I think the shadows-first approach is interesting, thanks for sharing your view of things! I like how angular this turned out. The inkwell is called a suzuri and the ink stick is sumi. When you use it, you only partially fill the where the inkwell dips down with water. Then, take your sumi stick and grind it on the flat angled surface using the water to lubricate it. Make the ink as dark as you want, then let it collect in the reservoir at the bottom :)
Ahhhh, thank you for this! I was never quite sure I was using it right :) thanks for letting me know. Also really appreciate you watching the video! Starting with shadows first is a good base, not sure I get the shadows correct but i love using ink and charcoal in this way
A beautiful combination of ink and charcoal. I love the result. Thank you for the video. It is really very helpful. I’m off to look at what else you have uploaded.
I definitely prefer the open, expressiveness of your drawing style to realistic, detailed format. I believe that the open and expressive style leaves room for the viewer's imagination and allows them to explore and discover things implied in the work that they might otherwise take for granted.
It is called sumi ink. Usually artists use just a little water and grind the ink stick until it is very dark and black. Then you dilute it by dipping the brush in another bowl of water..
It’s a Chinese calligraphy set up.. there is a high part of the dish and a low part. You pour a small amount of water on the high part and let it run into the lower part then rub ink on the wet part of the upper area of the stone… the ink stone will dissolve and run into the lower part of the “dish”. You can keep adding very small amounts of water just to keep rubbing the stone in a little puddles. Generally takes about 25-30 mins of just rubbing the ink stone to get enough ink. It’s also thought to help the calligrapher get in the correct state of mind before starting. Kind of like a meditation. I buy store bought ink, and pour it in the lower part of the “dish”
Thank you!! I have figured it out over the time, but clearly i need to spend more time on the meditative preparation part! :) I'm totally sure it will feed into the process if I take those first steps as you've outlined
I found your channel a few days ago and it has been a great inspiration for me. Continue this dynamic and loose technique, I feel it liberates me! Thank you very much! Vasso from Greece
Wow, thank you so much! this is amazing to hear, I really appreciate that :) I'm so glad that you can resonate with a responsive way of drawing, it is indeed liberating , that's a good way of putting it :)...thank you for watching!!
Hi Bryony, thank you o much for watching and leaving comment! I haven't tried using graphite powder, but keen to do so! How do you apply the powder? With a brush?
I was amazed that you drew as slowly as you did. The resulting drawing looks like you did it in two seconds = which is good thing, its a lovely, fresh, expressive drawing. I wish you did something on painting as I like the way you explain things.
@rojodosh, thank you so much! Thanks for watching, I really appreciate it. Yeah, very often a gesture drawing takes much longer than you would think, even as you say the end result looks like a few fast lines. I guess what slows me down mostly is taking time to look before making a mark, if that makes sense. Ah, painting.... yep I am always trying to translate my approach to drawing into painting but it's such a vastly different medium. But thanks for the nudge, i'll keep that in mind to try to put together a video for that topic :)
Thanks for watching! I'm feeling inspired to use ink a lot more in my drawings after this, are there any other materials that you use in your drawings, other than charcoal and pencils? Would love to hear about what you use, leave a comment below! :)
I used to paint sumi e a lot- mainly animals and landscape. The way it allows you to load darker and lighter tones on a single brushstroke is phenomenal..
i hurt my shoulder a couple years ago and my hand shakes a lot since then, i think this style could be very helpful for me until i hopeful can fix my shoulder, so i really appreciate this tutorial it looks beautiful 😊
Laura’s family brought back an ink drawing set from China. It was in a red silk covered wooden box; with small porcelain dishes for ink and water, hand made brushes(3), s,n&,l, ink stick with Chinese stamp and small fitting rice paper sheets. And, I believe the box propped up as an easel. At first, I thought the ink stick to be opium. I had no idea what the ink stick was for.🧑🎨♾️🎭♾️👨🎓Now I do. I want one.
Hello! the solid ink and the stone are used in chinese calligraphy. But they use it in a quite different manner. You just put some drops of water, enough for your job of the day, and you rub the solid ink, turning and rubbing so that it becomes thick enough and it gives a smooth impression in the hand. You may have to prepare your ink during 15 or 20 minutes. And if you don't prepare enough, you just have to do again some preparation to go on. Chinese painters-
Hi, Love this video and your process. I don’t think you mention (or list) the type of paper/sketchbook you are using? I have a difficult time finding the right type of paper for ink and that holds up to ink washes without pilling and buckling. Thank you!
