Why Do People Like "shading"?

[ak2k5]

with the right ink shading looks great. may not be suitable for all occasions , but for my personal notes i prefer high shading inks

[minddance]

It depends on the writing task I guess. I want a no-nonsense appearance when writing formal stuff or when I don't want to be distracted by inconsistent tonal variations.

 

For fun, I prefer shadings with smoothly gradated tones, this appearance looks elegant to me and doesn't look 'spoilt' and disjointed and watered-down.

 

I happen to enjoy subtlety in things, that's just me.

[minddance]

In response to OP's title of this thread, "why do people like shading"?

 

I guess there's a group of people who are educated by forums like this to accept and eventually like shadings.

[pajaro]

Shading looks like ink starvation to me and I don't want anything I write to be hard to read from incomplete lines.

 

Some people make a virtue out of everything. It does keep you from getting upset about stuff. If my pens do it, I fill them again with ink, then write slowly.

[Karmachanic]

I think the reason people like shading is the same reason all pens aren't black.

[minddance]

I think the reason people like shading is the same reason all pens aren't black.

Consistency:

One could say that Black and colour are not quite the same as consistent (solid) vs inconsistent (shading) lines.

 

Variety: But you could argue that black vs colour = shading vs no shading is about variety vs no variety.

 

I guess you are referring to variety and fun

[minddance]

Shading looks like ink starvation to me and I don't want anything I write to be hard to read from incomplete lines.

 

Some people make a virtue out of everything. It does keep you from getting upset about stuff. If my pens do it, I fill them again with ink, then write slowly.

+1

 

It is actually a kind of ink starvation relative to the ink. It looks like something is spoilt.

 

It is like the pops and clicks from a vinyl recording to distract people from the recorded music (actual content). It is unintended by the musicians.

 

Ink makers are enjoying themselves by adding more and more water to inks. And a large group of people are encouraging it.

 

Just give me the ink, we can add our own water, no?

 

Or at least, indicate on the bottle that the ink shades, just like how shimmering/glitter/fragranced inks are indicated.

 

This is to avoid disappointment (by looking at swabs) and offer a clear distinction between inks and watercolours.

 

Fun is allowed and can be encouraged but it must be indicated on the bottle.

Edited August 23, 2018 by minddance

[A Smug Dill]

It is actually a kind of ink starvation relative to the ink. It looks like something is spoilt.

You could say the same – as in, it looks to you personally like something is spoilt, when you see the marks made by individual or ‘stray’ bristles of the brush in a stroke in CJK calligraphy.

http://collection.sinaimg.cn/zgsh/20111101/U5566P1081T2D43569F6DT20111101152021.jpg

 

It is like the pops and clicks from a vinyl recording to distract people from the recorded music (actual content). It is unintended by the musicians.

I disagree with that blanket statement, if you intended it that way. You need to ask the creator of a piece of work, especially when we're talking about writing or calligraphy in which ‘imperfections’ – relative to an idealised version of what the strokes can produce mechanically in forming a glyph – are observed. Intention isn't really up to the viewer to reasonable attribute to the artist.

 

Just give me the ink, we can add our own water, no?

You can still add your own water. It's up to the ink manufacturers to put what they want – as opposed to what you personally want – on the market. If you don't like what they offer, don't buy. If you can't get exactly what you want commercially, try creating your own, without demanding inks intended for direct retail provide the ideal raw materials (e.g. essence of something, in the most concentrated form, that is barely usable immediately as supplied) for tinkerers and the best opportunities for customisation.

 

Or at least, indicate on the bottle that the ink shades, just like how shimmering/glitter/fragranced inks are indicated.

With that, I agree.

 

Fun is allowed and can be encouraged but it must be indicated on the bottle.

The specific degree of shading, especially when using a given nib on a particular paper in some specific form of handwriting or application, is ultimately up to the individual user to experiment and/or confirm first-hand.

[max dog]

I like shading because it looks old fashioned and unique like how vintage fountain pens are. I love a page of handwritten scribble with lots of shading. In contrast when I print a page of text from a laser jet printer I cant tolerate any shading as that would be a faulty print out.

[Karmachanic]

Consistency:

One could say that Black and colour are not quite the same as consistent (solid) vs inconsistent (shading) lines.

 

Variety: But you could argue that black vs colour = shading vs no shading is about variety vs no variety.

 

I guess you are referring to variety and fun

 

Black is not a colour? Black ink doesn't shade? We live in different worlds.

[TheDutchGuy]

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.

Valid point: people usually talk about "inks that shade" or "inks that don't shade", but I think it's mostly the pen. I realize that I'm in the minority, but I've given the matter a lot of thought and have come to the personal conclusion that basically shading is not really a characteristic of inks. In my view, shading is caused by variations in ink flow that occur during a stroke of the pen. Usually, the top half of a downstroke is lighter (less ink deposited) than the bottom half (more ink deposited). The change can be either gradual or sudden, I personally prefer gradual. Paper makes a difference. Personally I've never found an ink that never shades, and I've also never found an ink that always shades. Put a wet ink in a dry pen or vice versa, it'll shade at least to some extent. Put a wet ink in a wet pen or a dry ink in a dry pen, chances are you won't see much shading.

[Olya]

Valid point: people usually talk about "inks that shade" or "inks that don't shade", but I think it's mostly the pen. I realize that I'm in the minority, but I've given the matter a lot of thought and have come to the personal conclusion that basically shading is not really a characteristic of inks. In my view, shading is caused by variations in ink flow that occur during a stroke of the pen. Usually, the top half of a downstroke is lighter (less ink deposited) than the bottom half (more ink deposited). The change can be either gradual or sudden, I personally prefer gradual. Paper makes a difference. Personally I've never found an ink that never shades, and I've also never found an ink that always shades. Put a wet ink in a dry pen or vice versa, it'll shade at least to some extent. Put a wet ink in a wet pen or a dry ink in a dry pen, chances are you won't see much shading.

