Shading And Other Ink Subleties

[miatagrrl]

Hello! I've been lurking for a couple months and have learned many interesting things here. Unlike most of you, who I assume are using fountain pens to write with, I use mine (several Lamy Safaris and Al-Stars, nothing too fancy) mainly to draw with. When I heard talk of "shading," I at first thought this was the deliberate shading artists do with water on a brush to make the drawn ink line smear, causing a subtle or bold shaded area (like a shadow, called a wash). But I came to learn that shading has a more specific meaning here... a subtle second color that shows in the writing...? Is this subtle second color the same as the subtle second color I often see when I give a line a wash of water? Or is it something else? Would you describe or, better yet, show a picture of your favorite shading ink so I can see this in action? I'd like to try it with a brush and see if I get the same second color. Getting interesting wash colors is the main reason I got hooked on drawing with fountain pen inks! Thanks for your interest.

 

- Tina

[daTomoT]

Shading is when an ink shows different shades of the same colour due to differing amounts of ink being placed on the page. This can be done with pressure (flex nibs) or writing speed, or ink just settles that way naturally.

 

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh494/gunsandlights/NoodlersGoldenBrownShading.jpg

 

Credit to Mhphoto for the lovely writing! It's Noodler's Golden Brown, by the way.

Edited January 10, 2013 by daTomoT

[Mauricio]

See these threads ...

 

Favorite Inks With Flexible Nibs

 

Bold Inks - For Use With Broad Stubs And The Like

[Renfield]

When I first starting using pens, I thought shading just showed a pen or ink with non consistant flow.

 

Now, I don't like many inks that don't shade.

 

My favourite is Lie de The.

[chris537]

I have a sample of lie de the that I've never used I'm going to load something up with it right now, thanks for the reminder.

[miatagrrl]

I am starting to wonder if the shading color would be similar to the washed colors I get from applying water, since that dilutes the ink in those places and spreads it thinner, which seems to be happening in the areas of lettering where less ink settles.... Hmmm! Thank you for the suggestions, as well as the ones in the other threads. I eliminated the waterproof ones, since they wouldn't wash well, but I've now got several samples in my Gouletpens.com shopping cart to try out!

 

Any others? I'm all ears!

 

- Tina

[daTomoT]

There are many, many shading inks!

 

Greens:

Diamine Meadow

Diamine Apple Glory

J Herbin Lierre Sauvage

R&K Alt Goldrun

 

Brown/Sepia:

Noodler's Golden Brown

Diamine Golden Brown

J Herbin Lie de The

Diamine Sepia

Diamine Ochre

 

Orange:

Noodler's Apache Sunset

Private Reserve Orange Crush

Noodler's Dragon Napalm (to an extent)

 

Blue:

Private Reserve DC Supershow Blue

Pretty much any ink that says or is 'Blue-Black' See my extensive thread.

Waterman Florida Blue

Lamy Blue

 

Greys:

Iroshizuku Kiri Same

Iroshizuku Fuyu Syogun

Diamine Grey

Private Reserve Grey Flannel

De Atramentis Silver Grey (or Silbergrau)

 

Just some that come to mind in a few different colour selections. There are literally hundreds, and hundreds, and hundreds.

[Renfield]

There are many, many shading inks!

 

Brown/Sepia:

Diamine Ochre

 

Orange:

Noodler's Dragon Napalm (to an extent)

 

Blue:

Pretty much any ink that says or is 'Blue-Black'

Lamy Blue

 

Greys:

Diamine Grey

 

 

Just some that come to mind in a few different colour selections. There are literally hundreds, and hundreds, and hundreds.

 

I thought I would post a short note, to say that the perception of the word "Shading" is up to the interpreter.

 

I have tried the inks listed above, and would not say that are shading inks at all. I couldn't squeeze anything out of Dragons Napalm, and while there may be "slight" colour variation in the likes of Diamine Ochre, Diamine Grey or Lamy Blue, I found them to be too similar to class them as shading inks.

 

To me ( and only my opinion), there needs to be quite substantial colour differences to classify shading such as you get with Apache Sunset and Lie de The.

[Patrick C]

Love shading ink

 

Plus 1 on J Herbin Lie de The

Mont blanc Jonathan Swift - seaweed green - great shading in a flex or wide nib

Noodlers Lexington Grey

[maryannemoll]

Sailor Apricot, Diamine Teal, and Visconti Burgundy also have quite pronounced shading with medium and broad nibs. But my favorite shading is in the Diamine Graphite with a broad nib. I have some photos here if you'd like to take a look.

Edited January 11, 2013 by maryannemoll

[Harlequin]

I thought I would post a short note, to say that the perception of the word "Shading" is up to the interpreter.

 

I have tried the inks listed above, and would not say that are shading inks at all. I couldn't squeeze anything out of Dragons Napalm, and while there may be "slight" colour variation in the likes of Diamine Ochre, Diamine Grey or Lamy Blue, I found them to be too similar to class them as shading inks.

 

To me ( and only my opinion), there needs to be quite substantial colour differences to classify shading such as you get with Apache Sunset and Lie de The.

I'll second that. To me, unless it shows a distinct and substantial color difference, not easily explained by simply the presence or absence of ink, then I don't really consider it shading. I think it must be that people from arts backgrounds, being used to a different definition and "application", have different expectations.

Edited January 11, 2013 by Harlequin

[daTomoT]

Conversely, I enjoy the subtle differences in these inks. Hence their inclusion.

[maryannemoll]

I think the nib kind and size are significant factors in determining shading, so we can't really be too excruciatingly precise. And that's the beauty of fountain pens and inks. With every longhand stroke, there is always a surprise.

