Honestly, I almost forgot to write and post this week's sketchbook, but not for any reason that will sound impressive. In fact, I was too busy finishing off a game, and watching a movie. I was actually super prepared and already have my doodles scanned and ready to post; it's just the written part that slipped my mind.
I got onto the scanning early this week because I'm away from the office again. I figured it would be nice to have everything ready to go early, instead of skipping a week, or delaying it too long. Then I'm sitting here at almost 2AM and I remembered that I hadn't written anything. So here we are.
Earlier in the week I even had a good topic for this post, but that's another thing that slipped my mind. Instead though, let's talk about the difference between ball-point and felt-tip pens. Sounds like fun, no?
As you can see, the doodles in this post were all done with blue ball-point pens. Most of my regular black felt-tips are running low on ink and I've yet to restock. I usually run with a variety of pen sizes and shapes, as all the different felt-tips can be a lot of fun. However, over the last couple of weeks I've noticed that my usual pens have been drying out and lacking in performance. Hence the basic ball-points, which turned out to be a nice reminder.
The whole reason I've been stuck on black felt-tips is because I enjoy the limitations inherent in doodling with such a tool. There's no erasing to be done, and felt-tips have a way of making the same mark on the page, regardless of pressure and angle. The lack of available variety in the tool was a welcomed change for me in the beginning, because it forced me to commit every line without edits.
Except, I kind of forgot that along the way, as it just became the usual thing for these posts. I forgot that I was avoiding the shading and gradients of pencils in favour of high contrast limited ink. Although, I also forgot that ball-point pens are different again, with alternate features and limitations.
By sticking to the same tools and methods for a long time, I haven't entertained the notion of doing it any other way. Perhaps there's something to be said for finding something you like and sticking to it, but I always considered the process of doodling to be a little more experimental.
So this week I had fun with some ball-point pens, which have a little more nuance to them than their felt-tip cousins. Of course they're both ink, so marks are permanent, but the mechanism of a ball-point allows for more manipulation of the line than is possible in a felt-tip.
Partly by design, but partly because I'm using cheap supermarket ball-points, the ball doesn't always get an even coating of ink. In fact, the only way to ensure a high ink flow, is to use the pen in a relatively upright position and apply some pressure. As soon as you start tilting the angle of the pen and releasing some pressure on the page, you get a bit of variance in the lines.
This kind of lets you do a bit of shading with ink, even though it's really just really thin lines thanks to a low ink flow and soft pressure. Although, whatever the reason, the possibility for line variance is something I've not entertained while using felt-tips.
Anyway, the point is that they're different and it's important to remember that difference and experimentation should be welcomed. It doesn't mean you have to avoid the tools and methods that you enjoy, but sticking to the same process can bring on some creative stagnation. Mixing it up and trying a bit of side-to-side instead of up-and-down, can refresh those creative brain cells nicely.