Pentel Brush Pen Archives

Inktober Fun: Ash and Pikachu in Quick Ink Sketch

Ink Sketch of Ash Ketchum and Pikachu by Ralph Contreras

Capturing the Joy of Ash Ketchum and Pikachu in a Lightning-Fast Ink Sketch

Here’s a quick ink drawing I did for the prompt of Ash for Inktober. It’s Ash Ketchum from the Pokémon anime with his best buddy, Pikachu. I did this one really fast with my Pentel ink brush. So it didn’t come out as refined as I usually try to draw. I approached this like I have most of this year’s ink illustrations, I went straight to inking without a pencil sketch drawing.

For this illustration, I tried to have a more cartoony feel. Ash has large, exaggerated eyes, and I have thick and simple contour lines. This is the 1st time I’ve drawn Pikachu, he looks a little off, more like a teddy bear than an electric squirrel. I had fun with this one though, it was a great inking exercise with a fun subject.

Inktober Unleashed: Embracing the Energy of Spontaneous Inking

Bait and Trap ink illustration by Ralph Contreras

The Art of Letting Loose: Finding Inspiration on Inktober day 3

So I really struggled with Inktober’s third day prompt of Bait. I think it actually shows in the inking too. I had no real idea what I wanted to ink. Then it came to me, if there’s bait then that equals a trap. So I illustrated a box trap with a bushel of carrots as the bait.

I went straight into the inking with this illustration, no pencil sketch to start with. I think you can tell with the unevenness of the line work. But I think that really worked for this ink drawing. There’s an energy that I would have lost if I had over worked it. I used a Pentel brush pen and I feel it created really nice organic ink strokes.

I really wanted to focus on the composition of shadows and light in this illustration. The the box is bright with light against a very dark background. Then the inside of the box is also dark with a deep shadow. I tried to use the rope as an eye leading element to the bushel of carrots bait.

Even though I originally had a hard time with the prompt concept of Bait, I had fun just letting loose on this illustration. You can really see and feel the energy in the brush strokes on the background and in the box. I’ll need to remember to bring this energy to my future ink illustrations.

Quick Spider-Man Sketch and Inking

Spider-Man-Ink-Sketch — Spider-Man ink drawing by Ralph Contreras

Quick Spider-Man Sketch and Inking

Here’s a quick Spider-Man sketch and inking I did. The pencils took me about 10 minutes to draw and the inking even less time. This was a personal exercise to test out my newest inking tool. A Pentel Medium Tip Brush Pen.

I saw the brush pen at my local Hobby Lobby and thought…”What’s this?”. So I had to buy it and test it out. When I ink my work I usually like to use a nib pen, I’m not very proficient in using a brush. This new discovery bridges the gap I have between the nib and brush. Its nylon brush tip inks like a standard brush but gave me the control I like with the nib pen. I really enjoyed the look my inking has too. I was able to get some nice thick lines. The inking looks and feels looser than my usual inks. I’m excited to see how I can incorporate this into my evolving inking style. – Shazam!

This blog post was originally published on my other website Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Ralph’s Art Blog.