Edited January 11, 2013 by maryannemoll

[Bo Bo Olson]

Pelikan 4001 Green...a green-green ink that shades well.

Pelikan 4001 brown...a reddish brown very nice.

MB Toffee a nice brown.

 

If you look up Bo Bo Olson and 'Shading Ink' in advanced search there should be two threads that were put together with advice of the membership.

[maryannemoll]

If you look up Bo Bo Olson and 'Shading Ink' in advanced search there should be two threads that were put together with advice of the membership.

 

May we please request the Administrators to merge all the threads together, for ease of browsing?

[Sandy1]

Hi,

 

Even though many FP inks are composed of more than one dye, the colour (hue) coming from a pen is most often uniform. The value (light to dark) of that colour can give the impression that there is more than one colour in play. That is very well described and illustrated by Member daTomoT in Post № 2 above.

 

Also, as most FP inks are translucent, the base tint of a coloured paper can show-through, hence be added to the ink's native colour when it is pale (low coverage), giving the impression that a high shading ink has two colours. That effect can be compounded by the simultaneous contrast of the respective colours of the paper and ink.

 

Example of Herbin Bleu Azure at various values on a paper with a warm base tint, showing Blue to Cyan colour shift:

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/InkyThoughts2010/Ink%20Review%20-%20Herbin%20Bleu%20Azur/INK656.jpg

Then we have the inks with an iron-gall component plus a dye component. The I-G reacts with air and the paper's constituents in a different manner than the dye, so those would be the only inks that I consider to have two native colours, (if Grey to Black can be considered as proper colours.)

 

Here's an ink blot showing the separation of the I-G from dye components of Ecclesiastical Stationery Supplies Registrars Ink:

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/FPN%20Stuff%20-%202011/Ink%20Review%20-%20ESS%20Registrars%20Blue-Black/th_212937c3.jpg

Here's an example of the 'duo-tone' shading ESSRI can achieve: the Blue dye changes density only slightly, while the I-G component delivers much greater change of density from pale Grey to near-Black during a brief interval.

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/FPN%20Stuff%20-%202011/Ink%20Review%20-%20ESS%20Registrars%20Blue-Black/f4d80187.jpg

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/FPN%20Stuff%20-%202011/Ink%20Review%20-%20ESS%20Registrars%20Blue-Black/6a2fcb13.jpg

For the watercolour artist, when working on a wet surface or re-working dry ink with wet media, the inks which are a combination of dyes may give interesting results, as each dye may react differently to the working surface: Some dyes will be strongly attracted to the paper or canvas even when wet, other dyes may remain in solution until dry so may be reworked or sponged away.

 

Here's an example of what happens when a drop of water lands on dry Caran d'Ache Grand Canyon: An Aqua dye remains anchored to the paper, while the other dye/s came adrift from where they were drawn.

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/InkyThoughts2010/Review%20-%20Caran%20d%20Ache%20-%20Grand%20Canyon/INK812.jpg

Last but not least, here's what happens to the 'bulletproof' Noodler's Galileo Manuscript Brown when it is reworked.

• Top: Lines from the Phileas; strokes from dry and wet brushes.
• Middle: Lines & brush strokes that were dry, then wet sponged to remove ink that may be water soluble / loosely bonded to the paper.
• Bottom: Lines & brush strokes that were dry, but not sponged, then over-worked with a pale Blue. Dots are just the Blue.

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/FPN_2012/Ink%20Review%20-%20Noodlers%20Galileo%20Manuscript%20Brown/INK656_zpsffe7f887.jpg

Bye,

S1

 

Edited January 12, 2013 by Sandy1

[Sandy1]

Hi,

 

Please also see this fabulous use of various FP inks for drawing: R&K Scabiosa

 

Bye,

S1

[miatagrrl]

Hi,

 

Please also see this fabulous use of various FP inks for drawing: R&K Scabiosa

 

Bye,

S1

 

Thank you all for the information and more ink suggestions. S1, thank you, especially, for the examples of shading with ESSRI and Caran d'Ache Grand Canyon! These are the kinds of shadings/washes I had in mind. I've tried several inks with mixed results. For example, Diamine Grey is a lovely drawing (and writing) ink, but I find the wash to be too subtle for the way I want to use it. On the other hand, I've gotten beautiful washes from Diamine Chocolate Brown and Diamine Twilight that exhibit multiple hues and values. Thank you also for the link to Pictogramax's artwork -- very inspiring! The type of drawings I aspire to (though I'm a long way off!).

 

- Tina

[Sandy1]

Hi Tina,

 

You're welcome!

 

If you're working with washes, and using wet-on-wet techniques, you might also consider mixing inks that have various degrees of attraction to the surface.

 

For example, mix a Green from a Blue with high water resistance with a Yellow of low water resistance. That should allow for a multi-colour gradient in a wash.

 

But please be aware that some inks don't play nice together, and can give sludge, sediment. flocculent & other nasties, so do some trial mixes before using them. (Some mixes have been known to go after the neighbourhood moggies!) There's a Forum for ink mixing HERE, so there lies a trove of information.

 

Bye,

S1

[doggonecarl]

When I first starting using pens, I thought shading just showed a pen or ink with non consistant flow.

 

Now, I don't like many inks that don't shade.

 

Same here. First noticed it with my Rotring Newton and in a pen-review journal entry complained that it skipped.

 

Now I appreciate shading for what it is, and the pens and inks that provide it.

 

Currently, I am squeezing out some nice shading with a Pilot Vanishing Point, broad nib, with Noodler's 54th Massachusetts ink.