Week 21- Using Indian Ink and Ink Washes

 I wanna start by saying that I have never used Indian ink before, Of course, I do have some experience with painting, but not specifically with Indian ink. 

This is a very unforgiving material. It stains the page instantly, having no way of erasing what you have previously done. Making an outline is out of the question, the only way of doing that is using a pencil beforehand. I chose not to do that though and stuck to the techniques that Teodora was shoeing us.

More exactly, that meant me getting loose. Not thinking about the stuff that I was doing too much, adding strokes roughly where I thought the shadows were going to be, starting with lighter values, and then moving on to darker ones. To achieve that, I had to use some diluted ink, since it is very pigmentated. To be honest, this was a really fun process that I would definitely give another chance in the future.

Unfortunately, I did end up ruining my mixed approach painting, having too many outlines that were flattening the image. For the lightweight one, I struggled from the get-go. As a result, I decided to remake all of them, being mindful of the mistakes I have done before.

I made the first one was made using the same approaches as the one from class, but I did think more about the proportions, and I added more tonal variation and detail. I also decided to add some stuff in the background because the picture looked too empty.

For the second one, I started working the same as I did with the first one, but I did not add so much detail and variation, since those were going to be read through the outlines. I also tried not to add too many of these, leaving some spots to blend with the background.

For the linework one, I decided to make a sketch first, which really helped during the process.

Getting the smaller details was quite hard considering that they had to be painted straight now and I couldn't erase anything, even with very small brushes.

I did end up giving her some long hair cause I thought it would fit the style nicely. I do wish that I wouldn't have added so many lines to the face though.

Deciding to remake those was definitely the right call, having improved considerably in comparison with the first versions.