The method to the madness : Here's the steps from an idea to finished pen & ink art :
First, of course, is the idea. So, where do the ideas come from? Some drawings spoof works of art ( e.g. the Mona Lisa, Rodin's The Thinker ) or national landmarks ( Mt. Rushmore, The Statue of Liberty ). Inspiration can also come from well-known photographs ( Belle in Rita Hayworth's famous pin-up pose ), sports ( several baseball pictures ), comic books, or even newspaper ads ( Belle in a pose swiped from a swimsuit ad ). Sometimes characters are dropped into different settings ( Belle and the Prince in Hawai'i, or in front of Notre Dame ), or crossed over with books ( Harry Potter ), movies ( Star Wars ) or TV shows ( Xena ). Or images can just pop into my head, like Ariel in a tuxedo, or Belle and the Beast dancing the tango. |
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Next is the attempt to get the idea onto paper. I draw with a 0.5mm mechanical pencil , on ordinary copier paper. I start out very loose and sketchy, and then gradually tighten up the picture - although I don't tighten it up too much, since I'll redraw the picture after copying it to bristol board ( see below ). |
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When the pencil sketch is ready, I trace it onto Strathmore Bristol board ( 300 series, smooth surface ), using a homemade light box. Usually I use a 8 1/2" x 11" piece of bristol board, although some drawings are larger. |
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Next I clean up the pencils on the bristol board. These pencils are tighter than the original pencil sketch, since I'll be inking over these pencils to produce the finished drawing. |
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After finishing the pencilling on the bristol board, I start applying india ink, mostly working with a very fine 10x0 brush. I used to work entirely with Hunts 104 pen points, which are also very fine, but now I use them mostly for fine details and touching up; brushes give a much smoother line, and are a lot faster, too ( although they take more practice to learn to use, and require a finer touch ). I also use lots of Process White, an opaque watercolor, to touch up and cover mistakes. :-) Some other things I use from time to time are: SpeedBall C-5 and C-6 pens, for lettering A ruling pen, for straight lines A #2 brush, for large black areas |
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| Finally, I make photocopies for a few folks and for my files, and sometimes the fanart is scanned. |
Why pen & ink? Why not pencil or paints or computer graphics? Since I already had pens and india ink from doing calligraphy, working in pen & ink seemed like the natural thing to do. Also, pen & ink is easy to reproduce and copy, and it does give you smaller scans, which is another advantage.