Inktober 2023 – Quick Round-up

inktober-1-9

Hi there, how are you?

Inktober is long over and were half way through November. This is just a quick round up of last month and a few thoughts.

Did I complete Inktober? Er no. In the last week of October I had to take a trip to London during which I contracted COVID. For a few days I took to my bed with chills aches and a huge headache.

After a week or so I felt recovered enough to rejoin the family safe in the knowledge I hadn’t passed it onto any one else. (if your feeling ill people please wear your masks, the rest of the population don’t want your viruses!)

Now to the challenge, I set out to draw with dip pens, gold and black ink, this gave me lots of practice with all of the nibs I have accumulated over time. I found I was happier using some nibs more than others and even became quite comfortable using them.

Inktober-10-18

Officially I drew twenty one little art works but there is one, not posted because I didn’t like it at the time although it’s not too bad looking back at it.

I also tried a little calligraphy using a free hand out from The Postman’s Knock website. Sometimes she gives a free practice page in her news letter, very generous.

I plan to use some of these as cards for family and friends and may even cut out the happy birthdays to use inside them.

The last time I used acrylic ink for Inktober I gave up half way through because it took ages to get out all of the materials and then clean up after myself after.

I work on the kitchen table and everything took so long to set up it and clear away didn’t seem worth the bother.

This time I made up a little kit containing washi tape, a few bottles of ink, pens, nibs, all I needed in a small box. So much easier to set up and clear away. Definitely something I’ll think about doing in the future.

Even though the challenge is incomplete I don’t consider it a failure, it generated some ideas I really like and will probably use in the future plus my dip pen skill have improved a lot. So winning.

If you would like to see clearer images you can find them week 1, week 2, week 3 and week 4 week 5

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by. Till next time, have fun x

The Next Batch

Inktober 23 robin

Hi there, how are you?

Here’s the next batch of Inktober inkings. Only five again, I seem to be stuck on five this year.

Most have something in them that I like and could take further in another medium.

1. robin – a little robin amongst the rose hips. Rose hips are everywhere this time of year, shining bright red in the autumn sun.

2. weaver bird – the male weaver birds build the nests and the ladies come to inspect it and see if it’s worthy.

They may well pass on this one hehehe

Inktober 23 weaver bird

3.bird house – every one needs somewhere to call home.

Inktober 23 bird house

4. humming bird – I seem to draw one of these every year, wish I’d drawn it bigger though as I couldn’t get any details in.

Inktober 23 hummingbird

5. bunnies – chrysanthemums and bunnies. I like this more than I thought I would.

Inktober 23 bunnies

Almost at the end now and there’s lots of fun ideas to play with later.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by. Till next time, have fun x

Inktober Again, Not Long Now

Inktober poppy seed pod

Hope your not tired of my Inktober shenanigans yet, don’t worry we’re almost there.

Still not a full week, five out of seven isn’t too bad though, it’s still practice.

1. poppy skeleton – the poppies are long gone and the seeds are sown, almost, i do like the few seeds still hanging on. There are one or two poppy seed skeletons left though ans I wanted to draw it before it is blown away by the wind.

2. frog – a little frog making friends with a dragonfly (not dinner honest hehehe).

Inktober the frog and the dragonfly.

3 & 4. little bird – two little wrens in conversation with butterflies. I think this idea would be nice as a watercolour.

Inktober the wren ant the butterfly

Inktober the wren ant the butterfly 2

5. mice – mice do love a good pumpkin. Another idea for future watercolour play.

Inktober we found a pumpkin.

I’m finding the dip pens easier to use, some of the nibs are very flexible and difficult to use so I’m sticking to the firmer ones but on the whole I’m liking the effect and there’s no way I would be able to get these fine lines with a brush no matter how fine it was.

Onward to next week.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by. Till next time, have fun x

More Inktober 2023

Koi

Hi there, how are you?

Yes we have more Inktober, I didn’t manage every day but five out of seven, still winning.

1. fish/koi – drawing all of the scales is good practise with the pen. Trying to decide which is the best nib to use, hmmm.

2. anemone – love seeing the anemone’s out this time of year. It didn’t look like much of an image so I drew a little frame around the outside. Seems better now (to me at least.)

Ananome

3. poppies – no surprise that I love poppies. This idea was formed from a scribble on the tablet then printed out as a pattern. The penmanship isn’t brilliant but I happily did get some line variation.

Symmetrical poppy

4. iris – they’re so frilly and I really wanted to see if I could make the black and gold work here. The shading kind of works.

Iris

5 fuchsia – there was a trailing fuchsia in the garden, they don’t like the cold so I’ve brought it inside in the hopes I can keep it alive till next year. (wish me luck). One of the fallen flowers was used for inspiration along with more work on the tablet.

Managed to get some line variation again, maybe the practice is working.

Symmetrical fuchsia

I have a cheap set of dip pens with many nibs, I’m really not sure what any of them do, all of this experimentation is helping me decide which nibs I like using and which suit me best.

Were at the middle now, the part when fatigue usually sets in and it is so easy to give up so now the job is to keep going. Practising, learning and hopefully having more ideas.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by. Till next time, have fun x

Inktober, Black And Gold

Inktober chrysanthemum

Hi there, how are you?

Inktober is up and running. This year is about using dip pen with black and gold ink.

I’m trying to keep up with the daily drawings, so far I’ve missed a day or two but I’m not going to worry about it. Maybe I’ll catch up at the end, maybe not, as long as I get a little practice using these pens I’ll be happy.

1. chrysanthemum – drawn from a photo taken of our anniversary flowers. So far my favourite.

