Ink drawings
Today, I'm sharing with you one of my recent ink drawings 'Eggs Beneath' from a series of drawings I have created called 'Strange Creatures'. In this series the paper is prepared with ink marks and water and ink washes, to create monochrome surfaces of pattern before a dip pen is used to create a line drawing. If you look closely at the finished piece you may spot the oval shapes of some eggs beneath the earth, the oval effect was created by scoring in the paper with a scalpel before layers of ink and water were added.
An important part of my practice as an artist is experimentation with materials. I dedicate time to trying out new materials or techniques, and expand my approaches to drawing. This year I've been using a lot of black ink to create my drawings, this really started to be the main medium I was working with when I was creating the illustrations for Doug Karr's novel Dwelling. It is a medium I continue to return to as I explore the relationship between the wet medium of ink and the surface qualities of the papers.
Preparing the background
To create marks on the paper wet tissue was laid across the paper, then ink was applied to the tissue with a brush.
Once the background was dry a dip pen and drawing ink was used to add the image of the legs.
You can also see where the ink has soaked into the lines created at the beginning of the process with a scalpel, to create the oval egg shape effect.
Eggs Beneath

Redbubble shop
I'm thrilled to announce that DWELLING, an illustrated crime novel collaboration between myself and fellow Steemian , set in New York’s Lower East Side, is now available in print and ePub.