Cafe Venezia (in progress)

© Chromeheart Illustration

I posted the line drawing and photo composite for this piece about a month ago.  (and that, toward the top of the picture, is a 20 year old Batman mug with much sentimental value.)  Here it is again with the main value structure established in J. Herbin Eclat de Saphir.  Although Elcat de Saphir has a reputation as the "favorite" blue ink of fountain pen lovers, it's actually more violet than blue when it's thinned out as I have done in this ink painting.  Next, I'm going to use a contrasting ink, perhaps Diamine Ancient Copper, to deepen some of the shadow areas.

Owl Tea

© Chromeheart Illustration

Have you ever drank tea out of a very confused looking owl?  Bed Bath and Beyond sells these quirky owl mugs in four different colors.  When I saw them, I just had to get one of each, sort of as a housewarming gift to myself.  Sketch done with a Pilot Metropolitan (Medium nib) loaded with Rohrer & Klingner Alt-Bordeaux.  It's an expressive, high quality (but unfortunately very un-waterproof) ink made in Germany.  Alt-Bordeaux translates literally to "old Bordeaux" but I personally haven't tried drawing with aged wine to compare the color.  If you do, let me know how it works out.