Brown Ink & Doggie Doodles
Last time, I wrote about wanting to practice doodling dogs more often so that I might get better at it. With that in mind, the next time I had a sketchbook page filled with watercolor “vignette blobs”, I decided to try dogs as my subject. I guess I thought it was a two birds/one stone situation, because I also used the Q1 (Little Fat Man) pen currently filled with brown ink.
I believe I just pulled up some images of somewhat realistic dog illustrations on my phone and referred to those for most of my doodles—not aiming for realism by any stretch of the imagination, but hoping for doodles that were recognizable as dogs.
As far as that goes, I think it was successful. I can’t imagine anyone looking at these and honestly not knowing that they (as a group) are meant to be canines. That said, some of them turned out wonky or weird—which isn’t necessarily a criticism or a bad thing. Sometimes wonky and weird is fun, interesting, or full of character. But at the time I was disappointed with some of these. The pug, in particular, seemed a little too odd. (He looks like he’s feeling extremely stressed and isn’t happy with the world.)
Looking again, however, I’m feeling less critical and more open to seeing things I do like. For silly little dog doodles in ink (no pencil, just free-handing it)—from someone who freely admits they aren’t especially gifted in the dog-doodling department—they aren’t so bad.
Doodling freehand in ink is always going to be a flying-by-the-seat-of-your-pants thing, and sometimes it won’t work out as well. That’s ok. It’s only for fun. Accepting and even embracing imperfection is part of the endless challenge to be less critical (in matters when perfection isn’t required or even always desired).
I still want to keep trying more doodles of dogs using a variety of media and techniques (but probably mostly reverting to ink and watercolor, because they’re my favorites).
Oh, and a note on the pen—it continues to feel very dry when you try to flip it to draw with the nib upside-down. You can get a faint line, but it doesn’t come easy and isn’t usually all that effective. I don’t know how much of that is the pen and how much is the ink. (I’ll return to that comment later in the post… If I remember!)
Musical Instruments
Another item on my list of things that might be fun to doodle/paint was musical instruments, so I gave that a try.
I wanted to keep things fun and not particularly realistic, but I did still look at several images online to remind myself of some of the instruments (and their basic shapes).
This time, I started with the paint, then added details on top. I wanted to go for a “simple illustration” 50s/early 60s vibe. (I’m not sure what this style is typically called. Maybe it’s simply mid-century modern or “mid-mod”, apparently…)
I was using up a puddle of paint left on my ceramic palette after filling a new pan of watercolor, and it got fainter toward the bottom of the page, as I extended the paint with water, rather than adding (much) more paint. Personally, I think that adds interest.
I believe I also ran out of ink at some point in the page! I’d been trying to use up the ink that was already in the Duke 600 (Noodler’s Bulletproof Black), because I wanted to switch to a different, more waterproof ink.
When it finally go to the point that it wasn’t marking well, I quickly flushed out the pen, dried it, and refilled with Platinum Carbon Black ink. (This was my first time switching ink types in the same fountain pen, though switching black to black isn’t quite so demanding, I imagine. Going from black to pink or some other lighter color must make it more obvious whether or not you’ve done a good enough cleaning job!)
Getting back to the doodle, some of my lines got a little too far out of control (like with the strings on the lute, or whatever it is at the bottom left). I’m okay with it. The goal was never accuracy, so what does it matter?
You’ll notice that I included a hammered dulcimer, first thing on the page. There’s a weird-looking clarinet there, too, though when I was doodling on top, I wasn’t paying attention and ran out of space, so there are keys much further down than they really ought to be!
Boring Leaf Doodles
I don’t remember why I did this next one. I think I might been trying to mix a specific color, just to see what I could come up with, but then I didn’t have any idea of what to do with it—so I painted easy leaf shapes. (We’d been enjoying an unseasonal break from the humidity, and it put me in mind of fall, even though it’s still far too hot to feel completely autumnal.)
Afterwards, I doodled on top with the Duke 600.
I wasn’t feeling inspired when I made this, and I think that comes through. Not that it’s objectively any worse than my other doodles, probably, but it doesn’t feel as interesting, even to me. It lacks personality.
I do like the color I mixed, though it’s a pretty somber, cold-toned green. The granulation and color separation make it beautiful, in my opinion.
On the positive, I do like the thick-and-thin nature of the line. The fude nib is really nice for that, if it’s something you like, too.
My Eyes!
