Animal Pirates

This is a scanned watercolour painting of some cute pirate animals on a voyage out to sea. It's just some personal development work. I wanted to use my dip pens on watercolour paper and try out the different nibs in the context of an actual illustrations rather than just mark making. I feel a bit sorry for the cat clinging on to the crows nest like that! They should have got themselves a bigger boat!

New pens

I've got some new pens. Dip pens. There are so many nibs to play with and they are so cheap I decided to buy a selection from the Art centre in Bedford. 

I don't really hold my pen 'properly'. At school I was still writing with a pencil when everyone else had advanced to using ink. I use it in my right hand but hold it like a left hander. This makes the line very scratchy.

So this is taking some getting use to. With the finer nibs I draw a line and no mark is made because of my cack-hand. However, when the mark is made, especially with a really fine line... It looks really tasty, if a little shaky.

Here are a few experiments from my sketchbook using my new toys.

Drawing hair with super fine nibs was fun.

This bear is my favourite!