Overheard

January 2007 - ink pens, inks&watercolour, coloured pencils

Illustration for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling, Chapter 19 - Elf Tails (p. 380 in UK hardback edition)

This is a very experimental piece - it started out as ink drawing with pens. Then I decided to fill in the large dark spaces with ink washes with a brush. Then I thought, hey, why don't I try the same style I used for black,combining flat black spaces with washes of coloured ink and watercolour. When I got to the coloured ink part however, I realised that I'm not going to be able to get as many details as needed, because I wasn't using watercolour paper. So I decided to only lay down the base colour with inks and do the rest with coloured pencils. And then the fun just began! Because when I started with the pencils, I discovered that when they are used over ink on drawing paper with little tooth, they become very smooth and thick - not unlike oil pastels. You can basically paint with pencils! Yes, yes I suppose this is no revelation for all you mixed media guys out there, but it was forme!

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However, scanners like mixed media even less than any other media. I'm loath to say that the original looks much much better. Sorry about the scanning line, too.

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Oh and I have also recently begun working on a bigger format than I did before - I just don't have enough room on my 9x12 inches any more. This one is 11,5 x 16, 5.