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Ink drawing with 3 tones

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21.08 slaley hall maluillustration PROMO - low res small

Gerry Mellor

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Decided to put the paints away for this one, and use grey pens for the first time, as well as my usual black, and just spend some mindfulness time on detail. Pleased with this one, and pleased with the results from using a mid and light grey, so thought I'd share it. (Don't usually draw every brick, but these hand-made bricks create a wall that has texture, so I wanted to aim for that too.) Any comments?
With Sarah, Phil, Ellen, Rose the dentist, and the granddaughter whose name I forget.

Robert Jones, NAPA

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Yes, I have a comment: I like it!  I'm playing with a few different inks and pens at the moment, and yet I hadn't really clocked grey ink in pigment ink pens - if I wanted a softer grey I tended to use a dash of watercolour or Chinese ink, which you can grind, with a bit of practice, to the depth you want - and it's still water resistant when dry (as will your pigment ink pens be).   A grey ink pen would save a good deal of time though, so that's something else you've managed to add to my "to buy" list.
21.08 slaley hall maluillustration PROMO - low res small

Gerry Mellor

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Thanks Robert. I've used black, 'dark grey' and 'light grey' unipin fineliners on this one. I found the light grey was almost of pencil tonal value, and plays with your mind, as my brain was saying 'well, use different pressure and you'll get a range of lightness'....which of course it doesn't ;-)

Alan Bickley

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I’ve got a set of grey brush pens, very useful I have to say… Decent sketch Gerry, bricks can be an issue, because once you start, you’ve got to finish them. Which is why I only indicate a few, but this looks fine! I would have possibly used a pure black in places, window panes etc, but a nice drawing! Just read that you have used black…

Edited
by Alan Bickley

21.08 slaley hall maluillustration PROMO - low res small

Gerry Mellor

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Thanks Alan. I normally 'hint' at bricks, because we tend to experience walls as a flat 'plane' and the pattern is not usually very strong, but when I looked at this lovely old wall, the handmade shapes and rugged edges (and irregular sizes) made a much more textural feel than more modern walls, so I felt I would attempt to bring its character to life a bit more. The windows are actually metal mesh, rather than glass, and the attempt you see with the dark grey are the holes in the mesh. I was tempted to use black, as it is practically void of light in those 'holes', but felt it may be too prominent there.  Quite a challenge, when using four values, and I'm clearly still learning, but feel it is a good start in using grey ink. 
21.08 slaley hall maluillustration PROMO - low res small

Gerry Mellor

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...I’ve got a set of grey brush pens, very useful I have to say… Alan Bickley on 23/07/2023 19:24:07
Any examples where you've used them, that you can share, Alan, please?  Thanks

Alan Bickley

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I’m not sure if these two tonal sketches used some of those grey brush pens, I believe they did…  but anyway, here’s a couple of tonal drawings that I did for inclusion in a feature for TA a while back!

Edited
by Alan Bickley

Carol Jones

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Excellent work from, Gerry and Alan.

Alan Bickley

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And another tonal drawing for Gerry. This is the one I had in mind, but couldn’t locate it yesterday!
21.08 slaley hall maluillustration PROMO - low res small

Gerry Mellor

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Nice examples, Alan, thanks. And thanks Carol