Thanks! I will definitely keep at it.

Спасибо! Я рад, что вы нашли мой канал и находите мои видео полезными. Привет из Лос-Анджелес от давнего русского иммигранта.

Thank you Chris. More video like this to come!

It is really incredible how much thought went into this little drawing, and I agree: a little masterwork like this can be just as compelling and imposing as a 10 meter painting.

Thank you!

My pleasure!

You’re welcome!

You’re welcome! I’m glad you’re finding my instruction useful.

Спасибо Роман! Привет из Лос-Анджелеса от русского эмигранта, прожившего в США 40 лет.

@@mkompan вот оно как в жизни бывает)

Thanks!

Thanks JT!

Thanks Daniele. My channel is slowly building a following, so hopefully more and more people see my videos.

Thank you Alexandre! He's a wonderful, underrated artist.

You're welcome Eric! Glad this served as a reminder!

Thank you! I'm glad you found this useful.

Thanks!

Thanks David!

No frogs were harmed in the making of this video. :)

Well, I'm happy you found my channel. Thanks for the very nice note!

Thank you! I’ll have to think of what other animal drawings to try. Durer comes to mind, but there are some less well known, but equally wonderful drawings by Jacobo Bellini that would be fun to copy (and represent a very different pen and ink technique).

Thank you! More videos like this on the way.

Thanks again! More videos on paper coming soon.

Obrigado, Alvaro! I'm glad you found my channel, and that you're finding it helpful. Greetings from Los Angeles!

@@mkompan 🤩

You’re welcome!

Thank you again for your kind note, Jim! Not to overshare, but I recently lost one of my teaching positions (one of three), and I plan to dedicate the extra time to this channel. I'm finding it's often more rewarding than being the classroom, and definitely more pleasant than having to deal with overbearing administrators. So, yes many more videos are on the way!

Thanks again! I love incorporating art history into my instruction, and I'm glad it's being well received.

Thank you for the kind words! I enjoy making these kinds of videos and am planning on making many more.

You’re welcome Mihail! I enjoy making videos like this and time permitting hope to make many more.

You're welcome. A video on how to sketch people is a great idea!

Thank you Barbara! It's nice to know like minded people are out there, albeit in small quantities. More videos like this one to come!

Thank you so much! They're stressful to make, but I'm so glad you find them helpful and soothing. :)

You're welcome, Neil! Thanks for the supportive words.

Thank you!

Thank you!. Many artists I know have studios that are spotlessly clean. Mine is actually a mix: super messy in places but well organized where it needs to be. :)

Glad you found it! And yes, a video on brown inks is a great idea. I'll put it in the queue. :)

I can certainly make more videos where I recommend artists to copy, but as for having a single database that can be accessed by the public, that would be difficult. Old master drawings are owned by a huge number of museums, each with their own copyright and sharing policy. The drawing I was copying is owned by the National Gallery of Scotland, and while they allow you to download the image (after setting up an account), they require you to give them credit. Other places are even more restrictive, not allowing you to download their images at all.

@@mkompan Thanks for your very quick informative response. I was just thinking maybe a list of those artists & we/everyone could fend for themselves with the caveat that copyrights/ownership of the images are not in the public domain. Anyway, it was a thought. Thanks.

Thank you Katherine! I'm so glad you've found my channel and are finding my tutorials helpful.

Another vote for the second one being awesome.

@@mariemeyer Thanks so much!

Thanks for your comment Jason! I agree with you about Wrightson. I saw his Frankenstien when I was a teenager and was blown away. Perhaps copying an entire page of his illustrations would be daunting, but as I mentioned, one can learn a lot by copying details, so for example copying his treatment of some of the lab equipment (which I remember as being awesome) would be a fantastic exercise. There are actually very many 20th century pen and ink artists/illustrators who deserve more recognition. Have you seen the work of Virgil Finlay, who was a science fiction illustrator who worked primarily in pen and ink? His work is incredible. I recommend checking out Pete Beards History of Illustration KZfaq Channel. He has quite a few videos on obscure (or semi-obscure) illustrators everyone should know more about. And yes, a quill video is definitely in the cards. It's been years since I drew with them however, so I need to re-familiarize myself with making and drawing with them before before recording something.