Hi Dawn, thanks for watching and commenting. Unfortunately I'm not the best person to ask for advice on paper for ink - I tend to use whatever paper I have, and always battle with pilling and buckling. I need to be more intentional about the paper, but often it's about grabbing what i have at hand when the inspiration strikes and not overthinking it. Sorry I can't point you in a definite direction right now. If I find good paper I'll update you here! :)
Sorry you can dismiss this question as have just seen that in a response below there is the answer. Thank you again for these great videos. 'm learning a lot
Hi Jerome! Thanks so much for watching and for your support - hmmmm i'm not sure I understand the question - the ink block is something that i was given by a friend, so I'm not sure where you can buy it, but possibly in an art supply store, they should have one or know where you can get one? I hope this answers your question??
Just to say that the way you draw, this openness & expressiveness really is great and I must admit that I am more inclined to this type of drawing than the hyper realistic ones. A stupid question : the pencil charcoal you use is it a soft one or medium or harsh ? Thanks
I’ve found that it depends on brand and even type of charcoal when it comes to “not working” when wet. Kind of like how some charcoal sticks with have an almost waxy looking finish when you draw vs others having that more desired smooth charcoal look lol
Even though I watched the video before ,I finally tried out one drawing with ink & charcoal. Now, I can even more appreciate your drawing and its difficulty. The dosage of ink has to be carefully monitored., it seems. Very nice drawing once again. 'll need to practice the technique way more. What paper, brush do you use ? Thanks.
Hi Jerome! Thanks - yes the amount of ink can be tricky, to be honest I am not that careful about it. Also the paper I used here is not recommended because it buckles with the wet media. I guess a good mixed media paper would be best suited! Also, with the brush I can't say off hand, but it would be best to use a non-synthetic brush I would imagine. Let me know how you get on and thank you so much for your comment!
@@Drawing-Life Thank you for your prompt reply.I also use cheap paper that buckles up . 'll try one a day added tothe 30 minutes blind scribble figure study and cross contour. hope something comes out of all this in a year's time
Hi! thank you so much for watching, I really appreciate it :) The book I always recommend for gesture/figure drawing is called "The Natural Way to Draw"... and in fact I have a video about it on this channel, if you want to check it out. Let me know if this helps!
For me that style holds mystery motion and movement a style one should learn if one desires to draw from life your real ability can't be hidden that is why it is used in collages all over the world ,.The more detailed a drawing is the stiffer it becomes not wat most of us want when studying the overall anatomy..
Hi Matthew, yes I definitely agree, there's a whole sense of the figure that needs to come through in the drawing without us imposing the details. Thanks so much for this thoughtful comment, and thanks for watching! :)
That's so awesome to find out, thank you so much!! I'm sure I don't do justice to this wonderful material and medium, but I love working with it :) Thanks for watching
Ahhh thanks!! The one I use was brought back from Japan, that's really great to know it's a Chinese Traditional Ink stone,... appreciate it! Thanks for the comment
Those sort of ink stone sets originate in China…My late wife Laura had a set from their. I had no idea that block with a Chinese stamp; was in fact, ink.
Excuse me, I sent the message before having finished to write! Chinese painters-calligraphers, they are both, use that time as a moment of personal internal preparation to be able to work according to the "qi"; The "qi" is related to your spiritual state and makes you breathe and give energy to the characters and pictures you are drawing. It is very difficult for me to explain because I only begin to feel it. I hope this will answer a little your question.
Thank you so much for this!! Wow, this is so interesting I didn't realize this aspect of it at all, and i'm going o keep this in mind now whenever I use this ink stick. What an insight - to be able to take the time while preparing the ink to prepare your mind state. Maybe that'll make all the difference to my drawing!! :) Thank you so much
Chinese inkstick : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inkstick Also this is a really beautiful video about making the inksticks: ua-cam.com/video/aVH59VvPAGA/v-deo.html
I tend to agree! It's wonderful to see a skill level that can match a photo, but I often think that the advent of photography, rather than replace traditional art, allowed artists to capture so much more than just the visual aspect ...
