Inktober 2018 : Day 12 - fountain pentel and felt tip pen

Given how often I draw it you could be forgiven for thinking that Franz spends most of his life maiming people with his bare hands, but I’m actually drawing the same scene over and over.

I think I’m starting to get the hang of the fountain pentel, which I have affectionately nicknamed ‘the splatter pen’. There’s something nice about the scrappy lines it makes.

Inktober 2018 : Day 11 - brush inking and ink wash

Levitating is Nettle's equivalent of fidgeting.

I only have a short shift at work today so I hoped to do something more impressive, but I was so tired that this was all I could manage. I did try to ink with a brush though, which is something I still want to practice more.

Inktober 2018 : Day 10 - plactic nib fineliner

Lena is showing her friends how she can see the future in a bowl of water, but one of them is more on board with it than the other.

I haven't had a full day off work since September and I think I'm starting to make mistakes in these.

Inktober 2018 : Day 9 - grey and black fude pen

I have a nice fude brush pen with one grey tip and one black tip (I'm told this is because sympathy cards are supposed to be written in grey in Japan, but I don't know if that's true), so I wanted to try doing 'colour holds' like Sammy. Although we couldn't decide if it's still a colour hold when the colour is grey.

The girl Isaac has attached himself to can see him, so his preferred method of introduction is to sit creepily somewhere nearby and wait for her to notice him.

Inktober 2018 : Day 8 - gel pens

Violet lives with the Vrega because she was accidentally exposed to a terrible Vrega disease called Black Rot. It doesn’t affect her the same way as them, so she’s not in immediate danger of dying and isn’t contagious, but it does have symptoms. A common one is sudden attacks of nausea and stomach pain, there’s nothing to do except wait for it to stop.

Inktober 2018 : Day 7 - ink and water

Spider is a powerful telepath, but his telekinesis is weak and he’d like to develop it, so he spends a lot of time trying to bend spoons. Sometimes he can do it and sometimes he can’t.

I didn’t draw him in his usual woolly jumper because I had a sudden desire to show you all that he’s kind of hairy.

Inktober 2018 : Day 6 - Pentel Pocket Brush

Last year I was inspired by Heikala's amazing inking videos to get better with my brush pen, so here's another one inked with the Pentel Pocket Brush. I think I'm starting to get the hang of it, there's still a few areas I'm not happy with but this already looks better than day 2.

In Autumn it gets very blustery where Louise lives.

Inktober 2018 : Day 5 - cartridge pen

Lena's prophetic trances come on involuntarily and without warning. Her friends have seen it before, but it doesn't stop being frightening.

Inktober 2018 : Day 4 - G-pen (and brush pen)

(I used a brush pen to fill in the black areas.)

I have now come down with a horrible cold, so I thought the Mirror Twins would be nice and easy to draw, but I was sneezing so much that every line was a battle!

Inktober 2018 : Day 3 - fineliners and grey pens

I drew Sweetpea this way last year, so here is his best friend; Coriander! She belongs to a holly tree that grows right next to his oak, so they see each other every day. As an evergreen, her ear frills don't fall off like his do, but she does sometimes grow berries under them.

Inktober 2018 : Day 2 - Pentel Pocket Brush and ink wash

Alexis is a type of angel made to interact with humans, so even his unnatural features look soft and friendly. He likes loose, fluffy clothes like jumpers and scarves.

My Pentel Pocket Brush is one of my favourite pens, but I don't think I've mastered it yet. I usually do my inks in two or three steps but with a brush pen it seems it's better to make one line and then leave it alone. I'm going to try to use it more this Inktober to see if I can really get the hang of it.

Inktober 2018 : Day 1 - Fountain Pentel

When Nettle loses her temper at school, the sports field is the biggest casualty.

It's finally time for Inktober, my favourite art challenge of the year! I was out of the house for the first three days and didn't have access to my scanner, but I did do the drawings.

This year I want to try to use some of my more uncooperative pens. This one is a Fountain Pentel which is a bizarre soft-nib pen that almost acts like a brush. (I think it might be designed for writing kanji.) It splatters horribly when I use it, but it also makes some really nice, scrappy lines. I'm sure if I practice I can get something really good out of it!

Shaggy Inkcaps

I haven't used pen and ink for a while, I always worry I'll have forgotten how to do it, even though I've been working this way for years!

These are Shaggy Inkcaps, which are a tasty mushroom native to the UK. It's recommended to pick the young ones, as after the caps open they dye other food black! They can also be used to make real ink.

4 Sci-Fi Eyes

I wasn't sure if the top two should count as one or two eyes, since they're the same person.

Apparently I hadn't got all the eyes out of my system, so here are four more. These are three aliens from a story I don't think I've ever shared before, so I suppose this can be their first introduction! All of them are members of a royal court in the far future, far away from Earth.

Top to bottom these are: Jothan, a Perevin courtesan (both relaxed and agitated); Susu, a Shyskish courtesan; and 'Sapling', the Dai Empress.

Winter Weather Spirits

Here are this year's Winter cards! This time it's a set of Winter weather spirits. I painted eight and sent the originals to friends and family last year, but printed a set of six as two of them didn't reproduce well.

I made six little snowflake stickers to go with them, and got colour-splash envelopes to match the Winter theme. They are ready to buy in my shop!