Charcoal and ink drawing with Ruby Bateman, 8th Oct 2024
This class is perfect for those who live in a different time zone or couldn’t join the class on the 8th October 2024
All levels are welcome.
Please scroll along the pictures to see close up’s of the real flowers we painted - you will need to have access to these during the class so take screen shots or print them out.
Materials you will need...
Charcoal
You don't need to be too fussy about charcoal as many brands and styles do the job well! I like to use the Coates Willow sticks as they are thinner; so easier to break into smaller hand held pieces and achieve finer detail. I sometimes find that fatter charcoal sticks don't always smudge as well and can feel waxier on the page.
Pencils
Any softness is fine, this is in case you'd like to draft out any drawings
Rubbers and Sharpeners
Paint Brushes
Bring a variety of brush sizes and widths. Some brushes will be used for finer line drawings, others for filling in colour
Old jam jars and/or palette boards for mixing
Ink
In my practice I like to draw predominantly in Indian sepia ink, as it has a neutral but warming effect on paper. My favourite brand is Winsor and Newton Calligraphy Ink: Sepia. I've also used this brand/style of ink in my coloured artworks. When on a budget, I water-down a colour to achieve different hues and even mix inks together (you only need a small drop to make a big colour change!) to widen my palette. I recommend buying around three different coloured inks and pre-mixing with water and different colours before the class. These inks make lovely smooth and precise lines, perfect for detailed drawing, with fairly flat colour on the page.
I have also used alcohol-based inks in my work, my favourite being Jackson's Alcohol Ink (who have an incredible array of colours to choose from!). These are fabulous to mix together, but need a lot of attention as the mixture can be fast drying (due to evaporation) and can become gloopy when over-mixed. These inks aren't as viscous on the page as Indian/calligraphy inks, so require more quantity to cover the surface of your drawing. They also bleed more on application, so fine lines and borders are hard to achieve.
I've found this style of ink to be most enjoyable when creating open, more abstract areas of background colour, with more dense tones and visible brushstrokes. Because of the alcohol quality to the material, I have even been able to go back over inked areas on the page with layers of colour to achieve interesting densities and muted hues.
These inks are more expensive and I would recommend using them if you fancy a shake-up to your ink practice and looking to try something more painterly.
Paper
I prefer smooth grain paper for ink drawing, so there is less drag on the page.
If you are using Indian/calligraphy based ink, you can usually get away with using a wide range of paper thickness, as these inks don't bleed too much. I like using Daler-Rowney Smooth Heavyweight 22gsm (pad). However, if you are watering these inks down they will be wetter so will need to be held on more robust heavyweight paper. I have used a 315gsm Heritage Bookwhite cartridge on more watery designs.
For alcohol based ink drawing it is much the same; you can get away with a variety of paper thicknesses, I like using Daler-Rowney Smooth Heavyweight 22gsm (pad). This ink will always bleed through the page and you will see the drawing on the other side. I would always draw with a scrap piece of paper underneath for protection with these inks.
If you are painting on a nice table surface and are worried about run-through, I'd put a protective layer of newspaper/draft paper/waterproof table cloth down underneath at all times.
This class is perfect for those who live in a different time zone or couldn’t join the class on the 8th October 2024
All levels are welcome.
Please scroll along the pictures to see close up’s of the real flowers we painted - you will need to have access to these during the class so take screen shots or print them out.
Materials you will need...
Charcoal
You don't need to be too fussy about charcoal as many brands and styles do the job well! I like to use the Coates Willow sticks as they are thinner; so easier to break into smaller hand held pieces and achieve finer detail. I sometimes find that fatter charcoal sticks don't always smudge as well and can feel waxier on the page.
Pencils
Any softness is fine, this is in case you'd like to draft out any drawings
Rubbers and Sharpeners
Paint Brushes
Bring a variety of brush sizes and widths. Some brushes will be used for finer line drawings, others for filling in colour
Old jam jars and/or palette boards for mixing
Ink
In my practice I like to draw predominantly in Indian sepia ink, as it has a neutral but warming effect on paper. My favourite brand is Winsor and Newton Calligraphy Ink: Sepia. I've also used this brand/style of ink in my coloured artworks. When on a budget, I water-down a colour to achieve different hues and even mix inks together (you only need a small drop to make a big colour change!) to widen my palette. I recommend buying around three different coloured inks and pre-mixing with water and different colours before the class. These inks make lovely smooth and precise lines, perfect for detailed drawing, with fairly flat colour on the page.