2. cyclamen – some times it just doesn’t work out. There were problems with the ink and the pens (more likely my inability to use them)

inktober cyclamen

3. pen drills – pen drills (practising pen strokes) are boring so I turned them into a pattern. It was made with an old style school compass. This was much more fun as well as being useful.

inktober compass pattern

4. Chinese style chrysanthemum – there’s a few wonky lines but overall it’s OK. It would look good as a brush painting.

5 fuchsia – the fuchsia in the garden is still happily flowering away, couldn’t help bur draw it.

inktober fuchsia

I’ve had these dip pens for a while now so it’s nice to start learning how to use them properly.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by. Till next time, have fun x

The End Of Inktober 2017 Whoot!

The last two #inktober 2017 drawings

Hey ho folks, how are you?

We did it, inktober is over for another year Whoot!
I managed to keep to the prompts for all but one of them because mysteriously I had nothing for that day hehe.

Prompt and interpretations
Day 30 found – as in they found the treasure.
Day 31 mask – a mask

During inktober I have managed to fill up half of a sketch book (or there abouts) 27 pages both sides, normally it takes me four or five months so it has definitely made me draw more. Some of the prompts were a bit random so I was pushed way out of my comfort zone quite a few times which is a good thing I suppose, it does show up the weakness in my drawing capabilities though. Obviously this means I need to do lots more drawing to gain these skills.

I used my dip pens for most if not all drawings and this gave me some things to think about:

1. 1. I hold a pen far too tightly which inhibits the flow of pen movement, I need to loosen up a bit.
   2. Turning the paper around more means I can produce a smoother line.
   3. Dip pens run out quickly so make sure to dip before putting pen to paper each time.
   4. dip pens are messy, watch out for the splotts.

This is one of the pages from my sketch book for day 26 squeak. Theyre not finished (some of them are a bit wonky) or coloured in, I just needed an idea of what a mouse looked like. I chose the little black one from the second page, he was kind of cute.

Having to post something every day was a bit scary especially if the thing I’d drawn wasn’t something I thought good enough for posting.

Every day I got to draw lots of things I wouldn’t normally draw.

There was some amazing art made by other people, it’s always enjoyable clicking on the hashtag and finding out how everyone else interpreted the prompt.

I got to use supplies that usually sit in a draw gathering dust and expand my skills.

So was inktober fun? Yes, yes it was well worth the effort. Congratulations to everyone who participated and thanks. You can see all the inktobers here on instagram or wk1 wk2 wk3 wk4 here on WordPress

Thanks for stopping by today. Till next time, have fun x

Inktober 2017 23 – 29 And Some Acorns

inktober 2017 23-29

Hi there, how are you?

We’re on week four of inktober, (nearly finished), just two more to go! I’m still sticking with the prompts, which has surprised me as some words were a bit of a struggle. I’m also still using the dip pens although I did change out the nib to a more flexible one. It’s helping with the line variation.

Prompt and interpretations
Day 23 juicy – orange
Day 24 blind – mole
Day 25 ship – an airship
Day 26 squeak – little mouse
Day 27 climb – lizard climbing
Day 28 fall – (autumn) acorns and oak leaves
Day 29 united – a bridge (uniting both banks of the river)

Working out the prompt in my sketch book.

These are some acorns I’ve drawn in my sketchbook as I tried to work out what to draw for day 28 (fall) and decided to colour them in, I’m missing colour at the moment as everything I’m doing is black and white or very limited in colour.

This is the image I chose for the prompt. It looks very different in the picture below in black and white.

inktober-day-28-fall

If you would like to see all of the inktober’s for this month you can check them out here on my instagram, fluff.n.nonsence

There’s just two days left and then it’s all over for another year so I think I’m going to make it to the end, next week maybe I’ll have a think about what the effects have been and what I’ve learned during the month.

Thanks for stopping by today. Till next time, have fun x

#Inktober 2017 16 – 22 Trying To Vary The Lines

#inktober 2017 numbers 16-22 indian ink and dip pen.

Hello folks, how are you?

It’s week three of inktober, still sticking with the prompts, and good grief some of them are challenging.

Prompt and Interpretations
Day 16 fat – a caterpillar
Day 17 graceful – swan
Day 18 filthy – muddy boots
Day 19 cloud – stylized cloud
Day 20 deep – bunnies’ deep underground
Day 21 furious – bulls head
Day 22 trail – snail plus trail

There are always one or two each week that I’m not fussed with, either the prompt didn’t excite me or the picture didn’t come out as well as I wanted it to. On these days I have to look back at what I had intended the goal for this month to be. Then I do the picture post it up on instagram regardless of how much I like it, otherwise I’ll drive myself crazy with inner critic issues and nothing will get done!

I had decided I would use my dip pens and ink, these are not tools I’m very familiar with but since I have them I wanted to try to learn how to use them. Normally I draw something in my sketch book and use a brush pen for the lines, then when I’m happy with it transfer the image lightly in pencil to the book I’m keeping all the inktober’s in. They are then inked with Indian ink and a dip pen.

Drawn with a pencil. lined with a dip pen and indian ink. Click this picture to view on instagram.

You can see the difference in lines between the brush pen and dip pen in these two snails here, I am getting some variance in line now with a dip pen, it’s not brilliant but it is better, I still prefer the brush pen at the moment.

Drawn with a pencil, lined with a brush pen and coloured with watercolour

There’s a little over a week to go now so hopefully we’ll make it through (inspiredtangle and I are doing inktober together)

Thanks for stopping by today. Till next time, have fun x