Why Do People Like "shading"?

[KKay]

I just love the look of it. The more dramatic the shading, the better I like it. If the pooled areas are much darker to the point of almost black, I like it even more. If I ever grow weary of shading, I'm in trouble. Most of my ink would be considered a shading ink.

[displacermoose]

To me the unevenness of it is reassurance that it was written by a human being rather than a machine. I like that.

[hh1990]

I just love the look of it. The more dramatic the shading, the better I like it. If the pooled areas are much darker to the point of almost black, I like it even more. If I ever grow weary of shading, I'm in trouble. Most of my ink would be considered a shading ink.

 

Exactly how I feel as well. This is one of the most enjoyable aspects of using a fountain pen, and I like using broader nibs for this reason.

[clazbill]

When I first saw shading I wondered how the writer achieved such an interesting writing style - light colors above, dark colors below. Must be a fascinating technique!

 

 

Then I found out it was more about the ink and where they lifted the pen from the paper. No special technique at all.

 

I used to prefer non-shading inks; consistency in appearance regardless of what I do was the goal. Nowdays I appreciate the expression a shading ink allows. You can nearly tell how someone wrote based on the shading - an extra layer of unique character.

 

All of it comes down to personal preference in the moment of writing.

[tinta]

Wider edged-nibs (stub, cursive italic, formal italic) ) produce the most dramatic shading effects. This "shading" sample was written using Pelikan's Blue/Black ink & a 0.9 mm stub. I have found that less saturated inks make better shaders.

 

 

 

[Bluey]

I love shading because it gives character, differentiates from other pens, and just looks suave.

 

 

Wider edged-nibs (stub, cursive italic, formal italic) ) produce the most dramatic shading effects. This "shading" sample was written using Pelikan's Blue/Black ink & a 0.9 mm stub. I have found that less saturated inks make better shaders.

sh1-1.jpg

 

 

It's almost always the broader nibs that have babys bottom(of the non-italic nibs, which require where extra pressure to be applied anyway) tend to produce the greater shading, I've found. Fine, drier, soft nibs also produce great shading, both due to the difference in pressure applied necessary.

The shading factor is one of the reasons why I prefer drier muted colours. And I'm not fond of too in-yer-face colours.

Edited December 1, 2017 by Bluey

[torstar]

I'm new to fountain pens so maybe I just don't understand. Why do people think that uneven distribution of ink a/k/a shading is a desirable property? To me it looks like a flaw from excessive ink flow.

 

 

I've never understood it, but I just use my FPs to write for practical reasons.

 

I don't get the 1,000,000 year waterproof demands either, I don't write while scuba diving.

[inotrym]

I used to think exactly like that. Until I got myself a Pilot Stargazer. For some reason this pen brings out shading from almost every ink I put in. I love it for that.

[inotrym]

Nowdays I appreciate the expression a shading ink allows. You can nearly tell how someone wrote based on the shading - an extra layer of unique character.

 

 

This.

[MG66]

Maybe because I'm a noob, but I considered it a "flaw" (really too strong of a word) in the process, kind of like someone mentioned above. I can also understand the human touch element of the variation in ink shade on the document. But then again, my handwriting would *never* be confused for machine-produced, unless it was a machine spraying random, modern-art style ink splotches on a paper...

[minddance]

Maybe because I'm a noob, but I considered it a "flaw" (really too strong of a word) in the process, kind of like someone mentioned above. I can also understand the human touch element of the variation in ink shade on the document. But then again, my handwriting would *never* be confused for machine-produced, unless it was a machine spraying random, modern-art style ink splotches on a paper...

I agree with you. You are not a noob, it's just personal preference. Yes, handwriting would not be confused with machine print. The human touch element can be manifested in many ways other than shading. Ditto the fountain pen element.

Edited December 2, 2017 by minddance

[torstar]

No machine could duplicate my handwriting, or the smears or spots from the ink not drying fast enough.

 

wait, what?? people are worried that others will mistake their writing for a machine stamp??

 

okay.........

Edited December 4, 2017 by torstar

[Torrilin]

I definitely like some shading. J. Herbin inks tend to have a lot, as do Lamy. A lot of fancier inks, not so much. A lively ink with shading in an italic nib is about the best thing ever for pretty writing.

 

Sheen, eh. Not really a fan. Fortunately, most inks and papers avoid sheen.

 

Halo, I don’t know. Maybe? Depends on the ink, my purpose, and how well the ink holds up to cross hatching or italic nibs probably. And the dry time of course.

