Painting With Ink

Here's something that was different for me.  I've seen Steven Reddy work magic with ink so I wanted to give it a try.

Not having any India Ink, I chose to use my Noodler's Lexington Gray.  First I worked the sketch using the Pilot Prera and Namiki Black water soluble ink.  Then instead of watercolor, I mixed up a diluted pool of ink and painted with a synthetic round.  I'm not sure what ink might do to Sable and didn't want to take a chance of ruining my brushes.

I worked this in the generic sketchbook with no sizing and was quite amazed with how easily the ink went down.  I was expecting the paper to grab it right off and end up super blotchy.  Those areas that might look so (table surface) was done on purpose that way as I didn't want a solid color. 

If the area was still wet, I found I could work the ink somewhat like watercolor.  Lift too dark of an area with tissue or let it dry and it layered nicely..........without the layer beneath lifting.  A true example of how smooth the ink went down shows in the shadow beneath the stapler.

This was a nice change :-))