Writing with a Fountain Pen

Yesterday, I tried to illustrate 3D form as much as possible with shading. I was trying to draw a human leg. As for the day, it was a good day, which I wrote about. I met with a mentor of mine, and it was good to talk and describe my life plans to another in real life person.

I'm really enjoying the drawings.  Thank you for posting them.

I'm tempted to join up with the incowrimo challenge.  It would be good practice for my handwriting.  The problem is, I don't know what to write about?  What's interesting that I do each day?  

Hi Raven!

I'm glad you've been enjoying my drawings. You're welcome, and I'll keep posting them. I do omit some days, because sometimes the contents of my journals gets a bit darker into the depths of crazy that goes through my mind than I'm comfortable sharing with everyone.

I would not approach something like a journal or letter to be soemthing that is "interesting" to others. As I see a journal or a letter, these are personal spaces where I share my thoughts so that I am no longer bogged down with those thoughts in my head. And then, I decide whether I am comfortable sharing these with others. I think it is okay for journals and letters to be "boring", because I see this as an activity for oneself rather than for others. And life is not always "interesting" all the time; I think it may appear that way, because people filter what they post and share. This filtering distorts other people's perceptions of their lives. There's a much longer discussion to be had on this, but I'll leave at that as one of the many reasons I choose to not use much social media.

I think just writing whatever you did that day, whatever you're worried about, or whatever is on your mind is good enough to write about.

I think the incowrimo challenge would be fun. I'll have to think about this.

I found this tutorial on how to make your own fountain pen.











Here's one with a calligraphy nib

That is awesome, Raven! I'll have to try making my own fountain pen sometime! I'm sure people throw enough aluminum cans into the recycling and trash at college that I ought to be able to find some to use. Thank you for showing me this!

Yesterday, I tried to express three dimensional form again with shading. I attempted to do it with a tea cup and saucer this time.

Yesterday, I did another attempt at drawing three dimensional shape with shading. I tried to draw a human skull.

Yesterday, I tried to draw the front of a skull; I did not quite get all of the details of shading correct. It is a little flat-looking. Overall, yesterday was a good day, and the book Longitude that I have to read for a class is pretty interesting.

Yesterday, I again practiced three dimensional form with shading. I attempted to draw the leaf of a rose, and I think that came out okay.

Yesterday was a pretty routine day; nothing much happened. I tried drawing and shading a leaf.

Yesterday was another fairly hum-drum day; it was fairly routine. I'm still working on trying to get three dimensional form with shading, so I tried to draw a flower.

Yesterday was pretty hum-drum, as well. I guess things are kind of falling into a routine, more or less, at this point in the semester. I tried to draw a tree with this journal entry.

Yesterday was a fairly routine day, as well. I was primarily doing homework. I did have a lot to say about the reductionist attitude of science, because I was reading a scientific paper. I drew a birch tree with my journal, and I tried to focus on just getting form this time. I didn't focus as much on shading.

I really like that tree!  

Thanks, Dave!

You inspired us to give it a whirl. I ordered a couple of Metropolitans and a bottle of ink for my wife and I. :)

Thank you, Raven!

And I'm glad I could inspire you, Greg! I look forward to seeing your writings and drawings!

Yesterday was awesome! I played Dungeons and Dragons with my friends, and we had some interesting revelations in our campaign! I decided to challenge myself with the drawing, so, i tried to draw a human face. Well, to say the least, I was quite challenged by it!

Yesterdsy was pretty much the average Monday, except it was terribly cold yesterday. I made another attempt at drawing a person, because I wasn't satisfied with what I made yesterday.

Yesterday was more homework and preparations for exams. I am finding people difficult to to draw, but I tried again. This was an attempt at drawing someone with their head leaning back and up to the sky.

Yesterday was pretty the usual, again. I was doing lots of homework and classwork. For my drawing, I attempted a human face, again, but I wanted to see if I could draw the face at a different angle.

Yesterday was more homework and writing papers for classes. That's about what I'm doing most of the time, and it makes sense, because we are approaching the midway point of the semester. I tried to draw another feature of the human body- the hand.

Same ole, same ole at this point. I finished writing a paper yesterday, and I spent most of the day making a map in ArcGIS. I am still working on trying to learn the human form, so I drew another hand.

Yesterday was a good day, still mostly the same old stuff. I am workign on moving over to Linux Mint, and I am getting fairly knee-deep into the "fun" stuff of shrinking Windows partitions, defragging hard drives, and such. "unmoveable" files are where I am getting the most annoyed. Aside from that, it's been mostly homework. I tried drawing another hand in a different position.

