More on that triad of inks

I posted this piece on a triad of inks I’m playing with a little while ago. I’ve now filled them into a set of Pentel Pocket Brushpens (I LOVE this brush pen and if I were to have to decide to just carry one sketching tool, it would be hard to decide between this and the Sailor Fude Pen).

Here is my first little experiment with those pens (and a shot of the sketch with all the supplies I used)

I emptied the cartridges of black ink that come with these pens and used a syringe to fill them with colored inks. Right now, I have the yellow ink filled in at full intensity and the cyan and magenta inks diluted down with water as they’re very strong compared to the yellow. I’m enjoying working with this setup: it reminds me of press checks and color separations and all the stuff that was such a big part of a print designer’s job but got replaced by digital proofs. I shared a detailed breakup of the piece in my newsletter this week, and you can see a video of the piece coming together here.

Here’s another piece done in a similar fashion with grey ink in the mix.

Those two pieces were done at home but this next one is on location in Gay’s persimmon orchard, where I sketched with Gay and Nina last week.

I’m enjoying sketching like this: It takes thinking and building up in layers, something I don’t have the patience for with watercolor. But ink makes it easy because the layers dry almost immediately.

If you asked me for exact mixes and brands of things I am using just now, I’d have to admit I’m not totally sure: I’m just messing around and having a lot of fun just now. I’m measuring nothing, just eyeballing and adjusting and changing things up as I go. And I’m encouraging you to do the same 🙂