Dip Pen Drawing.

I created a series of ink drawings using a dip pen, these drawings were created only using mark making techniques. I wanted to avoid using hard lines and outlines on my pieces to make them appear more realistic. 

My drawings were created from life, I drew first hand from animals and objects. My first drawing was an observational study of a rabbit. I used the dip pen to manipulate the animals fur and texture by using small marks in the direction of the fur. I tried to follow the subject as closely as possible to ensure my drawing was accurate. Rabbit, 1hr 30 mins.

I wanted to experiment with different techniques so I decided to do some ink washes with the drawing ink. I used a large brush to apply watered down ink to the paper to loosely replicate the shape of the animal. For this piece I decided to draw a kestrel. Once I had down my first wash and allowed it to dry I then applied a second was to show the more shadowed areas, this was then worked into using a dip pen when fully dry. 

Like my previous drawing I also worked in the feathers of the animal to create a realistic impression of the birds feathers. This allowed me to create a more three dimensional drawing. Once this layer was dry I also used a white gel pen to add highlights to the piece. Kestrel, 30 mins.

I also created a white dip pen drawing from observation. This was created in black card. Instead of drawing the darker areas as I did in my previous drawings I only drew the highlights to create a more realistic drawing. This drawing was of a house mouse, 20 mins.

 

My final drawing was an exquisite corpse inspired piece also worked from observation. I started by drawing the head and neck of a curlew using textured lines in the direction of the feathers like precious drawings. I then wanted to make this piece more relevant to my theme, I decided to combine a human arm and a bird cage to create an anthropomorphic form combining animal, human and objects. For the human and object part of the drawing I wanted to experiment with a different mark making technique as it was robe converted into a drypoint etching. For this I used stippling, I used the dip pen to add small dots to the piece concentrating them in areas I wanted the shading to be darker.

Like my other drawings I didn't want to use any hard lines or outlines in my piece instead of this I used the mark making techniques to create my own outline.