I made a typo in the theme on the drawing, oh well.

Day 31: ‘Mask’. Black ink pin pen and white Posca pen drawing of a man holding a mask.

Inktober prompt list:
Inktober prompt list

#inktober 2017 days 21-25

[Inktober: 31 days 31 drawings, following a prompt list]

Day 21: ‘furious’. Black ink brush pen drawing of a roaring gorilla.

Day 22: ‘trail’. Black ink pin pen drawing of a dirt path winding next to a tree and what in hindsight looks like a pile of poo but was meant to resemble a pile of rocks.

Day 23: ‘juicy’. Grey India ink brush pen drawing of a dripping slice of orange and the word ‘juicy’ underneath.

Day 24: ‘blind’. Black ink pin pen, grey India ink brush pen and black ink brush pen drawing of feet walking forward, following a white cane.

Day 25: ‘ship’. Black ink pin pen, grey India ink brush pen and black ink brush pen drawing of a lopsided ship stranded in the sand on the shore.

Inktober prompt list:
Inktober prompt list