…a long, long time ago.
Over this Christmas just past, I inked in a pencil drawing I drew sometime in the mid-1980s. I found a variation (pictured above) of that drawing which I penciled in 1986. I’m not sure why I did it back then, but it was sitting in my flat file cabinet just the same and was begging for some ink. I started inking this on the heels of finishing my previous version, but I put it aside for a little while in order to fiddle with logos.
My aim was to turn this 14 inch by 17 inch work into a comic book cover or a poster so it needed a logo. I wanted it to be hand drawn and have an underground comic sort of look. I had fun sketching and re-sketching variations in my sketchbooks. Some of them were worked on digitally figuring I would marry all of the elements together in an electronic composite.
Ultimately, I abandoned my new drawings and ended up using the logo I created with cutout newspaper letters around the same time as I penciled the drawing. I traced the logo onto my drawing with transfer paper and inked it by hand.
I did sort of like this one although I inked the final in solid.
I’m not sure what originally prompted my drawing of this variation on The Goo Goo Muck, but I suspect it was in order to put off finishing the first one. Procrastination is a curse! The two drawings sat in storage for decades until I got the gumption to throw some ink at the first drawing. I used my new Sailor Fude de Mannen fountain pen which made the inking process a delightful experience. Maybe if I had that tool earlier, I would have finished it a whole lot sooner. Who knows?
Now that I am thinking about this, I had made these two drawings before I started working in art supply stores where my true education in media and techniques started. When I made these drawings, I was a freshly minted art school graduate, and my instincts as a starving art student directed me to the cheapest art materials on the shelves. It was a false thrift in that it didn’t do my work any favors. I know it’s a poor craftsman who blames the quality of his work upon his tools, but I think I was using brushes with hairs sourced from roadkill. They didn’t lend themselves to inking as cleanly and carefully as I hoped. I would certainly ruin my “masterpiece.”
Similarly, I went cheap with the media I worked upon. I must have done both of these monster drawings on a student grade Bristol board. It’s turning yellow despite being shut away from the elements for years. Take a look at the image below. My drawing sits atop a newer piece of Bristol board. I got what I paid for.
Despite the paper aging badly, I did like how my pens flowed over the smooth surface. I had fun inking this drawing, and I plan on working on more.
Stay tuned!
I meant to add to the end of this post and include some of the stuff I watched on my Roku box as I was finishing off this drawing. Generally, I watch stuff that I can halfway ignore so I can give my attention to my drawing. I don’t recall everything I watched, but as I entered the home stretch, I did watch Columbo episodes, 1943’s “Return of the Vampire,” 1944’s “Dead Man’s Eyes” and 1961’s “Pocketful of Miracles.” There were definitely others, but these are the ones I remember. I promised myself I would keep a list of what was on TV on the backs of the drawings.
Very nice, and yes, paper ages, not always gracefully…
Yeah, I’ve moved up to acid free and something with a high percentage of rag.