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Paul (Dixie) Dean

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These are pen and ink drawings by Ralph Parker an American artist, I have included two with added colours to reflect his work.  Hope you don’t mind be butting in Lew and adding the colour work . 
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Lewis Cooper

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No problem with the colour pics Paul.  I particularly like the last of your posts.  In work like this all the major work has been done at the pen drawing stage, and the addition of colour washes relatively simple.  I'll be showing pen and wash, in fact a few of those featured have included gray washes. There's one form of pen work we haven't considered.  Ball point pens.  A growing number of artists are using this cheap as chips medium.  I'd imagined they used specialist ball point pens.  But no...although they use different brands, one of the most popular is the common BIC pen.  You can buy a bag of those for a few quid.  This is the favoured brand of British artist James Mylne...he adds colour with coloured bics, acrylic inkpens, and coloured ink.  A common feature of this art is the time it takes...150 hours upwards is the norm. Here's some of James Mylne's ballpoint work... Samuel Silva used 8 coloured bics to create these mind-blowing drawings... Work by Anam Bosakah... . A lot of this art is photorealistic...not to everyone's taste, but I love it... But it isn't all photorealism. Three by Lennie Mace below... Below by Ler Huang... By Jack Dillhunt... By Louis Gibiard... Shohei Otomo... Ilokunst... And last for now, by British artist Cy Baker... Alan's comment that getting into pen and ink art is not expensive is so right.  Good quality nibs, holders and ink won't set you back very much, and you can use cartridge paper to work on, although if you're intending to add washes you might prefer a smooth watercolour paper. Now you have another option...pop into Poundsavers and buy yourself a bag of bics.  (Never tried ballpoint seriously, although I've doodled with them).

Jenny Harris

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Lewis Cooper

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That's great Jenny. To get back to Robert's question...these days I tend to use a combination of dip pens and tech pens like Edding or Micro.  In fact, I mostly use an Ackerman pen, which I think of as a dip pen but it isn't...it has a reservoir for ink.  It's one of Alan's recommendations.  A first class piece of kit.  Even for a clumsy, sausage fingered lump like me it is easily dismantled for cleaning.  Not that I have to do that too often, but it's a curiously pleasing thing to do.  Mostly if the ink won't flow, after checking  there's ink in the reservoir, I dip the nib into clean water, try it on a scrap of paper, and hey presto I'm up and running again.  (Another of Alan's tips). I use  the Akerman to draw the main shapes, as I have to rest my hand on the paper I need to remember that the ink takes a little while to dry.  So I get to this stage in a drawing... ...if I'm going to add shading, I use a fine Edding pen.  I'll be moving the drawing around every which way to do the shading, using an Edding or Micro pen I don't have to worry about smudging the lines.  Sometimes, as in this case, I decide not to add shading.  When that happens, it'll be because I've used the Ackerman which has a pleasing line.  I also have a variety of dip pens and holder that I don't use much now...but I won't be throwing them away.  Recently I've bought some grey pens to add a mid-tone to the drawings.
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Paul (Dixie) Dean

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I have a few of the grey pens Lew , I don’t use pen very often but I do like the greys when I do , I keep promising myself that I will do more ink work .

Alan Bickley

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The grey range of pens are useful for me when I’m out and about sketching. When it comes to large areas I don’t find them particularly good. So…in the studio when sitting at my desk drawing, I much prefer to mix my own tones using lamp black watercolour, or Ivory black even diluted Indian ink or black acrylic. I get better even coverage and I can mix the exact strength of tone I’m after. Yes, I’m a bit fussy I know, but I’m all about small details.
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Russell Edwards

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Those 'biro' drawings are sensational. I've never had a biro that doesn't blot!
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Lewis Cooper

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‘John Dyer Baizley is lead singer of the American Heavy Metal Band 'Baroness'...he's also an artist.  Much of his work is the production of album covers for his own band and others.  His working method begins with a detailed pencil drawing, for which he uses reference materials and models.  When he's happy with it, he goes over his pencil drawing with pen and ink.  The work is then completed with watercolour. Here's the inked stage of one of his covers... ...and the addition of watercolour... I don't know his music, but I admire his artwork.  Strong line, vivid colour, the element of fantasy and the occasional nod towards Alphonse Mucha's poster style, puts his art on my hit list. Some more of his work... Above...one of the models he often uses.. Below...a closer look at the above drawing... Here the picture shown two above has been divided into four sections.  I find it interesting that each segment works very well as an image on its own.  He’s also happy to use the same model several times in the same picture.  Very effective.

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by Lewis Cooper

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Lewis Cooper

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On the subject of mark making with a pen, this artist uses a variety...in  the main both lines and stippling.  Here you see both... On others times he just uses lines to shade his drawings...as below...when I mentioned using grey pens, this is the way I'd use them.  I don't know for certain, but I'd guess the shaded lines in the drawing below may  well be made with grey pens... Other artists using the stipple method, ONLY use stipples for the entire drawing.  As below in this Pablo Ruiz drawing... I prefer to use both line and stipple.  Probably laziness, stippling is very time consuming but I love to see it.
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Russell Edwards

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Some of the work on display is mind boggling! Brilliant.
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Marjorie Firth

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Re JDBaizley - marvellous! How does he find time to do anything else?
Croft Castle drive, Autumn

Hilary Forbes

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All of the above pen and inks drawings are stunning and impressive, it's really eye opening - thanks Lewis for introducing us to these wonderful artists.  I am particularly in love with the last one by Pablo Ruiz -all those different textures are amazing, and they keep leading you back to the girl's face. I will definitely be looking him up to see more of his artwork.
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