Supply Wars

Supply-wise all artists have their own personal favourites.  Musicians have their go-to suppliers for instruments, amps, mics, etc.  Every knitter has their own yarn that they fully endorse, and there are painters that will only use one or two brands of paint because of the chemical breakdown that allows such pigments to be so stubbornly bright, or so inevitably sheer and full of light.  Dancers tend to use one brand of equipment because it 'preforms best' or 'lasts forever'.  Even farmers have their own certain seed-brands or tractor equipment that they're attracted to.

And as a artist, I feel even less of an artist because I have so very few brands that I jump on and go "THIS, THIS IS FOR ME."

I suppose it's because I'm so indecisive, but sometimes, in the face of the array of supplies I'm privy to, that I feel so blatantly uneducated and unsure of myself that I don't even know my arse from a hole in the ground.

Surely you say "RUBE, DON'T YOU KNOW WHAT YOU LIKE?"

And lo, I say "NO, NO I FUCKING DON'T.  I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT I'M GOING TO GET WHEN I'M GOING THROUGH A DRIVE-THROUGH OF MY OWN CHOICE UNTIL I SEE THE GODDAMN MENU USUALLY."



And I feel lesser because of it.

Y'see, even as young, mainly uneducated artists, we all still have our own preferences.  But instead of leaning brand-wise I just sort of stick with a medium and have qualms about every brand of it that has ever dared to exist within my lifetime that I've been able to get my hands on.  And yet, it's still troublesome because who the fuck gives a shit?

Markers and felt tips tend to make me ill and make all artwork made with them almost soulless if I'm the creature at the wheel.

My own self-made felt tipped hell, in stereo.

Beyond felt-tips, I only care just enough when it starts to give me trouble it seems, and boy, do I ever have problems.  Y'see, in my giant, awkward, stippling, hatching, everything but suave hand - ink is the best thing ever.  It's ultimately unforgiving and you get to play with it in so many ways.  I love using nib pens, and I love brushes - it's almost like a living thing. So willing to fuck up on its own, or just full of want to fuck with me. 

 

This was a quick exorcize done with nibs and a pot of ink that I enjoyed, but the bukkake-

nosebleed element of the white ink killed any sort of reason for me to finish it.  Ever.

 

Pentel bristle-brush pen and Pentouch white marker . The laziest way to ink anything ever, 
also, probably my most favourite tools to everexist.  Possibly just because I know their
names off the top of my head.

As to why I'm on to this at the moment?  I've just actually had my first taste of using a scratchboard/clayboard and it's intimidating as all get-out.  (I've been told that this medium is usually used in camp/churchcamp.  I only went to one of those, and the lord doesn't seem to like how squeaky this shit is in the south because I've never fucking encountered it before, even if I have strongly admired it as an artform.)  My preferred cheap ink was immediately scratched out as useable because it apparently tended to use two or three coats to be a true black on the clay-surface of the boards and was therefore cost-innefective, so I purchased a few sweet little bottles of the reccomended inks on the cheap thanks to coupons and school refunds.

And while being more highly recommended - I can't stand them on paper.  I like my stuff to be the blackest and crispest it can endevour to be without ever being edited digitally, and all of these brands are coming out to look like my super cheap Higgens ink watered down in various degrees.  I could actually do a value-centered ink painting without ever needing water to change the value.  The range is literally so disgustingly varied.

I'd always hoped the black pigments got richer, darker, more green, yellow, or blue, not lighter and without much colour variance at all.  I suppose people don't like my standard ink because it's so 'cakey' and black.

Ha.  Ha.  Haaaa?  

Yes, the whole point of this post was to talk about how lost I am when it comes to supplies and what exactly is 'the best.'  And funnily enough, I do have preferences, but I'm afraid that they're wrong because I'm so uneducated?

Or maybe this post just happened because I tried to paint in my favourite sketchbook with this new ink after a few drinks and it's soaked through three pages while ONE COAT of my old ink would have worked here and wouldn't have soaked through at all.

And.

And.

Man. I hate playing connect the dots with bleed through on other pages.

It's too much like work, and I'm just not a puzzle person.