Please also visit my other website at:
Art For Sale - Saint Michael Miniature Pen and Ink Drawings
including:
 |
Our Lady of Guadalupe, stippled ink on genuine sheep skin, a (finished) Work In Progress |
As war escalates around the world, please remember each day to pray for Peace.
including:
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
|
Guild of Natural Science Illustrators, Inc.
The Society of Tempera Painters
Marians Of The Immaculate Conception
Saintpaulia grandifolia #299
A work in progress
Image size: 12 inches x 8 inches
(Please be patient while images load - also please note- variances in the appearances of the drawing (hue, shadows) resulted from my having two different scanners and cameras during the process of drawing and recording this.)
| Crescent hot press illustration board |
| Koh-I-Noor Rapidograph pens, stainless steel nibs, sizes 6 x 0, 4 x 0, 3 x 0, 00, 0, 1 (to date) |
| FW Acrylic Inks, Koh-I-Noor Universal Inks, Artist's Acrylic Inks |
This drawing has actually been in the works for a while. For some reason, it is one I work on, then set aside, and then later work on. This may seem like I am uninspired by the drawing, but actually it has become like a good friend, always there. :) From the time I started this one until now, I have probably drawn or painted 35 or 40 pieces, and yet I always go back to this one.
Saintpaulia grandifolia # 299 is one of my favorite plants. One of the African violet species, it is a very nice grower, a prolific bloomer, and because of its large size, can make quite a nice specimen plant.
I am stippling this drawing using Koh-I-Noor pens, one of my favorite ways to create a work of art.
Stage 1
The initial drawing and initial inking
The drawing to this point has taken five hours.
The drawing to this point has taken thirteen hours. Stippling in layers takes a great amount of time. It also enables the artist to have great control over the color tones and hues in the subject. In the above scan, the veins of the leaves are still white. They will be filled in with yellow after the main tonal greens are on the leaf surfaces. At this point, I am using four color layers, one yellow and three different green hues. I use larger pen sizes to stipple the yellow in because I know it will be covered or enhanced with small dots (pen sizes) of green. This gives a very detailed and "finished" effect.
At 16 hours
Detail at 16 hours
The drawing to this point has taken sixteen hours. I am just starting to introduce two more shades of green to establish the shadow areas. In addition, I will now continue to establish the main tonal green on the leaf surfaces. Care must be taken to leave the correct white areas, allowing the stems and blossoms to be delineated from the overall drawing. One of the reasons I love this art form is that I can maintain ultimate control over the finished piece. One dot at a time, I can express exactly what I see. Every once in a while, if I have been working on one of these for a long session, I have to jump to my oil paints and just splash color to let loose a little bit. The time and concentration it takes to work with ink stippling can be slightly physically draining, but I find if I make myself take a break once an hour to stretch my muscles and rest my eyes, strain isn't a problem. And I feel the finished work is well worth the effort.
At 18 hours
This scan shows how I have started to add the texture of the leaves. It doesn't look balanced with color at this point, areas look too dark or too light, but as the overall drawing is worked on, the balance can be achieved.
At 23 hours
I have filled in some of the texture and started to go over all the leaves with a layer of yellow. This gives cohesiveness to the drawing.
This is at 30 hours
The center leaf is almost completely done, although I will be going over it again when the other leaves are completed to firm up details, highlights, and blend the veins. At the right of the page, you can see one stage of layering. The right side of the leaf has a layer more (of FW Acrylic ink Light Green) over the previous layers. I am using 4 x 0 and 6 x 0 pen sizes at this point.
This is at 44 hours
The layer of FW Acrylic ink in Light Green is almost complete on all the leaves, and it is starting to look more like a plant, and less like groups of different elements. One thing that might not be visible in the leaf detail scan below, is the wonderful surface of the piece when so many layers have been applied. The inks dry completely overnight although they are dry to the touch almost immediately. The layers of dry ink are very smooth to the touch, and yet also textured because of the dots. Another aspect of this medium that I really like is the permanence. There are other, faster ways to correctly depict a plant, however, I have found that layering ink in this technique creates a very permanent piece. The lightfastness is at least the same as watercolors, and in some colors, more permanent than watercolors. The ink itself is waterproof, and the papers I use are usually 100% cotton rag, all elements for a permanent piece.
