mask

Ink wash on Bristol.

I was happy with the way the shading of the clothing came out in this one--I actually planned it out at the pencil stage for once. The abstract flat black of the skin might have thrown people, and maybe that was a bit of a cop-out on my part--being scared to try real modeled black ink shading on skin.

The head was a particular problem: I managed to paint it placed incorrectly (high and to the side) above the shoulders. So I had to cover it over with white ink, then repaint it; gray washes don't work over the white ink, however, since it isn't waterproof, so I could only paint over it in straight black (I suppose I could try mixing the white and black ink directly; they have very different consistencies, though, and I haven't been tempted to try it yet)--and the white takes a long time to dry if I was rushed and glopped it on thickly, rather than applying it in the multiple thin coat that would be needed to completely obscure black ink beneath it--and it was very late and I did rush it here--so I kind of had to lay the black on thickly as well.

That led to me just saying ah heck, and doing that sort of abstract shadow slicing across the face. But then I needed hair over that, so I went back to the white ink, and this time its thickness helped as I got a nice wet/dry textured effect on the downward strands of hair. Need to remember that little trick.

So this one was certainly a learning experience!

Signed prints available here. The original digital lasso tool study for this page is over here.