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outsidelogic — The Stone Keep
Published: 2013-04-19 06:26:06 +0000 UTC; Views: 5454; Favourites: 223; Downloads: 83
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Description
This was inspired by some travel books we have on England (summer vacation! can't wait!). It's not an actual place, but is just reminiscent of some of the pictures I've been looking at.My current obsession is ink. I'm playing around with different inking techniques, trying to match the right style with the subject matter. My guide is the amazing Rendering in Pen and Ink by Arthur Guptill, a veritable encyclopedia of inking techniques. It's an old book, and doesn't cover comic book-type inking...it's more focused on traditional styles. It's a treasure.
This was done with a .03 Prismacolor marker.
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Comments: 70
Lucky you to have Guptill`s book! 
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Thanks! Yeah, Guptill's book is a treasure.
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What to say? I love the pen and ink style, and the colored paper it's on. Looks like an illustration from a book. Love it!
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Thank you...I've always loved old-style book illustrations
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This is very nicely rendered, I love pen and ink, I do a lot of traditional pen and ink work, and the Guptill book has long been a reference of mine. It is an amazing book!
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Thank you. It's nice to see someone else who values the "old school". I like your pen sketches.
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I really want to look into getting this boo. It sounds really useful in any artists library. the quality of this piece is amazing. I can recognize different types of shading blended in quite well
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Yeah, like I said, it really is a book about traditional inking techniques. But I keep going back to it. Sometimes when I'm struggling with a picture, I just leaf through the book, and a new approach just pops out at me. Thanks for the compliment.
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you are very welcome and yeah i imagine having a book like that would help
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Thanks...glad you like it
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Thank you. People seem to love this picture more than other things I've done, and I'm not sure why...
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This is great! Your ink work is really coming along! I especially dig the perfect handling of the shadows on the rocks on the left side of the drawing. Wicked stuff!
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Hey man, long time, no hear. I appreciate your comment, and yeah I'm concentrating on ink work now and not really posting anything until I work out some techniques. Studying Franklin Booth (thanks for introducing him to me), and some of the old Dutch illustrators. I'm really working on building up value and texture just with inked lines...every time I finish a picture, I look at it and say I need to do that over because I messed up here and here and here...
Anyway, although I'm not posting officially, here's my latest in my stash...a portrait of Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade (sta.sh/0220tlpxrk4w). The lines still look sloppy to me, but it's coming along.
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Well, the hard work, patience and practice is showing in your drawing. You are really starting to nail the cross-contour inking. Your Bogart is fantastic. It is hard to nail likeness with that inking technique, You pulled it off nicely, the tonal uniformity and gradation works really well. Don't be too hard on yourself with the small imperfections, your personal mark on the medium will probably flow from your unique method of mark making. I totally get how it can be frustrating when unexpected tonal shifts or juxtaposing geometric planes (almost like unwanted polygons) pop out in a drawing. Ill be damned, you really get it though, your latest ink work is far beyond my comprehension of the technique. The drawings really dance with life, they have good variation of line thickness and quality. Excellent stuff man. check out this fella's blog, i just came across it a couple of days ago.
[link]
Excellent stuff. Looking forward to seeing more of your work!
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Holeee crapola...that is beautiful work! I love the use of white ink! He's definitely got the Gustav Dore' thing going on, especially here: [link] . Where do you find these guys?
Thanks for the kind words...made my day. So much nicer than getting comments like "Cool!"
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Yeah, the guy has unique talent. The Dore influence is immense. Especially in the low lit scenes like you pointed out. I almost wonder if he incorporates some scratchboard techniques, it seems that in some spots the highlights have a removal scoring effect instead of a stroke. I cant remember where I came across him.... His blog is called inkling, so probably just a late night surfing expedition, or a feature on another blog.
Cool. yeah, i try to take it as the highest form of compliment, it isn't constructive in anyway, but it is an offering of appreciation from someone that can't use knowledge of artistic formal elements to express their adulation. It is tiresome in many respects though. I guess it takes a lot of time to formulate a response with any valid criticism, few people can be bothered, which is unfortunate, as to form criticisms of other work and highlight its merits is a valuable form of learning. How else can a person ever hope to evaluate their own work?
I am very excited to see what you post when you come back from the "shed". Good luck in there.
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So I looked into this more, and found another artist who uses this technique. His art is pretty commercial, but excellently done...the subject matter just isn't as compelling. www.inkart.com/index.html
So it's basically scratchboard without the black ink. It's a white chalky surface, and you ink on it as you would on paper. But if you have an area that's mostly dark, you just lay down your black ink, and let it dry, and then scratch away.
I want to try this out, but the best material is this EssDee scraperboard, which is pretty expensive. I picked up a couple of small pieces of clayboard here in the US, which as far as I can tell is pretty much the same thing. I'll see if I can do anything with it...
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Glen,
Sorry it took so long to reply. I have been away from deviantart for quite some time. I'd ask how things are going, but by looking at your gallery I would assume quite well. Your pen skills have grown unbelievably. Excellent work, I'm dumbfounded by how much you have grown. Your adoption of Booth's style is incredible. Very confident lines, you make great choices in directionality and line weight. You really have it down. You should be proud of what you have accomplished, I don't know anyone who has come so close to mastering this ink style, and I went to school with plenty who tried.
W.
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Ha, you're not exactly active around here, are you? Well thanks for the great compliment; it made my day. I still feel like I have a long way to go, but I do think I'm making progress. One of these days I'm going to tackle this using a brush...
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You're very welcome. I'm looking forward to what comes out of your pen next. Soon you will distinguish your own voice apart from Booth's. With your growing skill that is going to really be something see. Congrats on reaping the benefits of hard work and study. It's inspiring.
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go to Edinburgh and the scketch the castle. I would love to see your rendition of that beautiful setting.
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Ah, unfortunately we won't make it to Edinburgh...2 weeks is just not enough time! But I'm sure we'll see some crazy cool castles. I plan on bringing home lots of reference pics.
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o well. That still sounds like a great vacation. Have fun.
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Hey that's what the last guy said...
Thanks.
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Thank you. I just browsed your gallery. I'm not a big anime fan, but you do very nice pencil work.
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Thanks...glad you like it
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the stem of the tree in the foreground looks a bit too straight to look natural, but the rest is very beautiful
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Hmmm...you might be right about that. I'm just starting to draw more natural settings, so I'll keep that in mind. Thanks for the comment.
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Thanks! I like your sketchbooks...
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Thank you...glad you like it.
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very nice. so simple, yet there's a story there....i really like it
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Thank you. I left the story up to the viewers' imagination...
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Antiquenology? Retro-tech?
I like the line weights and the organic growing in and around the stone. I really enjoy the sense of direction you achieve with your hatching.
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I don't know...I'm just in a retro mood. Ever hear the Kinks' Muswell Hillbillies album? "I'm a 20th-century man but I don't want to be here..." Too many cell phones, too much computer time (and here I sit at the computer 
Anyway, I'm glad you like the hatching. I'm working on it.
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Listening to it now. I always suspected the Kinks must have done something significant prior to my musical awareness.
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