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kc7655 — alfred hitchcock ballpoint
Published: 2010-04-19 02:38:54 +0000 UTC; Views: 1740; Favourites: 16; Downloads: 95
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Description
ballpoint pen portrait of alfred hitchcock.shadows across paper are from the windows, the wrinkles are from the plastic on my portfolio(it's such a pain in the ass to get it in there, i didn't want to take it out).
comments are always appreciated. thanks for looking.
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Comments: 14
What pen do you use?
And do you wet the point any?
I did some pen work on my book covers in highschool but I could never get it this smooth.
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i use bic ballpoint pens. they seem to be the most reliable; somehow, they are becoming a little harder to find though. no, i don't wet the point. the only way i've found to get smooth shading with a pen is to angle it slightly and use very, very low pressure. if you angle it too much it will skip across the paper and not leave the solid, faint line you want. it's just basically crosshatching. try printer paper, it works remarkably well.
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That's almost exactly what I used to do. Though, I didn't "cross hatch" only single directions to get gradients.
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yeah, that's pretty much it. lots of the time i don't change direction with the pen stroke, especially for light shading. for dark i do go in numerous different directions though, it seems to make for more even darker tones.
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nice work with the ball point!
transitions are incredibly smooth!
I still say to this day, as far as shading work goes in ink
you can't beat a plan old ball point pen! the gel pens can't hold a candle to them! and you've never get remotely close with a nib, tech, brush
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yeah, it's a little like carving marble with a paper clip, but i always like the finished product. i've never done well with a dipping pen either, it's a little messy for my style. thanks for your comment, i really apopreciate it.
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your welcome
To be honest when I saw your works for the first time
I thought I was looking at great pencil work!
when I found out, it was pen I was really impressed
as I know just how much it takes to do this level
of shading with a pen.. super light passes over and over
again at a very low angle on the ball.
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yep, very light passes. the only problem is that if you have it at a very low angle the pen tends to skip a little. the hardest thing is very light passes without much angle.
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ya I found that you can get blotting as the ball picks up the fibers
off the paper, I think they stuck at the recess where the tip body meets the ball
That tiny little lips maybe holding fibers there and they get soaked.
I think in part this maybe due to the rapid motion back and forth
over a small area.. this could be pulling the fibers off the paper due to static
build up from friction
it's why I use to obsessively wipe the ball end off after
about 10 second of use, to keep the fibers from building up and globing
on the paper! and ya I hated "the skip"! was hard to fill in or correct at times
depending on where it was! I found I had to just go darker then planned in certain spots
because of it
that is why I would do multiple passes over larger areas and then come back to a spot to add more in
I found that in some circumstances that works pretty good to stop the skipping, but I think it's either due to your hand
changing the angle the much and it's jamming on the tip body and jumping, or you hitting a high ridge in the paper and
its passing over the low spots and creating the "skip" paper with to heavy a "rag" content will do that.
but so will real smooth paper as well as the ball doesn't get enough drag to it to roll and will just drag over the paper
and wipe all the ink off, go dry and create a "skip" I found photo copy paper was famous for that and smooth of the really smooth
ink jet printer paper will do that as well. Ironically the cheaper ink jet paper works better
but there in some what of a inconsistency as to how well the ink takes to it and the grain patterning that can show up in it as well.
but for the price .. who complaining? 500 sheets for under 5 bucks! you can do a lot of drawing!
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Haha, I actually like the lighting effect of the windows.
This is nasty, man!
If you ever take up watercolors, I'm a goner...
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lol, maybe that's how i'll take photo's from now! and don't worry, i suck at watercolor.
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yep, 100% ballpoint pen. it's on 14x17" bristol vellum, and the margins are 1" in on all 4 sides.
thank you for looking.
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