Since my muse was no longer enthused with the cozy prompts and shapes, I decided to change course… I had also wanted to get out the dip ink this month. If you are a long time reader, you know that I *love* dip ink… digital is just more portable and there is no mess so I end up doing that more often. But I do love how dip ink makes me slow down and just go into a zen state.

I thought I had posted my findings a few years back where I tested a few types of ink and paper… but I guess I only posted it to a forum I was on years back. I found the image so that I wouldn’t have to do the tests again… basically my Zig Sumi isn’t water resistant… so if I want to then watercolor afterwards, I probably don’t want to use that ink…

This year I couldn’t remember if my current printer was used for those tests, also I was curious if I preferred having my underdrawing in light grey, orange, or blue… it’s always a bit more fun to have your tests be a fun project… so I drew a couple of cute characters in Procreate, so that I could ink them traditionally…

Then I inked each drawing with different inks… I was doing multiple tests here. I wanted to see which color was easier to see while inking, and which color looked best inked over. But I also wanted to make sure the ink would *stick* to the printer ink. So far, I think it was easier to ink on the blue (but with the caveat that it was the third drawing and perhaps I was just more warmed up by then). I found myself going over my work more often with the orange if my line was a bit wonky to cover the orange and then getting lines that were too thick in areas I didn’t intend. I liked the light grey overall, for *hiding* underneath the ink, but it was a little bit harder to see while inking (with that same caveat that it was the first drawing and I wasn’t warmed up yet). Overall, I think I’m happiest with the light grey, but perhaps more testing is needed…

Next I started to paint… which I’m still working on… so I’ll need to do a follow-up post shortly…

So far, I’m having fun and I think they are cute little drawings… I think my muse is happy as well.

Until next time…

~nic