155INTRODUCTION
If you are an artist of the first kind, one who
wants too much control over the processes,
you will find this section of the book
challenging. Ink in its most fluid form and
used in conjunction with non-traditional
applicators will expose you to the experience
of letting the processes and the nature of the
medium be your guide. This approach may
bring you unwittingly to satisfactory visual
conclusions that you would never have
entertained in your work previously. You will
find, however, that your innate sense of
control will always act as a safety net and stop
the processes getting completely out of
control. This is exactly the type of balance we
should be striving for as artists. ‘I do not seek
I find’, said Picasso.
If, on the other hand, you are a more
emotional kind of artist who sometimes
becomes frustrated because you have a
propensity to allow the process to run away
with you, and the results usually end in a
mess, you will find exercises to curb your
excesses. Ink will offer you the tight,
controlled effect that you may sometimes
feel is lacking in your drawing. If you are in
this category my advice is to start your
drawing with the freedom you feel is
necessary to your style - one cannot deny the
instinctive flow, it comes naturally. I would
do a wash drawing - a landscape would be a
good choice of subject - with ink and a flat-
headed brush. This combination will allow
your instinctive creative energy to be
released into the drawing. It is now time to
bring that element of control or detail into
the drawing that gives it that much needed
sense of balance that we have talked about
previously. To do this take a rotring pen or a
dip pen and put in the fine detail over the
freer wash drawing to give it the contrasting
sense of tension. We call this approach
working from the general to the specific.Part Three
PENS, INKS, BRUSHES and PAPER
Fibre tip, ballpoint, dip pen, Rotring, fountain pens.
Inks, traditional brushes, Oriental and flat head. Paper.