How to draw SMOKE DUST CLOUD EFFECTS tutorial

Glad you liked it.

I tend to go "off piste" with ink - I get told off in art forums for not stippling. For some reason, I'm not that keen on stipple-work. I appreciate the skill and I like some pictures... but just not interested in doing it.

I'll use a dip nib, create silhouette style (basic cartoon, black and white) or wash some water over it with a water tank brush and blend out the ink to shades of grey.
Or even go the whole Sumi-E way and paint with diluted ink, layers upon layers to create the deep darks.  I've even used fingerprints to create texture. *grin*

I also have a carbon-ink brush pen that is delicious to use... washed out reasonably nicely too (you need to be fast and it's not as smooth as the water based inks).

Sometimes (anathema to watercolour artists), I'll also use some white ink for super white highlights.  Watercolourists say "the white is the paper"... but I find that leaving the paper-as-white with ink leads to an odd sense of depth (white should be "high" to me) - adding white ink on top of black makes the white semi-blend into the black.... and it ends up looking sort-of 3D (white high).

Example (the teeth and some of the eyes)

i.imgur.com/0POqQp4.jpg

Note - this is copyright to Hasbro, I asked and they won't give permission to use it... some maybe not blog it on

And this is my take on a fantasy picture (Boris Vallejo I believe) - again, likely copyright.

i.imgur.com/HbeszQr.jpg

yay