What my Pen and Ink Sketch Journaling is

The world in black and white

Tools

I use pen and ink - and predominantly just the fountain pen and brush pen shown below - it’s simple. They were both inexpensive and they are both really good. My Lamy fountain pen has a medium steel nib and I use Noodlers Bullet Proof black ink.

However I look at it the world is in black and white, its binary, good or bad. The subtleties within this are still only combinations of black and white.

The world in black and white

Stating the obvious, everything I currently do is in black and white, because the world, as I see it, is in black and white. Combinations of good and bad that makes patterns that may look grey, but they are still just black and white. Like with grey hair - I don’t think there is any such thing - it’s either hair that has pigment or not. And the only way it appears to be grey is the reflection of other hairs with colour on the ones with no colour. And a single hair doesn’t change colour - it is what it starts out as, either coloured or not.

The Curates Egg

The famous cartoon by George du Maurier published in Punch magazine in 1895. The curate has been given an egg that is obviously bad but, out of politeness, says that parts of it are excellent. So, even something bad is being expressed as combinations of good and bad. The saying has even got twisted now to describe something that is both good and bad in equal parts - that was never the original meaning (hence the young curate).

Aubrey Beardsley

And there are a lot of artists and illustrators that only used black and white (admittedly sometimes because the cost to reproduce the work was cheaper). One of my favourites is the art nouveau illustrator Audrey Beardsley.

He was quite controversial at the time and his illustrations often shocked, but also amused the public. He was a leading figure in the aesthetic movement which also included Oscar Wilde and he did the illustrations for Wilde’s play Salomé. As an aside, his face also appears on the cover of the Beatles Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Anyway , that’s some of the reasons I sketch in black and white - It’s simple, fountain pen, brush pen and ink…

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What’s coming?

This Substack is intended to expand upon the ideas of the pen and ink sketch journal, to provide examples and inspiration. It’s all about getting your thoughts and feelings out onto paper without any rules to follow - this is sketching - not drawing.

Thanks for reading this and coming on the journey with me. Enjoy the journey and the destination can just look after itself.
All the best,
Peter