I'm with you on that, it's more a nib trait than an ink trait. All fpen inks will shade to a degree, but how much is down to the nib. In my experience Pilot n°5 gold nibs bring out the most shading, due to the softness of the n°5 nib (I'm talking about the regular nibs, not the "soft" nibs! Though I've read many times also that the "soft" nibs aren't that much softer than the regular n°5 nibs and that the n°5 nibs are naturally the softest of Pilot's gold nibs, i.e. n°10 etc being harder, I have no experience with their soft nibs and am unlikely to purchase any).

 

I have come to appreciate light shading, but I definitely don't like heavier shading.

I was leafing through my notes and was taken aback at the heavy shading on some pages, it looked too irregular and almost faulty and I remembered I wrote that with a Pilot gold n°5 M nib, which just confirmed that heavy shading isn't my thing at all. I like the looks of written text much better when using my Sailor M nibs (gold or steel) or Pelikan, Lamy, Parker... a more regular (or rather: even) ink line is much nicer to look at imo.

Edited August 25, 2018 by Olya

[cellmatrix]

When I first started writing with a fountain pen, like many here, I did not appreciate shading, thinking shading inks looked watery and washout out. Very different from the gel ink ballpoints I was used to writing with for so many years. Plus I did not know how to control the shading that did occur with these inks. I was still printing and the constant lifting up and down that occurred with printing (at least the way I was doing it) made any shading haphazard. Therefore I gravitated towards those supersaturated inks that never shade which many on the forum appreciate.

Then I started getting into italic writing inspired by the Getty Dubay book Write Now and got some pens with cursive to formal italic nibs. Italic writing was an easy transition from printing and I began to appreciate how shading could be controlled with these italic nibs.

Finally I got the book Modern Business Penmanship by EC Mills and rediscovered a beautiful form of the cursive writing I learned many years ago in grade school but had forgotten for so long. Once I became proficient at it, I began to realize that fountain pens were made for this type of writing. I found that even something so graceful as chancery italic felt cumbersome compared to a nice flowing business cursive where you dont have to lift your pen for an entire word. Shading in this mono line cursive was starting to look pretty good to me, and I found I was getting some control on when it would occur.

I gradually started using semi flex pens, shifting from mono line cursive to something approaching Spencerian, but in my own style, and Ive found that flex offered another way to control shading. After this long multi year journey Ive found that I mainly like subtle shading and subtle flexing (less is more) so that it does not look overdone.

Ive found that I hardly ever use supersaturated inks in fountain pens anymore. When I do they just remind me of writing with a pilot g2. So when I need to write with a pilot g2 I just use one of those.

I guess this experience has taught me that random uncontrolled shading detracts/distracts from your writing. However, once you get some control over it, shading can add depth and another dimension to your writing. I would recommend to all of you who bought certain inks that look washed out or watered down, due to their shading properties, dont throw them away. Instead put them in a drawer and return to them after a year or two as your writing evolves. You may find that you eventually will like them, as I have.

[Mech-for-i]

....

I....

I guess this experience has taught me that random uncontrolled shading detracts/distracts from your writing. However, once you get some control over it, shading can add depth and another dimension to your writing. I would recommend to all of you who bought certain inks that look washed out or watered down, due to their shading properties, dont throw them away. Instead put them in a drawer and return to them after a year or two as your writing evolves. You may find that you eventually will like them, as I have.

 

Can't say it better .... shading to me is like a particular element that's somewhat controllable but not entirely .. just as in any creation this aspect of performance and thus result delivered add to the end result. Equally tough I also enjoy ink that give very little or no shading as well , the have their share of contributing to the process of what gives the writing the character

[php2316]

“Shading” is a means of expressing individuality rather than a boring font style or characterless ink.

[A Smug Dill]

@Eclectic1010, it is an expression of yourself only if you have intended the shading as an outcome (i.e. visual effect perceived by you and/or the intended reader) of your handwriting and are sufficiently able to control the outcome.

 

Otherwise, you may just as well also say tossing ink on the page and letting it fall however it will (subject to the laws of physics, and environmental conditions/events such as wind, et cetera) is an expression of one's individuality, even though one has no control of the shape, size or colour intensity of the splattered droplets.

[pajaro]

@Eclectic1010, it is an expression of yourself only if you have intended the shading as an outcome (i.e. visual effect perceived by you and/or the intended reader) of your handwriting and are sufficiently able to control the outcome.

 

Otherwise, you may just as well also say tossing ink on the page and letting it fall however it will (subject to the laws of physics, and environmental conditions/events such as wind, et cetera) is an expression of one's individuality, even though one has no control of the shape, size or colour intensity of the splattered droplets.

You regard shading one way, but to me it has been like when my old pens from childhood had flow problems. Those pens would almost skip, and I would have to rewrite some work. I bought better pens to avoid it. To think it's a fun thing to some today.

[A Smug Dill]

@pajaro, I think you missed my point or misinterpreted my position. I don't regard shading just one way.

 

1. If a specific visual outcome that is ‘caused by’ or requires shading is exactly as intended by the user of the pen and produced on the page by design and skill, then that is an expression of individuality and/or art.
2. If the effect is not intended, not expected and/or not desired by the user of the pen, then shading is a fault (or flaw, defect, deficiency, annoyance, whatever).

The intent is not up to anyone else (including and particularly consumers of the information content captured by handwriting) to unilaterally decide on behalf of the user/writer.

Edited September 2, 2018 by A Smug Dill