Pens and Inks, Continued
Ink
Ink is a water-soluble emulsion of opaque pigment. Ink comes in colors, but
the most opaque and the color you will be most familiar with is black.
Although you can thin ink with water, once ink dries it becomes waterproof.
Old ink is no longer useful. The emulsion separates or the pigment thickens.
If the ink has separated, throw it away. If the ink has thickened, you may be
able to salvage it by adding a small quantity of water. Thinning ink with
water reduces opacity.
Ink drawing
Drawings made in ink are referred to as line drawings. The image is black
and white. Areas that appear grey do so only by textural variation.
Textural
variations
Stipple and crosshatch are examples of textural variations. How light or dark
areas appear depends on the ratio of black ink lines to the white paper space
between the lines. When rendering textural effects, make sure the first set of
lines dry before crossing them with another. If you do not, the lines pool
and blur or the paper becomes saturated and the pen nib tears the paper fiber.
Figure 1-23 shows lines made by a variety of pens and brushes.
Figure 1-23.—Varied effects with different pen points and
brushes.
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