One other note about the dots- when stippling in black and white, historically, great care is taken to place the dots at equal distances, creating an even, yet tonal effect. Stippling in color is slightly different - I still take great care to space the dots, but I am not really trying to achieve an explicitly tonal effect. (See my notes on the A Work In Progress - B & W Pen and Ink Stippling page) Also with color, there are many more layers. The scan above (at 44 hours) has about 5 or six layers of color overall, although not on every space. Stippling in color is also different from pointillism, which I feel uses the different color dots in a visually blending effect. I am not trying to specifically blend blue dots and yellow dots to appear as green dots when the eye sees them side by side. I am going right for the green (or other color) , with direct color use. I think of my stippled layering as drawing a plant one pore at a time.
Detail at 44 hours
At 50 hours
I have worked on the center "new" leaves, and the leaf on the lower left. I will work on each leaf, and bring it almost to completion, and then I will work on the drawing as a whole again. If I were to work on the drawing overall at this point ( for example, all the veins, all the dark areas, etc.) , instead of each individual leaf almost to completion, I might be able to work more quickly, but the individuality of each leaf would be less apparent without going back and working over each leaf anyway. So, I find that I am better off taking the time to work each leaf, and then when I do go back over the entire drawing, it is just to fix areas that might be too obvious or not obvious enough.
You will also note that I have not jumped to inking the blossoms or the stems. Believe me, after 50 hours of green and yellow dots, I would love to be doing a blossom in hues of lavender and blue. But, I find that the drawing comes out looking more cohesive if I am fairly methodical about the order of elements that I ink. Putting in the blossoms at this point would be a welcome break in some ways, but it will also break the train of thought as to how many dots of Sap Green it really takes to fill a leaf. I personally find it easier to keep a consistent train of thought when working in this medium. This is especially true if I am working on a drawing sporadically with days in-between sessions. It also helps sometimes to jot down the order of colors used- for example on a leaf such as these, I am using FW Acrylic Inks in Process Yellow, Light Green, and Sap Green, Koh-I-Noor Universal Ink in Green, and a mix of my own I call Cool Green, as well as other colors. I make notes as to what layers I have put down and their order if it is going to be several days before I work again.
Of course, by working each leaf individually, I also run the risk of overdoing one area or leaf. Taking a break at least once an hour, as mentioned above, helps to prevent over-concentration on one area. Also, scanning the image at different intervals also helps because when you look at a scan of your drawing, you will immediately see what you like or don't like. Another alternative is to face the drawing into a mirror and then look at the mirror. The reverse image will help tremendously in having any problem areas show up.
One note- In the drawing scan above, the center leaf is starting to look less dark because of the leaves around it being gradually darker. But.. that leaf was the first I worked on, and a caution as far as the inks can be noted here. I mix my own ink colors, as well as using them directly from the bottle. The darkest areas of the center leaf are done with bottled Sap Green. It is slightly darker than the Sap Green in my pen now, although I used the same ink. This could be because I didn't completely clean the nib of a previous color when I first filled the pen, or it could be from settling of the pigments in the bottle prior to my using it for the first time. I'm pretty fastidious about cleaning the nibs in-between colors, so in this case I think it is from settling pigments. I will be able to blend in the darker areas of the leaf, but a problem like this could ruin a drawing. So, it is best to always clean nibs absolutely completely between colors, and before filling the pen for the first time, shake the ink bottle completely for several minutes to make sure there is no settling of pigments.
Here is a photo of the drawing at 65 hours. I have two leaves to finish before moving on to the blossoms, stems and roots. I will also go over the entire drawing again to make sure it looks cohesive. Below is a scan of the detail of the leaves. Some of the veining will be blended more after all of the leaves are finished. FW Acrylic Ink in Permanent Light Green is very good for going over an area that needs lightening. It is transparent, but does have some covering power also. Koh-I-Noor Universal Green is the blue-green I am using for blending lighter areas into dark.
Below is a photo of the drawing at 72 hours. The majority of work in a piece such as this will be the leaves, and I am seeing the end of that stage coming soon. I have one more leaf to complete fully, some shadowing on one leaf to complete, and then I will be going over all of them in some fashion after I finish the other elements. Once the leaves are done, everything else moves much more quickly.
At 72 hours
At 81 and a half hours - I just have the blossoms and buds left to do, as well as some minor shadowing. At about 77 hours, I started thinking of the next drawing I've to do, a sure sign this one is almost done. :)
At 83 hours - I have started the layering of the blossoms.
This is a detail of the drawing at 83 hours, and the different layers I have begun on the blossoms. On the large blossom, there are three layers - a dark purple-blue, a magenta shade, and a layer of process cyan (blue). I will adapt the amounts of these layers to show the actual color of the blossoms, which is a blue-violet.
Below is the drawing complete at 89.5 hours. This photo was taken indoors under a combination of natural and artificial light.
Thank you for viewing this!