Yorkshire lane, int mud.

This is one of the photographs I’m using for creating a new series of prints. Believe it or not this is within about 20 minutes of the centre of Sheffield. For those of you who might be interested in the process. I whittle down a group of photos from my back catalogue and then the fun bit is doing the line drawing.

The idea is to try and capture the essence of the place and then to add the colour later.

Line drawing is done in indian ink and a dip pen on to a coated board. I’ve done these pieces at A3 so that they can be scanned in two pieces and then easily joined together digitally. I also use a bit of Dr PH Matin’s Bleed Proof White to paint out the bits I don’t want. Drawing in the indian ink is also done with a brush, nothing fancy, just the cheapest little paint brush will do for me. I also use blobs of ink and sometimes a bit of screwed up paper for the energetic bits of the drawings! Jay cloths give a good smeary feel at times!

I’m thinking of the colour to be added later when I’m drawing so might add clouds in black, that will eventually be white or a pale colour. So there are times when the final line work can look slightly odd and have no foreground or background. I know that I can change line colour and areas afterwards to give it a distant feel.

The line drawing is scanned at high resolution in black and white, and then put into photoshop to produce any number of print sorts. The joys of digital! I believe that digital is capable of making or breaking the work, it can kill off the natural energy in the drawing so I’m always looking for ways to keep that. In that respect it is little different to painting or drawing in the normal way. I don’t necessarily do just one drawing of the scene, and some get chucked away. I can always come back to them.

Below is the final line drawing, and below that the first of the print types which is not quite finished, but is at least in a state where it can be shown. Colour does not correspond to the original photograph. I’m looking to produce a piece that gives a feel for the mood and I’ll be trying more than one version, might even try one that looks like a night scene.

I hope eventually to be able to offer the works as prints and you’ll be able to see then here: Looks good on the wall where I go under my pseudonym: Edward Davies who is the proper artist in me!