Scrolling Down Memory Lane

   

Shown:  Thumbnails in pencil, brush and pen using variations of the lazy man's stroke (i.e. a scrolling line, or scribbling, technique.)* 
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Scrolling Down Memory Lane:  Didn't put much time into practice this week, except for a little scroll down memory lane (pun) thumbnailing with lazyman strokes, per my current fascination.  On the way I opened a bottle of ink for what may be the first time since going digital in April of 2015.  The plastic pint bottle was shrivelled like a prune and covered with a thick layer of dust.  Everything was covered with dust - nib pens, brushes, empty rinse bottles.  So, cleaning came before practice. 

It seems that just before going digital, I had filled an order for supplies, which included three kinds of ink - 1) Speedball Super Black, which was my standard, 2) liquid sumi (no shellac) and 3) an acrylic black. I have yet to try out the last. Luckily, the Speedball was still good.

I also noted four brand new Lowe-Cornell Ultra-pointed rounds (7020), #2, #4, #6 and #8.  These combine three thicknesses of synthetic filaments that mimic natural hair.  Originally recommended to me by Theresa Kubert, back when I was doing Open Houses and attending Saturday Sketch Classes at the Kubert School, it became my standard.  They don't hold as much ink as a Kolinsky, but they point excellently for drawing and the the point lasts long.  In terms of the cost-to-quality ratio, I think they're the best deal, by far.

So, I went to it with the traditional equipment, yesterday, and had a ball.  I was amazed that all the pens readily responded to my touch, even the Joseph Gillott crowquills and the finicky "ultra-fines", like the Hunt 100, with which I had a contentious love-hate relationship from the start. The key to ironing out the problems with those nibs is to apply the ink to their bellies with a dropper or brush, instead of dipping them into the inkwell.  This is the way to apply ink to precision drafting instruments once used in architecture and engineering, like the ink compass and ink calliper. And while I'd seen inkers load crowquills this way, I didn't bother with it myself, until recently when inking genius Walden Wong recommended it.  It takes a little extra effort, but it's well worth it.

That little trick enabled me to re-experience the thrill of using ultra-fine nibs, which, in a word, comes down to "finesse."  These nibs (used also for lithography and copper plate etching) respond like brush tips and, similarly, make exquisite marks. It's easy to get lost just making lines to no definite end, simply doodling with them.  Same with new brushes. 

But the time and mess . . . I don't think I could go back to traditional ink.  The thought of it . . . no.  Too slow and unforgiving.

Inking Styles:  All the same, I researched some inking demos on Youtube and came up with Shane (Patrick) White.  His appreciation for the history of pen and ink and the Golden Age Illustrators earned a gold star in my book.  He has a number of demos devoted to inking styles, which you might find educational, so I'm posting number one and, if you like it, you can explore the others on your own, here www.youtube.com/user/sequentia… and check his website at shanewhite.com

  

Jack Hamm - Drawing Scenery:   As noted elsewhere (see artist's comments of recent posts) I'm locked onto a connection between design and composition, or, more accurately, the point at which one crosses over to the other, and see scrolling thumbnails as a way to explore it.  So, I might linger on it for a while, doing exercises like those above (top of page). 

To that end I'm revisiting Jack Hamm's landscape/seascape book.  I found this flip-through by an enthusiastic artist who gets it, so I thought that I'd let him sell it.  I got my copy off the web and I'm sure that if you hunt, you can find a legal and clean copy, too.  You can trade for it at the document sharing website scribd.com.  

As the video makes clear, this is much more than instruction on "how to" draw rocks, or trees, etc.  The first few pages cover concepts of composition with remarkable breadth and depth.  You won't get what's here from a HTD comics handbook.  This is for real artists, those valuing knowledge as well as skill.  Hamm drew the examples at almost the same size as they appear in the book, so he was working with thumbnails and recommended that we follow suit.  



Mousashi Updates?  Unless things change, no more MUs.  Haven't seen hide nor hair of the masters since that one night of pandemonium.  I believe I was correct in assuming that there were only two left.  Either they got out the way they came in, or, if they were rival males (which I had not previously considered), killed each other.  They're like samurai in that respect, attacking fiercely from the get go, severing the throat, carotids and jugular in a single pass, both of them potentially capable of hitting their marks, so of slaying each other.  In any event, no sightings, inexplicable sounds, or signs of activity around the traps (neither upstairs nor down).
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NOTES

* Example #2 shows how the lazy man's stroke translates into feathering and swabbing when done with a brush.  See previous discussions and the video on "pen and brush equivalencies" for more on how different pen line patterns translate to brush effects.  Also, note that the pictures were done small and posted at 600 px, even though they could be posted larger because I used 350 resolution.  The reason I posted smaller than maximum size is that the patterns pull together well when the image is reduced.  Blow it up and they will fall apart.  So here I made use of the advantage of thumbnailing, which is to work small and show smaller for maximum effect.  

2)  Originally said I started digital in 2014, but checked and discovered it was 2015.  First posts in May of 2015 prove it.  I guess I'm so used to it that it seems I've been doing it longer than 3 years.  Fact is, this is my three year anniversary.  Only three years.  Can hardly believe it.

3)  Might mention on the side that I downloaded the GIMP for the umteenth time, as I'd lost it with the last reset - whenever that was.  This version has a completely new look compared to what I was using . . . er, trying to use . . . before I switched over to PS and started to explore the other graphics editors, finally to settle down with Clip Studio Paint EX, which is the best of them, by far.  I'm sorry to say it, but the GIMP doesn't measure up.  I'd rather work in the inherently defective CS2, as I did for quite a long time, than be stuck with GIMP.  Both are free.  Of course, I haven't studied it well. 

From what I've seen so far, it's possible to set the pen to pressure, but first the program has to be configured (edit>preferences) to work with the tablet.  Then the brushes can be set to work different ways (i.e. size to pressure, opacity to pressure, etc.)

I managed to set brush size to pen pressure, but right after that the program crashed.  It resulted in both monitors going black.  Couldn't get out of it with any of the standard tricks, so just had to press the off switch.  Who needs this?  Not me.  Forget the GIMP.  BTW - this version is 2.10, the latest stable version of GIMP for Windows.  Stable?  Not really.