Yesterday was fun and productive! I played Dungeons and Dragons with my friends, shrank my Windows partition to be less than half my hard drive, so, soon, I'll be able to reinstall Linux Mint. I'm still at a loss of what's taking up all the space in Windows. I did some homework, too. For my drawing with my journal, I decided to try doing another human face.

Yesterday was more homework and classes, but, I also had some fun reading Paul and Shawn's Better World Book. To continue my work on learning the human form, I have attempted to draw an arm.

Yesterday was more of the usual- homework, reviewing for exams, and reading. I did install Linux Mint on my computer, again, and that went well. I decided to try drawing a foot with my journal, yesterday.

Got a couple of Pilot Metropolitans for my wife and I. They work great. :  )

Yeah! I'm glad to see your writing, Greg! You have started off quite nicely!

Yesterday was the usual for college, and I had an exam, too. The exam was okay, I think. Drawing the human form is hard, and well, hehe, I drew a sort of wonky arm! :)

I need a reason to write so I make up sayings and use them to practice penmanship.

Making up sayings is indeed a good way to practice penmenship! We have lots of quotes that you can choose from over at Quote of the Day, too! Keep up the writing , Greg!

Yesterday was more of the usual at college, and I studied for an exam I have today. For my drawing, I continued working on the human form, so, I tried to draw a muscular arm.

Dave, I like how you integrate image and text. It reminds me of the organic style of the Voynage Manuscript.
Came up with another saying...

Thank you, Greg! That's quite the compliment! :) That quote you made up kind of reminds me of another saying I have heard, which is along the lines, "I am my best prison warden"

My weekend was awesome! I visited Wheaton Labs and felled a tree, hanged out with some awesome people, made a wooden mallet, and fired up a rocket mass heater! I wish I could have stayed longer! It was awesome! For my drawing, I tried to draw the abdominal muscles.

Yesterday was a nice day. I did some homework and hanged out with my friends. I tried to draw more of the human form by drawing the pectoral muscles.

Yesterday, I did some homework and went to my classes. For my drawing, I tried to draw a flowing dress.

If you have a container of ink, like I do, instead of ink cartridges, I would advise having an ink container that is made out of the same material for the entire container and lid. I had the darnest hard time unscrewing my ink well, this evening, because the cap to the container is made of metal, and the container is made of glass. So, I had a really really tight seal around the cap, which I had to run under some hot water, just now, to be able to loosen up the cap enough that I could refill my ink.

This is my journal from today. Today was pretty much the usual, and I tried to draw a rock.

That type of converter is problematic, as is the slider type.  The only one that has worked consistently for me is the twist type.  Many more choices in inks once you dump the cartridges.  I'm a huge fan of brown variations and so I have several bottles of some beautiful shades.  
As to pens, I have many, many pens but my two favourites are the metropolitan series by Pilot, and the Urban by Parker.  Good feel, good glide, good prices, choices of nibs, etc.  I have a few others that I like but those are consistently the ones I reach for.  
I still keep various tip Pilot G2 ballpoints around for some drawings (yes I do most of my drawing with pen) because of the consistency.  But the fountain pens aren't there for consistency, but rather for economy and character.  

I think I ought to clarify. I was not talking about the pen I am using. The container of ink was hard to open. This thing:



This container of ink was hard to open, because the cap is made of metal, and the physical object holding the ink is made of glass.

I have a lot of trouble with that make of ink.  The ink gets on the threads and hardens like glue.  I've got one bottle here I haven't been able to get open for years.

Nice ink though.  

Dave, how do you shade your images?

Greg Mamishian wrote:Dave, how do you shade your images?

To shade my images, I am using pencil. I shade the areas with pencil, kind of crudely, and then, I blend the different shades together by rubbing them with my fingers. Kind of like in this video:



Yesterday was the usual, for a Thursday. I did a lot of homework, which was mostly reading and paper writing. For my drawing, I tried practicing more of the basics, three dimensional form with just pen. I think i will be practicing this a bit more, and perhaps a little more practice with hatching, too.

Today was the usual, for a Friday at college. I wrote a bit of a paper, went to my classes, reviewed some more for an exam, and worked on making a map for GIS Lab. For my drawing, I used only my fountain pen to draw couch. I tried to practice getting down 3D form with just lines, and a little bit of hatching.