Realistic textures in ink

DEVIN ELLE KURTZ explains her ink illustration process from line art to ink wash to dry brushing to finishing highlights, as she creates a piece full of natural textures

Back in October 2018 I decided to pick up ink for the first time and try the yearly Inktober art challenge. I discovered that despite being such a simple medium, the variety of texture and the degree of realism I could achieve with brush and ink was astounding.

I’ve since experimented with how far I can push this medium to achieve the diverse textures of the natural world. My work is often inspired by themes of life and death, creatures, plants and magic. My desire to craft a visual experience of fur, feathers, skulls and grasses led me to explore a number of methods of applying ink.

USING A MIX OF BRUSH TYPES

Creating an ink illustration involves varying the amounts of ink and water, using a variety of brush textures, and adjusting the motion and pressure used to apply the ink. I use a mix of soft watercolour and stiffer acrylic brushes for my drawings.

The soft texture of a watercolour brush is perfect for ink washes, and thinning the ink with water enables you to create a palette of wash shades that can be used like greyscale watercolour paints. If you’re familiar with watercolour, ink functions fairly similarly but tends to dry more quickly, doesn’t reactivate with water, and has a grainier appearance than many of the watercolours I’m familiar with. Because ink doesn’t reactivate with water you can layer ink washes a bit like Multiply layers in Photoshop.

The stiffer acrylic brushes are perfect for dry-brushing ink onto the paper to create realistic hair, grass, and fur textures. I employ both a well-kept acrylic brush for smooth dry brush textures (such as slick grasses) and a frayed acrylic brush for wilder, more uneven dry brush textures (such as fur and feathers.)

Ink is an incredibly versatile medium, and I love it because it’s also quite approachable for anybody. It grows as you grow as an artist, offering more opportunities when you’re ready for them. I hope that this workshop allows you a window into my experience with the world of ink. Devin is an illustrator and visual development artist, and works as the lead background painter on the Netflix show Disenchantment. In her free time she likes painting a magical world of unearthly creatures and starry gods. See more at www.devinellekurtz.com.