What stops me is my apparent inability to see beyond the photo or model. In this, I am sure that I'm not alone. My drawing is not at all hyper-realistic or photo-realistic. But, I do try to draw what I see. I use what I can see as the basis for what marks I make. On what else can I possibly base my marks? I can't see with your eyes. And I can't know why you do what you do no matter how much you try to explain. I admire your technique and ability but I can't seem to duplicate it in any authentic way.
@Renzo, hi! Wow interesting comment. No, you can't see through my eyes, but I would say that I don't want you to do that in order to improve your drawing. I guess, all ll i'm trying to explain is to do exactly as you mention: to draw what you see and use that as the basis for the marks you make. That's exactly it - I don't really want to "teach a drawing style"; but people ask about my way of drawing, and all it is is exactly that: looking and making marks. It's not about style. There is definitely no end to developing this one simple thing, we can all improve on looking and making marks. And personally my marks are very limited so that's something I'm always trying to develop. I think what I'm hearing from your comment is that you are not satisfied with the final drawing? more so than the fact that it doesn't "look" like the style of drawings i do.... well it could be that you are comparing the final drawing to the initial reference. I would suggest that you let go of wanting the drawing to look like the photo, even if you are using it as the basis for your observation. Also, another great piece of advice I could offer is to draw from life. If you can get to a life drawing session, or just sketch people in life, then you start to very quickly see and experience how your marks can be powerful tools for expression that go beyond matching a photo likeness. This is such an interesting point of view that you've raised, and I'll think about it more, thank you so much for leaving this comment! I really appreciate it :) let me know if this was in any way helpful?
I was recommended to come and see this channel, and I'm so glad! What beautiful work. I'm going to try this right away!
Oh wow thank you so much!! Really appreciate you stopping by !
Wow never thought I would see Mr finch in this comment section 🙄
@@samankucher5117 Me neither :)
Yor remind me of my favourite artist'/author Charles Reid who wrote about gesture drawing a lot in his many books
Precioso, buena combinación.
Thank you for sharing your expressive figurative drawing techniques. Im so inspired.
Hi Donna, ah wow, thank you so much for this comment, that's so lovely to hear I appreciate it ❤
This is so much more exciting than drawing 'realistically' and in fact I think harder to do. Thanks for the video, it's really inspirational.
That's so kind of you to say, thank you so much, great to get this comment :)
What a fantastic demonstration of drawing with ink and charcoal! I would definitely give it a try! Thank you for sharing! ❤Love your channel!🥰
Oh wow, that's awesome to hear!! Thank you so much :) ❤
wow good drawing 😃
I think the shadows-first approach is interesting, thanks for sharing your view of things! I like how angular this turned out. The inkwell is called a suzuri and the ink stick is sumi. When you use it, you only partially fill the where the inkwell dips down with water. Then, take your sumi stick and grind it on the flat angled surface using the water to lubricate it. Make the ink as dark as you want, then let it collect in the reservoir at the bottom :)
Ahhhh, thank you for this! I was never quite sure I was using it right :) thanks for letting me know. Also really appreciate you watching the video! Starting with shadows first is a good base, not sure I get the shadows correct but i love using ink and charcoal in this way
I love this so much. I need to try this out. I love water colours and very wet mediums, and I love gestural drawing. Thank you
Siobhan your energy is beautifully infectious I can't help but smile watching this 😊 gorgeous work, I can't wait to try it out myself 😯
I love expressive work it's how I work
❤❤❤ lovely person,beautifully done arts
Thank you that is so kind, I appreciate that so much! ❤
This is wonderful
So therapeutic to watch this and how cool is that dish and ink! I love this!!
FANTASTIC PAINTER!!!
Gracias
A beautiful combination of ink and charcoal. I love the result. Thank you for the video. It is really very helpful. I’m off to look at what else you have uploaded.
I definitely prefer the open, expressiveness of your drawing style to realistic, detailed format. I believe that the open and expressive style leaves room for the viewer's imagination and allows them to explore and discover things implied in the work that they might otherwise take for granted.
