Here’s another quick brush pen portrait.
Something fun you can do: Click on this image so it blows up on your screen.
Then in a new browser window, open Sunday’s post which included a brush pen portrait, but on a different type of paper.
Blow that image up by clicking on it.
Look at both images and you’ll see how important your choice of paper is with a brush pen. With a smooth paper like yesterday’s posted image you can get a smoother, more even line, more easily. With a slightly textured drawing paper like that in the Hahnemühle Travel Journal sketch shown today, you can see how you can very easily get more dry brush effects.
Because I was using the Pentel Brush pen with the pigment ink (gray squeezy body) you can always pump more ink into the tip of the pen if you need to, but I rarely find that I need to. I just let the brush interact with the paper.
Sketch on different papers today using your favorite brush pen. Make notes about how each paper handles that particular tool and what you like about how each paper works. Next time you sit down to work on a subject you’ll make smart choices about paper based on how you know that tool will work on that paper, and based on the intention you are holding in your mind!
