Nettle - Tumblr Posts

Inktober 2015 - Day 25 : fineliners and markers

Spider is trying to bend a spoon, but he’s about to be distracted. This was going to have better spot colour, but I was hobbled by the sudden and unexpected death of my purple marker. Do Copics always just suddenly run out, with no warning?

Some Nettle and Spider sketches that turned out quite well. I was going to crop out the notes on the side, but then I thought someone might be interested, so here we are.

Inktober 2016 - Day 4 : brush pen

Nettle isn’t having a good day.

I think this is the pen I should have used yesterday!

Inktober 2016 - Day 8 : G-pen It says something about Spider’s personality that he can be so happy about bending a spoon when Nettle is lifting herself, him and probably half the house in the air without even really trying. I think I’ve drawn a variation of this picture for the last 3 Inktobers in a row. It’s probably fine as long as I use a different inking method each time.

Inktober 2016 - Day 29 : cartridge pen I realised I’ve never drawn a dolly-style picture with my cartridge pen, so here is one! (I’ve used it for ink and water but that’s a bit different.) Spider is taking precautions with the tea tray, but Nettle won’t drop those.

I ended up doing a lot of companion pieces in this year’s Inktober, so I thought I’d compile them so you can see them side-by-side. I’m pleased by how well most of them line up, since I do these in a bound sketchbook and they’re all many pages apart. Also a bonus pair from last year!

I threw some colour on some sketches from the last couple of months, since I had the pencils out for a commission and I should really use colour more.

However I should also learn to draw things on white paper if I intend to colour them, Felix’s shirt and eyes are supposed to be green but the yellowish paper has shown through in the scan.

Having a little inktober warm-up to test some new pens I got since last year. Inktober is my favourite art challenge of the year! Nettle and Spider dominated it last year, but we’ll see who becomes the favourite this time.

Inktober 2017: Day 6 - fineliners and felt tip pen

Turning the pages for Spider is by far the hardest part of this exercise. Nettle is trying to practice moving only the things she wants to move, but I don’t think she’ll ever be able to use her powers without some of her hair waving around.

I realised last year that I’ve drawn a variation on this theme for every Inktober since 2014, so now I want to keep going and see which I run out of first, different ink methods or ideas.

Inktober 2017 : Day 21 - fineliner and felt tip Eventually the school agreed that Nettle should just sit out of P.E. lessons.

A while ago I wanted to do a comparison of some of the school uniforms my different characters wear, I can’t quite remember why. Nettle goes to a dreadful comprehensive school not unlike the one I went to, and wears a pretty casual uniform not unlike the one I wore. It might be the only time she ever wears trousers. (At my school only about 3 girls opted for a skirt.) Jessie goes to a slightly more upmarket school but I’m not sure any schools in the UK actually have a uniform like that, in the sense of one without a blazer but with an unusual skirt colour. Possibly there’s a blazer that Jessie prefers not to wear. I think the boys wear grey trousers rather than red. Patience lives in the present day and so has a very fancy-looking uniform, because for some reason UK schools all want fancy uniforms again? I very rarely see secondary school children in jumpers anymore, and more girls seem to opt for skirts again.

Lately I ordered some nice pen accessories, including a cartridge converter for my Rotring pen and some coloured cartridges for my cheapo £5 cartridge pens, so I drew Nettle and Spider while I was messing around testing them. I’ve never done spot colour with ink and water, it looks pretty nice I think. Having said that, I’m not a fan of this ink. It’s a weird colour called Bilberry that can’t decide if it’s blue, purple or black. (I tweaked it in photoshop to make it more purple.) They do one called Imperial Purple that might have been a better bet. Ah well, next time.

Inktober 2018 : Day 1 - Fountain Pentel When Nettle loses her temper at school, the sports field is the biggest casualty. It’s finally time for Inktober, my favourite art challenge of the year! I didn’t have access to my scanner for the first three days, but I was doing the drawings. This year I wanted to try to use some of my less cooperative pens, so this was done with my Fountain Pentel, a bizarre soft nib pen that isn’t a brush but sort of acts like one. I think it’s designed for writing kanji? It splatters a lot when I use it, but it also makes some really nice, scrappy sorts of lines. I think if I keep practicing I’ll be able to do something really good with it.

Inktober 2018 : Day 11 - brush inking and ink wash I only have a short shift at work today so I was going to do something more impressive, but I just couldn’t summon the energy. I did try to ink with a brush though. Nettle quite often levitates while she’s reading, it’s her equivalent of fidgeting.

Inktober 2018 : Day 14 - pentel pocket brush Spider trusts Nettle not to drop him, but he still gets nervous when she sends him too high. This is the 5th time I’ve drawn some version of this scene during Inktober, I had to think a lot harder to come up with a new variation this time!

Inktober 2018 : Day 23 - fineliners and felt tip pen I usually try to avoid using the same medium two days in a row, but yesterday’s fineliners were plastic nibs and these are normal fibre nibs, so it’s okay, right?

“I want to go HOME.” 2019 postcards 6/6

Inktober 2019: day 7 - ink and water

Nettle is not renowned for her masterful control of her temper.

I wanted to have another go at blending only part of the picture like on day 1, but it didn’t work quite as well this time, it came out too dark and flat. In hindsight maybe spot colour would have been better, but hey ho this is how we learn.

Inktober 2019: day 12 - brush inking and coloured ink

The way Nettle’s hair waves around when she uses her powers is a sign of poor control.

I wanted to practice using those rigger brushes a bit more, so I drew something pretty simple. They’re so hard to control! You can get more ink in them at once without losing the fine tip though.

Inktober 2019: day 16 - gel pens

Spider starts to feel a bit sick if Nettle spins him around too much.

I don’t think I’ve done this picture in gel pens before? I’ve drawn it every Inktober so far, but I was at work and couldn’t check which inks I had and hadn’t used.