Exactly! so glad you get this :) Thanks so much Gregg! :)
Lovely technique. There’s a nice mix of textures to it
Thanks Simon! :)
I learn so much every single video!!! Thank you for taking the time to share this with us!❤
Wow that's so wonderful to hear, I really appreciate it, thank you !! 😊❤
It is called sumi ink. Usually artists use just a little water and grind the ink stick until it is very dark and black. Then you dilute it by dipping the brush in another bowl of water..
It’s a Chinese calligraphy set up.. there is a high part of the dish and a low part. You pour a small amount of water on the high part and let it run into the lower part then rub ink on the wet part of the upper area of the stone… the ink stone will dissolve and run into the lower part of the “dish”. You can keep adding very small amounts of water just to keep rubbing the stone in a little puddles. Generally takes about 25-30 mins of just rubbing the ink stone to get enough ink. It’s also thought to help the calligrapher get in the correct state of mind before starting. Kind of like a meditation.
I buy store bought ink, and pour it in the lower part of the “dish”
Thank you!! I have figured it out over the time, but clearly i need to spend more time on the meditative preparation part! :) I'm totally sure it will feed into the process if I take those first steps as you've outlined
not a trained figure artist here, but i just love your approach. the watercolor strokes provide a nice jagged edge to work from. thanks for the inspo!
I found your channel a few days ago and it has been a great inspiration for me. Continue this dynamic and loose technique, I feel it liberates me! Thank you very much! Vasso from Greece
Wow, thank you so much! this is amazing to hear, I really appreciate that :) I'm so glad that you can resonate with a responsive way of drawing, it is indeed liberating , that's a good way of putting it :)...thank you for watching!!
Simply B U T FULL!😍
Excellent as always. Love the dynamic. So difficult though! Thank you.
Amazing work! It is the kind of drawing that I love most. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much!! :) appreciate it, thank you for watching
How did she pull that off, wish I could do that. Amazing video as usual
Beautiful drawing, love the tonal qualities and gesture. I’ve tried the same drawing technique using graphite powder.
Hi Bryony, thank you o much for watching and leaving comment! I haven't tried using graphite powder, but keen to do so! How do you apply the powder? With a brush?
I was amazed that you drew as slowly as you did. The resulting drawing looks like you did it in two seconds = which is good thing, its a lovely, fresh, expressive drawing. I wish you did something on painting as I like the way you explain things.
@rojodosh, thank you so much! Thanks for watching, I really appreciate it. Yeah, very often a gesture drawing takes much longer than you would think, even as you say the end result looks like a few fast lines. I guess what slows me down mostly is taking time to look before making a mark, if that makes sense. Ah, painting.... yep I am always trying to translate my approach to drawing into painting but it's such a vastly different medium. But thanks for the nudge, i'll keep that in mind to try to put together a video for that topic :)
you deserve more subs tbh
Love your teaching style and I am trying to learn how to draw in a gestural manner. Thanks for the tips x
You are so welcome! Let me know if you have any questions, it takes a bit of practice! :)
Awesome video ♥️
Thanks for watching! I'm feeling inspired to use ink a lot more in my drawings after this, are there any other materials that you use in your drawings, other than charcoal and pencils? Would love to hear about what you use, leave a comment below! :)
I have a bunch of ink and some art crayons I've never thought about using both at the same time thanks for this I'll give this a try pretty soon.
I used to paint sumi e a lot- mainly animals and landscape. The way it allows you to load darker and lighter tones on a single brushstroke is phenomenal..
i hurt my shoulder a couple years ago and my hand shakes a lot since then, i think this style could be very helpful for me until i hopeful can fix my shoulder, so i really appreciate this tutorial it looks beautiful 😊
Absolutely Stunning!! Your work, and quality/freedom of line is profoundly beautiful! Thank you so very much for sharing.
That's so kind to say! Really appreciate that, thanks for watching
wow that was awesome :) gotta try this out myself !
I am not sure which I loved more the rough watercolour sketch or the refined drawing! Superb work!
Wow, thank you so much! That means a lot, thanks for watching :)
Beautiful! Thank you so very much for sharing.
Looks gorgeous!
Great tutorial. Thanks!
This is really great to watch!
Inspiring!
Beautiful 😍
Thank you! Cheers!
