Isn't this Inkvember?

 
Above left to right:  exercises in rendering (1 and 2)  and tonal scheme (3).
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INKVEMBER:  To my surprise the focus remained on inking.  I think that's because I experienced the thrill of improvement in all areas during Inktober.  The lines became more definite, deliberate and confident, which, in turn, seemed to lend authority to implementing recommended changes noted in critique.  In this I took direction from Bob McLeod's generation to "finish" as I saw fit by redrawing, reorganizing and designing as needed.  Granted, this time around I didn't actually take the liberty of redrawing someone else's penciled work, though I made notes on what I thought should be redrawn.  I didn't do it because there was too much to occupy me studying rendering techniques and noodling with composition and design.  But one day soon action will replace notes, because it's easier to correct problematic drawing on the fly, spontaneously, than to work around it. 

For much of the week I stuck to inking over pencils by John Buscema and copying his inks.  Slowly - very slowly - I got the hang of transitioning from one medium to the other, until I picked up the difference between drawing directly and "naturally", on one hand, and using design elements for style, on the other.  The simplest design elements are, perhaps, line shapes, which then combine to form other shapes.  For example, a tapered line is it's own design.  Put several next to each other feathered to black and they can make bear claws or, what Manga calls "flashes."  The trick of style is to define such designs well, use them consistently and build upon them.  In that sense they are like letters in the alphabet, or base numbers in a counting system.  In the strongest inking styles, everything in the finish is reducible to these primitive elements. 

Elements of design show up even in completely realistic, natural, or direct, rendering, which makes it possible to draw by rhythmic patterns, instead of by copying.  What looks as if it's copied straight from nature is, in fact, a translation of a specific condition of form-under-light into abstract patterns via rhythm.  This is what we do when rendering hair - we translate via rhythm.  The most realistic rendering is - and must be - an illusion created by abstract patterns.  Whether these patterns are further abstracted to simplify them, and recombined to express other things, determines the relative proportion of design to realism in the style of drawing and rendering.  But design is ALWAYS in the mix.  There is no way around it.  So, why fight it - especially if learning to use it makes one better at drawing, overall, including realistically? 

Classic Ink: The illustrators of the late 18th to early 19th centuries are the undisputed masters of pen and ink.  I reviewed their work, again, briefly this week - this time under a microscope.  This time I think I penetrated the illusions and was surprised at what supported them.  I am still in awe of their work, though at the same time surprised and a little disappointed to discover how certain effects result.  For example, I did not realize that wash is often applied to help grade hatch tones.  This is something I noticed copying Frank Frazetta's pieces for Inktober.  Apparently it's a traditional technique. 

Another thing I looked at was black white reversal and what could be called "OCD" hatchwork.  The first is a way to work with dark grays and the second pushes that into spotting. Spotting with a pen! 

The examples I studied are in the book, Ancient and Medieval Arms: A Pictorial Archive from Nineteenth-Century Sources, by Carol Belanger Grafton.  Also, The American Drawing Book by John Gadsby Chapman provides meticulous instruction for drawing both in pencil and pen and is loaded with examples of classic pen illustration. If you want to wipe the slate clean and start with exercises on how to draw well controlled lines, this is the book for you.  (Every so often I return to this book to train my hand, but can't get past the first few exercises.)  

Rehab Update:  Still treating the bites on the left leg, waiting for the wounds to close fully.  Until they do, can't exercise, bicycle, wear the leg brace, or use the inversion table at the risk of tearing them open.  It's been a long time of enforced inactivity that's driving me crazy.  Of course, the flip side is that it paved the road for the return to art in general and to digital inking in particular.  So, no complaints.  The only thing is that I need to exercise soon before I lose all my leg strength. Hoping I can do that in another two weeks.  When you hear "dog bite" you don't think of a major injury.  But that depends on what's doing the biting and what's being bitten.  LOL. XD
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NOTES

*  Don't know how long this run on inking will last.  It does seem as if it's going deep.  Will it fan out into sequential work or jump back to painting, or to something else?  I don't have a clue.  For now I'm still all in, attempting to satisfy a hunger for good rendering and panel composition.  I will say that in the back of mind there is this yen to work out original stories.  But, that's always there, so I don't know if it portends a change in that direction.  It seems I'm always rebuffed when I go that way.  Still, who knows?  Anything can happen. 

*  Hey!  I need your critique.  If you have a reaction to the work, I'm interested in hearing about it - good and bad.  If you have opinions, share them, too.  And if you have knowledge and skill to share - JACKPOT - that's even better!  (I'll be watching you!)  So, don't be shy.  Critique and comment, give and receive.  I highly recommend it.  That's how we grow. 
 
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REFERENCE

   Carol Belanger Grafton   Ancient and Medieval Arms: A Pictorial Archive from Nineteenth-Century Sources  NY, 1995
   
   John Gadsby Chapman The American Drawing Book  NY, 1847