@@mkompan My biggest problem is, I just don't comprehend how some strokes are even done for some of these works (both virgil and bernie). Did they use some tools like french curves? Their process seems utterly alien, and when I tried looking up Berni for instance the best I could get is "oh he used this brand of nibs", meanwhile I'm out here wondering how does one actually use a dip pen properly LOL. I can copy some portions (if I'm being generous to myself), but I am really at a loss on how an entire piece is constructed and executed on their end. Virgil seems to be even worse on that front >_< This is the sort of stuff I imagine the two artists may have made privy when they hosted workshops or something (if they ever did) or perhaps their friends/educators of ink medium perhaps know for sure. But since I never attended formal schooling for arts, maybe this is extremely common knowledge that I'm simply fumbling blindly over. I'm subbed to Pete btw, and his videos are awesome! Very good amounts of historical research compilation with wonderful examples during the narration.

😀

@@mkompan just did de Gheyne’s “frog on coins” and I think I got a little impatient but it turned out good! I can’t quite tell what the frog’s free hand is doing in that drawing.

@@Innieminnie glad I inspired you to try it! Copying is such a powerful tool. I find myself influenced by the drawing for months afterwards.

The reason Thin-Thick-Thin doesn't translate to Light-Dark-Light is due to a few things. First and foremost, modern fountain pens use different water-soluble dye quantities. Second, because fountain pens output only the amount of ink that capillary action affords them, which usually results in the largest pool being held-on to by the nib. So if you're using a consistent speed, varying your line width will actually produce different levels of lightness and darkness. What you actually want to do, is slow-down considerably when your line is wide, and speed up when your line is thin in order to make up for the fact most of the ink travel is held by the round nib tipping. This is why when people talk about "shading", and they do vertical lines sometimes, you will see the bottom portion of the line is darker than the top because the area that the nib touched last, is the area where the most ink will be left-over. To get over this issue you would basically need to considerably change your line speed pacing (this requires most attention and technique because sometimes you want to do a fast stroke for gesture's sake), or change to more viscous ink (or one with lots of darkness due to dye concentration, but that then takes away all shading entirely potentially) or use only Extra-Fine and thinner nib sizes where when you get to the end of you're line you're able to stop flexing, and slow down considerably to not have the left-over pooling when the nib gets off the paper. I know of no one who works in this way entirely on a piece, simply because the alternative (going over the line again) is far less laborious and less to juggle. Which is why I'm personally not a fan of lighter inks that shade well (it may look good for things like text, or with ink that also sheen's and perhaps has shimmer). But shading alone for artistic lines just looks like a pen that's ran out of ink or has an inconsistent nib applying inconsistent amounts of ink. When working with pen and ink, and using hatching especially, we let the hatching do the work of shading variance of dark/light shadow features. You really don't want to try and vary the lightness of your actual lines by adding ink concentration or surface tension realities into the equation of things you have to worry about. Far too much work really for questionable pay-off.

@@JayJayYUP I'm afraid you are right, as I am learning the hard way.

3. Thank you! they were fun to draw, and good practice. 2. A well functioning full flex vintage Waterman beats just about anything. They tend to write very wet, however, which wouldn't have worked well on the paper I was using. 1. Controlling the value of a line is tricky. Something to try is blotting paper. You can put down down a line, and quickly blot out the start and end, which will pick up some ink, and make it lighter. Adjusting the speed, as Jason mentioned, will also work, but takes a bit of skill.