 

If you want a boring ink, there’s always black. I pretty much always have a pen inked with my favorite black. And I’ll be just as upset to not have working black as I will to have no interesting ink. So. It’s very much a taste thing. Fortunately we can have both boring inks and interesting ones. And there’s wide variety in the kinds of boring we can have!

[PAKMAN]

Really disliked shading when I first started using fountain pens and steered clear of inks that shaded. It's grown on me a little since then, still not a huge fan however.

[A Smug Dill]

To me, there are 2 types of shadings

1. Smoothly gradated with good range

2. Dramatic and disjointed. (Nothing in between the lightest and darkest shade. Terraced, broken.)

…‹snip›…

Type 2 look: many Iroshizukus (Asa Gao, Ama Iro, Kon Peki, Tsuki Yo, Shin Kai, Yama Budo, Pilot Blue, Kosumosu, Chiku Rin),

 

I think Iroshizuku chiku-rin is capable of a blended look on some pen strokes, but when it comes up like in the following I'm just horrified:

 

I'm not sure whether the disjointedness is attributable to what I suppose is ‘sheen’, most noticeable as outlines when I put down a diǎn dot – shown magnified above – with a fude nib (or a Concord nib in upside-down position), or just a bad manifestation of shading. Regardless, when they appear at the end of a shùgōu hook or a nà backslash like dried stains, they just distract and ruin the look of the glyph.

Edited August 17, 2018 by A Smug Dill

[crahptacular]

I think that's probably related to the type of stroke--it'll tend to happen when you apply more pressure and/or slow down or pause during the stroke, letting the ink pool more than usual. The same patterns happen when you write in (English) script versus print--script will usually produce more of a gradient, whereas print will shade with harder edges. Smooth, continuous strokes produce smoother lines (which, of course, isn't so helpful for Chinese characters...). I would assume that the effect is far less drastic for darker inks though, simply due to lower contrast between dark and light areas. Light inks tend to display edging far more prominently.

 

The only "workaround" I can think of is to have such a wet pen that the entire line becomes equally heavily pooled, not just the ends of strokes. Soft/flexible nibs tend to help--when you apply pressure at the end of a stroke or at the turn of a hook, the ink just gushes out and fills in the entire stroke--but that's not really an option for a fude nib.

[senzen]

I came back to this topic, with a little more experience I can now see some inks do better (to my eyes!) with shading, Kon Peki in particular.

[Corona688]

Fountain pens let you play with color, so why not? Shading is one more way to do so, and it's more than just a change in intensity, the hue can vary with concentration as well.

[Driften]

When I first start with fountain pens I didn't like the looks of shading in inks, but not it's my top priority in buying inks. I just enjoy how it looks.

[A Smug Dill]

I like mastery of skill and consistency in performance, and uncontrolled variation - whether entirely unexpected and hence for which one is unprepared, or anticipated but somehow manages to fall outside of control limits and/or the range of natural (or common cause) variation - seems to me to be the antithesis of both those things.

 

I understand the general sentiment expressed by some that shading expresses individual character, flair, artistry and/or humanness. It's great when one knows almost exactly the type, range and amount of variation that will be exhibited by the combination of one's handwriting (as a motor skill) and choice of pen, paper and ink, and fully intends for that variation for be present in the output on that occasion; that is testament to insight, foresight and most importantly, control, all of which are cornerstones of mastery. It goes for shading, sheen, line variation, and so on.

 

On the other hand, leaving the appearance and quality (or qualities) of the output of one's handwriting largely to chance, and allowing the ink to have a mind of its own in the process of being laid on paper, is in my opinion testament to carelessness (as opposed to carefreeness), laxity and ineptitude. I can therefore also relate to the idea that shading is a flaw or fault, unless the type, appearance and degree of shading were already visualised in the writer's mind before putting pen to paper. A bowl that turns out to be uneven or imperfectly shaped is not artistic expression unless the potter had intended precisely that form, and a more even or perfect bowl would then indeed be a failure of the project. If the shape of a sine wave along the edge of the bowl was intended as a character feature of that piece, then noticeably asymmetric rising and falling would be tantamount to failure and not art, even though nobody can reasonably expect to sculpt the piece with the exactness of a machine.

 

That's how I feel about shading in my handwriting - not a desirable feature until it is intended and anticipated with a high degree of confidence in the type, range and amount.

Edited August 17, 2018 by A Smug Dill