I have also used alcohol-based inks in my work, my favourite being Jackson's Alcohol Ink (who have an incredible array of colours to choose from!). These are fabulous to mix together, but need a lot of attention as the mixture can be fast drying (due to evaporation) and can become gloopy when over-mixed. These inks aren't as viscous on the page as Indian/calligraphy inks, so require more quantity to cover the surface of your drawing. They also bleed more on application, so fine lines and borders are hard to achieve.
I've found this style of ink to be most enjoyable when creating open, more abstract areas of background colour, with more dense tones and visible brushstrokes. Because of the alcohol quality to the material, I have even been able to go back over inked areas on the page with layers of colour to achieve interesting densities and muted hues.
These inks are more expensive and I would recommend using them if you fancy a shake-up to your ink practice and looking to try something more painterly.
Paper
I prefer smooth grain paper for ink drawing, so there is less drag on the page.
If you are using Indian/calligraphy based ink, you can usually get away with using a wide range of paper thickness, as these inks don't bleed too much. I like using Daler-Rowney Smooth Heavyweight 22gsm (pad). However, if you are watering these inks down they will be wetter so will need to be held on more robust heavyweight paper. I have used a 315gsm Heritage Bookwhite cartridge on more watery designs.
For alcohol based ink drawing it is much the same; you can get away with a variety of paper thicknesses, I like using Daler-Rowney Smooth Heavyweight 22gsm (pad). This ink will always bleed through the page and you will see the drawing on the other side. I would always draw with a scrap piece of paper underneath for protection with these inks.
If you are painting on a nice table surface and are worried about run-through, I'd put a protective layer of newspaper/draft paper/waterproof table cloth down underneath at all times.
This class is perfect for those who live in a different time zone or couldn’t join the class on the 8th October 2024
All levels are welcome.
Please scroll along the pictures to see close up’s of the real flowers we painted - you will need to have access to these during the class so take screen shots or print them out.
Materials you will need...
Charcoal
You don't need to be too fussy about charcoal as many brands and styles do the job well! I like to use the Coates Willow sticks as they are thinner; so easier to break into smaller hand held pieces and achieve finer detail. I sometimes find that fatter charcoal sticks don't always smudge as well and can feel waxier on the page.
Pencils
Any softness is fine, this is in case you'd like to draft out any drawings
Rubbers and Sharpeners
Paint Brushes
Bring a variety of brush sizes and widths. Some brushes will be used for finer line drawings, others for filling in colour
Old jam jars and/or palette boards for mixing
Ink
In my practice I like to draw predominantly in Indian sepia ink, as it has a neutral but warming effect on paper. My favourite brand is Winsor and Newton Calligraphy Ink: Sepia. I've also used this brand/style of ink in my coloured artworks. When on a budget, I water-down a colour to achieve different hues and even mix inks together (you only need a small drop to make a big colour change!) to widen my palette. I recommend buying around three different coloured inks and pre-mixing with water and different colours before the class. These inks make lovely smooth and precise lines, perfect for detailed drawing, with fairly flat colour on the page.
I have also used alcohol-based inks in my work, my favourite being Jackson's Alcohol Ink (who have an incredible array of colours to choose from!). These are fabulous to mix together, but need a lot of attention as the mixture can be fast drying (due to evaporation) and can become gloopy when over-mixed. These inks aren't as viscous on the page as Indian/calligraphy inks, so require more quantity to cover the surface of your drawing. They also bleed more on application, so fine lines and borders are hard to achieve.
I've found this style of ink to be most enjoyable when creating open, more abstract areas of background colour, with more dense tones and visible brushstrokes. Because of the alcohol quality to the material, I have even been able to go back over inked areas on the page with layers of colour to achieve interesting densities and muted hues.
These inks are more expensive and I would recommend using them if you fancy a shake-up to your ink practice and looking to try something more painterly.
Paper
I prefer smooth grain paper for ink drawing, so there is less drag on the page.
If you are using Indian/calligraphy based ink, you can usually get away with using a wide range of paper thickness, as these inks don't bleed too much. I like using Daler-Rowney Smooth Heavyweight 22gsm (pad). However, if you are watering these inks down they will be wetter so will need to be held on more robust heavyweight paper. I have used a 315gsm Heritage Bookwhite cartridge on more watery designs.
For alcohol based ink drawing it is much the same; you can get away with a variety of paper thicknesses, I like using Daler-Rowney Smooth Heavyweight 22gsm (pad). This ink will always bleed through the page and you will see the drawing on the other side. I would always draw with a scrap piece of paper underneath for protection with these inks.
If you are painting on a nice table surface and are worried about run-through, I'd put a protective layer of newspaper/draft paper/waterproof table cloth down underneath at all times.