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Ink Drop Tutorial

Though software-driven design and illustration have been commonplace for quite some time, some media makers find digital art to be sterile and formulaic. They miss the imperfections and happy accidents of working on paper -- the stray marks and ink spills that added character to analog design. One method of adding soulful, analog textures to your digital work is to incorporate inkdrops. Use the fishbowl method to create evocative, ethereal images reminiscent of smoke. Use the sketchbook method to create monoprints similar to Rorschach cards.

Things You'll Need

  • India ink
  • Small fish bowl or tank
  • Eyedropper
  • Digital camera
  • Blank sketchbook
  • Rubber gloves
  • Newsprint
  • All purpose cleaner
  • Rags
  • Scanner
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Instructions

  1. Fish Bowl Method

    • 1

      Fill the fish bowl and turn on your digital camera. Dip the eyedropper into the ink bottle and fill it up.

    • 2

      Squeeze drops of ink into the water. Take as many photographs as you can as the ink spreads, swirls and makes its way to the bottom of the bowl.

    • 3

      Connect your digital camera to your computer and import the photos into your favorite image manipulation software.

    Sketchbook Method

    • 4

      Lay the sketchbook flat on a thick stack of newprint or an easy-to-clean surface like a tile floor.

    • 5

      Open the sketchbook and bend back the binding until it will sit flat on your work surface.

    • 6

      Fill the eyedropper with ink and squirt it onto the open sketchbook liberally. For a more extreme effect, pour ink directly into the binding seam.

    • 7

      Close sketchbook quickly and leave it on the work surface. After 30 seconds, open the sketchbook to the inked pages and leave it laying flat to dry. 30 seconds is long enough for the ink to soak into the pages but not long enough it to dry and leave the pages stuck together.

    • 8

      Wipe any excess ink from your work surface using a clean rag. Spritz the surface will all-purpose spray cleaner and repeat with a clean rag. Do this immediately, as dry ink will be harder to clean up.

    • 9

      Wait for the pages to dry fully, then scan them at a DPI of at least 300. The higher the DPI, the more you will be able to enlarge your scans without experiencing pixelation.

    • 10

      Import the scans into your preferred image manipulation software and use them as backgrounds or additional layers.

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