Lunar Ascension – ink & brush

 I began this ink illustration on 28 April 2021 and worked on it off an on until adding the final touches on 28 May 2021. 


“Lunar Ascension”
Ink and brush on 200gsm A2 paper 👼🏼🖌

For Sale. For more information or pricing requests: art [at] embleton [dot] co [dot] za

#illustration #penandink #penandinkillustration


Completed piece

Detail wing

Detail right hand and wing

Detail left hand and wing





The Work In Progress:


Pencil work.





Originally meant to be a solid black sky, I had put down the ink in swooping brushstrokes – but keeping in the direction of the moon and the figure's movement upward – and realised what the streaks added to the upward movement I wanted to have. This led me to simplify the strokes but without losing the "light streaks" altogether.




Knowing ink has varying degrees of translucency I decided to use its idiosyncrasies to my advantage and have areas of solid black while others (particularly around the moon) using the lighter ink application to give some life to what could have been dead black. And when viewed in person, this evident more than when viewing the artwork on a screen – which I like.





Beginning the brushwork detail.


The first brush work


The first brush work (detail)



Near completion. Just need to add shape to the wings.

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