Art Journal Challenge: No Pencils Allowed!

I decided to start a new art journal with one simple rule – no pencils and no erasing allowed.

I love to do pen and ink work with watercolor.  Yet time and again I won’t start something in my art journal because I fear that it won’t turn out good enough.  I am trying to increase my spontaneity because I do believe that the whimsical style that I want to create cannot be found in perfection.

I thought it would be fun to share with you the tools that I will be using to create all the images in my new art journal.

Most important is a waterproof black fine line pen and a journal in a size you like with paper that can hold up to some light washes if you want to add color.

Here is my pen & journal:

I use a Pelikan pen with a modified flex nib that I got from Richards Pens. If you are interested in fountain pens for general writing or for sketching Richard is extremely knowledgeable and very helpful.  I am a fountain pen junkie and that’s why I went for this option.  The best waterproof ink for fountain pens (that won’t clog them) is called Platinum Carbon Black.  It is an amazing ink because it dries really fast and is very water resistant right away (some inks you have to wait a few hours for them really to be resistant).  You could also use fine point Micron or Pitt pens.  I have used these and they work great too.

The journal I am using is a Handbook Artist Journal.  I like this journal because the paper is a little heavier, has just a bit of tooth, and is off white.  I don’t particularly like Moleskine Journals because the paper is too yellow for me and there is no tooth at all – this is just a personal preference.

You can use lots of media to add color – watercolor, watercolor pencils, inks, or markers.

Here is what I use:

I use my Inktense water soluble ink pencils from Derwent with a water brush.  I talk about the Inktense pencils in detail here.  I use the set of 24 colors because I get a bit bored with the set of 12.  I like to use a water brush instead of a regular brush because it is more portable (water already included!) and it works extremely well for lifting the color from the pencil and then applying it with the brush to the journal page.

As you can see I also created a little palette card that fits right inside the box of the pencils.  You can’t tell the color by looking at the pencil tip and the color on the pencil end is not accurate either so I find having the palette card very helpful.

So here is a page from my new journal where I did just that – sketched an everyday object in pen & ink, added some color using Inktense and…Viola!  Whimsy in the making!

Hope you enjoyed the post.  I am off to have a hot cuppa and some cookies!!