So long as they were eaten with Dutch fritessaus, I’m fine with it. :)

First, thank you. Your support is appreciated. As for your pen: 1. Problems with flow are often caused by ink residue build up, which happens even with well-behaving ink. Have you given your pen a good cleaning? I don't know how well the Waterman Expert disassembles, but if you can take everything apart, especially the nib and feed and give it a scrub down with soap and water, it might resolve your flow issues.Good ink flow will make the pen less scratchy, BTW 2. Is your pen scratchy on one direction? That would indicate a misalignment of the tines. I recommend investing in a jewelry loupe, which will let you see exactly what's happening. A simple tine misalignment can be easily fixed (see any number of KZfaq tutorials on it). Anything else is best repaired by a nib mister or simply replaced. If your pen has a gold nib, a repair is the way to go. Here in the US, but can be done for as little as $50. If the nib is steel, then just replace it (I've seen replacements for $40).

You're very welcome! These videos are a pain to make, but the warm response they're receiving make it all worthwhile. More videos on paper to come!

@@mkompan Thanks. Like many, I suspect, it had never occurred to me to stray beyond using conventional - hot press - type paper. Your videos are both tremendously inspiring and greatly appreciated which I hope compensates a little for the grind of producing them.

It's been a while since I'v drawn with a quill, but they can be cut many different ways, with a huge range in flexibility. I think the ultra-flexible Brause Rose approximates the quill at it's most flexible.

@Marc Kompaneyets Studio thank you, I will look for this as I am experimenting. I went to your site, it is impressive. I especially love your paintings of figures in interiors, wonderful!

Didn’t know he was famous.

@@mkompan I don't believe he is, I just really like harpsichord/baroque/renaissance music, it gets me in the zone for programming

@@adamyohanan5112 I prefer Bach, but copyright free music is hard to find, And I don't feel like paying for licensing (at least for now).

​@@mkompan understood, I believe Bach would be public domain and you wouldn't need to pay for licensing

@@adamyohanan5112 The notes are public domain. The performances of those notes aren't.

I don’t know Christine, but it wasn’t my doing. Did it include a link? Sometime KZfaq deletes such things. Please try posting again.

@@mkompan Hi Marc, thought you deleted it by intention. I just wanted to tell you that I really like your videos and reviews. This video inspired me to try the exercise myself. Just as you I used Rohrer & Klingner Sepia, I’ve inked it up in a vintage Waterman 16 and made 2 versions of the frog. 1.st version I tried to copy De Ghen’s hatching/shading style. This was kind of hard for me and I lost myself a bit in single strokes and looking into details, lost the focus on the whole piece. Then I tried the exercise a second time, this time I hatched/shaded it in my usual style which felt easier and took less time. Just as you I think this is a valuable exercise. Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I really like your videos, keep up the good work. 👍 And yes I put a link to my versions into the comment before.

@@mkompan ​ ​ ​ ​ May I include links to my versions? I would highly appreciate a comment from you if possible. Thanks 😀 Somehow links seems to be not allowed….. always get deleted. In case you want to take a look, I posted them on DeviantArt. My Accountname there is Ptero-Pterodactylus BR Ptero

@@christinebussimaus1548 Thank you for the compliments, Christine. I'm glad my video inspired you to try copying the old masters. It's a valuable practice, even if you don't copy stroke for stroke and you'll find overtime that it improves your own work. I looked at your copy on Deviant art and it's very nice! Those old Watermans are wonderfull, but it looks like it's a semi flex (or that you're nervous about flexing it too much). In retrospect I should have use a much flexier pen than 743, like my 912FA or even a pen with the FPR ultraflex. I would get yourself a flexier nib (or one that you're nt nervous about really pushing) and try reproducing the incredible line variation in that drawing. Thanks for your note, and keep up the good work!

@@mkompan Thanks a lot for your detailed answer and taking a look. Yes the 16 is a semi-flex, I own many vintage pens including full flex nibs. I will keep working on my technique. Looking forward to to see more videos from you. 😀