Laura’s family brought back an ink drawing set from China. It was in a red silk covered wooden box; with small porcelain dishes for ink and water, hand made brushes(3), s,n&,l, ink stick with Chinese stamp and small fitting rice paper sheets. And, I believe the box propped up as an easel. At first, I thought the ink stick to be opium. I had no idea what the ink stick was for.🧑🎨♾️🎭♾️👨🎓Now I do. I want one.
This is really beautiful. Love your style and approach
Thank you so much!
This is beautifully done!
Thank you so much! That means a lot... I love your channel btw, so, thank you for that too! :)
Hello! the solid ink and the stone are used in chinese calligraphy. But they use it in a quite different manner. You just put some drops of water, enough for your job of the day, and you rub the solid ink, turning and rubbing so that it becomes thick enough and it gives a smooth impression in the hand. You may have to prepare your ink during 15 or 20 minutes. And if you don't prepare enough, you just have to do again some preparation to go on. Chinese painters-
A sort of water color painting using a brush for sketching. A complicated way . Even though pencil is the best for sketching.
Hi, Love this video and your process. I don’t think you mention (or list) the type of paper/sketchbook you are using? I have a difficult time finding the right type of paper for ink and that holds up to ink washes without pilling and buckling. Thank you!
Hi Dawn, thanks for watching and commenting. Unfortunately I'm not the best person to ask for advice on paper for ink - I tend to use whatever paper I have, and always battle with pilling and buckling. I need to be more intentional about the paper, but often it's about grabbing what i have at hand when the inspiration strikes and not overthinking it. Sorry I can't point you in a definite direction right now. If I find good paper I'll update you here! :)
Fair enough, Siobhan. Yes please update me if you make a discovery. Btw, I just purchased one of your courses. Looking forward to it.
@@dawnaurorastudio ah great!! Thank you! I'll look out for you there :)
hi! again, a great video! Would you have the refences of the ink block and recipient you use ? Thank you
Sorry you can dismiss this question as have just seen that in a response below there is the answer. Thank you again for these great videos. 'm learning a lot
Hi Jerome! Thanks so much for watching and for your support - hmmmm i'm not sure I understand the question - the ink block is something that i was given by a friend, so I'm not sure where you can buy it, but possibly in an art supply store, they should have one or know where you can get one? I hope this answers your question??
@@Drawing-Life yes it does. Thank you
found some in internet but the prices are pretty steep soI'lll wait for a while before investing. Thanks
Yeah. You can buy those ink block sets in China. Some of my folks have them. I did not know how to use them...now I do.
Just to say that the way you draw, this openness & expressiveness really is great and I must admit that I am more inclined to this type of drawing than the hyper realistic ones. A stupid question : the pencil charcoal you use is it a soft one or medium or harsh ? Thanks
Hi Jerome, thank you so much for your feedback! It really means the world - the pencil is a soft charcoal pencil. Hope this helps!
I’ve found that it depends on brand and even type of charcoal when it comes to “not working” when wet. Kind of like how some charcoal sticks with have an almost waxy looking finish when you draw vs others having that more desired smooth charcoal look lol
Even though I watched the video before ,I finally tried out one drawing with ink & charcoal. Now, I can even more appreciate your drawing and its difficulty. The dosage of ink has to be carefully monitored., it seems. Very nice drawing once again. 'll need to practice the technique way more. What paper, brush do you use ? Thanks.
Hi Jerome! Thanks - yes the amount of ink can be tricky, to be honest I am not that careful about it. Also the paper I used here is not recommended because it buckles with the wet media. I guess a good mixed media paper would be best suited! Also, with the brush I can't say off hand, but it would be best to use a non-synthetic brush I would imagine. Let me know how you get on and thank you so much for your comment!
@@Drawing-Life Thank you for your prompt reply.I also use cheap paper that buckles up . 'll try one a day added tothe 30 minutes blind scribble figure study and cross contour. hope something comes out of all this in a year's time
I love your art! I was just wondering if there are any books you recommend for me to get to help with gesture/figure drawing?
Hi! thank you so much for watching, I really appreciate it :) The book I always recommend for gesture/figure drawing is called "The Natural Way to Draw"... and in fact I have a video about it on this channel, if you want to check it out. Let me know if this helps!