I hadn’t been doing much between the leaf doodle and this next page. Life had gotten a little stressful and busy, and it just didn’t feel right to sit and doodle. When things quieted down again, I didn’t have anything in mind, but wanted to do something, so I thought I’d try some of my lesser-used materials—mostly wax pastels (crayons) in both water-soluble and water-insoluble form. There are also a couple other water-soluble things in here, as well as a few touches of color pencil.
I didn’t have a plan—just wanted to experiment with these lesser-used materials on my desk.
It’s… really bright. That’s one thing I can say for sure. Looks more neon than some of those neon paints I’ve used recently! (Some of this might be due to difficulty in capturing the color correctly. It might not be quite so eye-searing in person.)
This is another area where I need to practice. I’m not good at using wax pastels, or at least it’s a challenge to make anything I like, myself. Other people do it, though, so I know it’s possible. Part of the problem is that I just don’t know what to do with them. Maybe watching some videos will give me some ideas.
Anyway, I guess it gave me something to do while I unwound from a stressful situation!
Habitrail
I don’t remember when or why, but at some point in the past few months, I thought it would be fun to paint and doodle some hamster “habitrails”, so on the list it went. Apparently “Habitrail” is a brand name, but I’m using it as shorthand for that particular type of hamster home that has transparent plastic tubes connecting different sections—often including plastic spheres or domed structures.
We had hamsters in our home when I was a child and teenager—a couple different times—and while I have no desire to own hamsters again, I still find the idea of them cute and fun. This is one thing I like about doodling—you can indulge in things that you wouldn’t actually want to try or deal with “in real life”. They’re not worth it, for one reason or another—or maybe they aren’t even possible—but drawing or painting them gives you the chance to imagine them, in a pleasant way. It’s almost like being a kid again and playing a game of pretend.
Anyway, I started by painting a couple of pages with “habitrail” shapes in faint watercolor:
Later on, when it was all completely dry, I went back over the page with pen, populating the habitat with hamsters. I have a feeling you’re not supposed to keep this many hamsters in a habitat this size, but it’s imagination, so we’ll do what we like!
Once again, I referred to images on my phone to help me visualize poses for the hamsters. This time I used actual photos, rather than illustrations.
For the first page, I left the hamsters “clear”, but added some water-soluble pencil to their wood shavings and food.
I also added white dots to some of their eyes.
For the second page, I used the water-soluble pencil on the hamsters themselves and left everything else “clear”.
I was disappointed with my hamsters at first, but they’re growing on me. I do think I can do better, though I’m not sure when I’ll go back to this subject. If I do, I might try looking at some illustrations of hamsters, first, rather than just photos. I could probably use some inspiration for how to make a hamster look like a hamster (and not an evil, possessed hamster, at that)! Some of my hamsters look a little more like guinea pigs (though guinea pigs might not be a bad idea to doodle, either; I like them).
Pondering Fountain Pen Ink
I tried to notice any differences between this Platinum Carbon Black ink and the Noodler’s Bulletproof. I think it might possibly feel a bit darker. The Noodler’s was odd… Sometimes it felt more greyed out, but at other times it was very dark. I wasn’t watering it down or changing the mix at all, though I suppose I did dip the nib in water a few times, to get the ink flowing.
However, I do wonder if the Platinum Carbon Black is thicker or less “flowy”, because I think it felt like even the Duke 600 didn’t want to draw as easily with an upside-down nib, whereas it worked perfectly before. The brown ink in the Little Fat Man pen is also Platinum, which leads me to wonder if the ink is playing a role in the dry feeling. (However, some of the Little Fan Man’s reviews do mention this quirk of it not drawing well upside-down, so…)
I’ll just keep using the pens and observing these tendencies. There are many, many other inks available—amazing how any new hobby or interest opens up a whole new world of people obsessed with that little niche, whatever it may be—but I’m not interested in trying too many, right now. A good waterproof black and a brown or two are about all I “need” for my fountain pens. (I already own several colors of acrylic ink, so maybe I’ll get back into the dip pens, one of these days, if I feel like trying other colors.)
Small Pieces, Short Seams
I haven’t gotten around to finishing or taking photos of the quilt projects I mentioned last time. It’s been a crazy week, and it hasn’t felt like the right time, yet.
I wanted to sew something easy, over the last couple of days, but I had nothing ready and waiting to just sit down and sew—so I decided to pull the crumbs back out for a little mindless sewing.
I don’t have anything specific planned for these. At the moment, I’m just putting them together. It’s probably time to stop and wait for more crumbs to accumulate, again.
