More nattering about Ink

[summer_jackel]

So, I'm always on the lookout for the Perfect Black Ink. Playing with ink by pen or brush is such a very sensual experience; there's nothing quite like that breathless moment the liquid black slashes across the unbroken paper like a kiss or a wound. It just wants nice ink. ahem.

You also want it dark so the darn things copy well when you send them out into the real media world. I'm totally a trad artist; who dosen't love all those slick, hot little photoshop/painter/whatever-colored pics that are all over the place? But I like to be messing around with paper and stuff that turns my hands all sorts of interesting colors while I goof off in front of a screen. The screen itself does not attract me as media.

What I love is sumi ink. But it's not ok for fountain pens, thus the Great Search for Perfect Black. The Noodler's Heart of Darkness is now my official poison, oh packmates mine. Of course, I still want a bottle of the Private Reserve Black Velvet, but it can wait...until my birthday, maybe. Pros:

* Nice, silky black. puuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrr, blaaaaaaaaaaaack
* Cute reference to one of my favorite works of fiction. The Horror!
* Clever little label with an elephant on it
* Purrr, good solid black, maybe s good as sumi but I really need to brush some onto a solid background to see how much it saturates

Cons:

* Eyedropper bottle makes it nearly impossible to fill a conventional fountain pen directly from it. Will make dipping a brush hard, too. This means that I may be one of the few people around these days who could actually put an inkwell to a practical purpose. D'oh!!!!

* Also looks very dark when you accidentally rub some off on your favorite jeans. Oops.


and yes, I am on the trainer, riding hard. Thinking about the ink and not the pain is good for me.

Comments

[aaaamory.livejournal.com]

Heather Bruton eyedroppers the ink into a palette tray so she can dip her brush in it, and if it starts to dry she puts some more drops in to keep it wet. She describes a real black ink that works great with watercolors. Here's where she shares:

http://chris-sawyer.livejournal.com/73891.html?thread=994723#t994723

[feuervogel]

You might like this fic I wrote: http://nalimara.net/30k_inks.php (Oh, man, it's so full of purple prose. But, well, ink. And skin.) It's fanfic for a fighting game (see icon.)

[ironbadger.livejournal.com]

I do not brush ink- my hands shake too much, and I have spent years trying and abandoning the technique over and over.
(I've had way too many pros tell me I should learn brush- but I keep telling them I can't because of hand control issues.)

I use Chartpak super black markers for are filling.
Have you tried them? the color is unbelievably deep and rich- and you can lay colored pencil on top of it when it dries.

I turned Phil Morissey onto them at FC and gave him my old one to take and experiment with- he loved it from the first stroke, and was astonished at how much control the tip gave him- he stated he could ink with these things...(I believe he meant he could do full inking with it as well as fill in.)
They cover in one layer too- no going back several times to get full depth.

-Badger-