For me that style holds mystery motion and movement a style one should learn if one desires to draw from life your real ability can't be hidden that is why it is used in collages all over the world ,.The more detailed a drawing is the stiffer it becomes not wat most of us want when studying the overall anatomy..
Hi Matthew, yes I definitely agree, there's a whole sense of the figure that needs to come through in the drawing without us imposing the details. Thanks so much for this thoughtful comment, and thanks for watching! :)
It’s Chinese painting or calligraphy ink, in Chinese shuǐ-mò水墨，and the stone is inkstone yan-tai砚台
That's so awesome to find out, thank you so much!! I'm sure I don't do justice to this wonderful material and medium, but I love working with it :) Thanks for watching
Chinese Taditional Ink Stone
Ahhh thanks!! The one I use was brought back from Japan, that's really great to know it's a Chinese Traditional Ink stone,... appreciate it! Thanks for the comment
Those sort of ink stone sets originate in China…My late wife Laura had a set from their. I had no idea that block with a Chinese stamp; was in fact, ink.
The ink is traditional Chinese calligraphy ink. google 墨砚 or 砚台
S/O to the blade runner poster ...classic
The name is sumie
Excuse me, I sent the message before having finished to write!
Chinese painters-calligraphers, they are both, use that time as a moment of personal internal preparation to be able to work according to the "qi"; The "qi" is related to your spiritual state and makes you breathe and give energy to the characters and pictures you are drawing. It is very difficult for me to explain because I only begin to feel it. I hope this will answer a little your question.
Thank you so much for this!! Wow, this is so interesting I didn't realize this aspect of it at all, and i'm going o keep this in mind now whenever I use this ink stick. What an insight - to be able to take the time while preparing the ink to prepare your mind state. Maybe that'll make all the difference to my drawing!! :) Thank you so much
Chinese inkstick : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inkstick
Also this is a really beautiful video about making the inksticks: ua-cam.com/video/aVH59VvPAGA/v-deo.html
Realism seems redundant to me because we have cameras
I tend to agree! It's wonderful to see a skill level that can match a photo, but I often think that the advent of photography, rather than replace traditional art, allowed artists to capture so much more than just the visual aspect ...
i think is sumi ink
What stops me is my apparent inability to see beyond the photo or model.
In this, I am sure that I'm not alone.
My drawing is not at all hyper-realistic or photo-realistic.
But, I do try to draw what I see.
I use what I can see as the basis for what marks I make.
On what else can I possibly base my marks?
I can't see with your eyes.
And I can't know why you do what you do no matter how much you try to explain.
I admire your technique and ability but I can't seem to duplicate it in any authentic way.
@Renzo, hi! Wow interesting comment. No, you can't see through my eyes, but I would say that I don't want you to do that in order to improve your drawing. I guess, all ll i'm trying to explain is to do exactly as you mention: to draw what you see and use that as the basis for the marks you make. That's exactly it - I don't really want to "teach a drawing style"; but people ask about my way of drawing, and all it is is exactly that: looking and making marks. It's not about style. There is definitely no end to developing this one simple thing, we can all improve on looking and making marks. And personally my marks are very limited so that's something I'm always trying to develop. I think what I'm hearing from your comment is that you are not satisfied with the final drawing? more so than the fact that it doesn't "look" like the style of drawings i do.... well it could be that you are comparing the final drawing to the initial reference. I would suggest that you let go of wanting the drawing to look like the photo, even if you are using it as the basis for your observation. Also, another great piece of advice I could offer is to draw from life. If you can get to a life drawing session, or just sketch people in life, then you start to very quickly see and experience how your marks can be powerful tools for expression that go beyond matching a photo likeness. This is such an interesting point of view that you've raised, and I'll think about it more, thank you so much for leaving this comment! I really appreciate it :) let me know if this was in any way helpful?
you put too much water in, actually you can control light tone by control grind the ink
yes I do know, I actually prefer to work with a light wash. Thanks for watching though!
Фешин вас бы благословил
Love your teaching style and I am trying to learn how to draw in a gestural manner. Thanks for the tips x
Thank you so much Susan! That means a lot, I'm so glad if this helps! :)