After two failed attempts, I finally finished an ink drawing which turned out well. The inspiration is a photo I took of a friend at Maker Faire a couple years ago, posing with a robot-like pose-able sculpture.

This is a relatively small drawing, only 7″x8″, created with Senellier Walnut Satin ink on smooth paper. I used a dip pen to create the outlines, and a round brush with water to apply the wash.

Third time was the charm. In the past couple weeks I have tried, unsuccessfully, to create two other ink steampunk drawings. The first failed because of cheap watercolor paper. The second failed because I used expensive watercolor paper of a kind I’d never used before and it took the ink far darker than I was expecting on the first stroke.

The frustration with this one is lack of appropriate paper. I ran out of the paper I used for all the other ink drawings, and at the moment I can’t afford more. Thus, I’ve been trying to use other papers, but they are not behaving in a way I like. In this case, I went with a paper which I figured was not going to give me the result I wanted, but was worth trying. It’s an ultra-smooth paper I usually reserve for marker work, which is why the wash has no gradient to it. That paper also will not take the nib I prefer for drawings because it has such a fine tip it needs tooth in order to draw. That meant I used a thicker nib, and the result was a less delicate drawing.

Methinks I need to budget new watercolor paper ASAP.

This is the drawing I made just prior, which had too much tooth for my liking, and took the ink far darker than I expected.

Reference: Victorian Day Dream by xXtimeless-stockXx