Brushing Life into Flames and Faces: Inktober Day 1
Here’s my first inking for this year’s inktober. The prompt is “Ring” and I knew exactly what I wanted to illustrate when I read that. I was inspired to do an ink drawing of Johnny Cash’s song “Ring of Fire”.
For this Inktober illustration, I went straight to inking, with no pencil sketch to start off with. This is a bit of a challenge for me because I usually like to start with a pencil sketch. I used a small brush and India ink, I wanted organic flowing lines. When I ink with a pen or nib my illustrations can look stiff sometimes. And I wanted to capture the movement and feel of the flames, I felt a brush would help there.
I inked a face inside an engulfing ring of fire. There are deep shadows and highlights from the flames cast across the face. The face was supposed to be Johnny Cash, but it kinda looks like a young Jack Kirby to me, lol.
I also used my Exacto knife to scratch off some parts that I messed up. It’s the first time I’ve done this. I’ve seen other inkers fix or add details this way, so I gave it a try here. I’m really happy with this first Inktober illustration and I like that it kinda looks like a woodcut print too.
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