Some weeks ago, I shared here a series of charcoal and ink drawings of cats, as per Charcoal + Ink with Cats. This was part of my on-line lessons with Juliette Crane‘s Whimsical Animals. And so much fun I had with them that I went for a digital version with Procreate! Luckily, this amazing digital art app has its own set of Ink and Charcoal brushes already so why not give it a go?
Rainy Cat
The “ink” was Ink Syrup, followed by a series of charcoal brushes. Burnt Tree was selected for the cat herself, with the eyes filled in with Carbon Stick. For the clouds I went for 2B Compressed. Just merely experimenting for the first try and getting a feel for the various charcoal types. Poor kitty has been caught in the rain!
Sunny Cat
Now let’s make our cat happy enjoying the sun! Decided to make her a bit more rounded and more simple, firstly outlined with Mercury Ink. Filled her in with Vine Charcoal as if it were on its side for a light even finish. Nose and whiskers were drawn in with Charcoal Roll. 2B Compressed for filling in the heart and the sun, the latter with a lower saturation. How cute did she turn out!
Midnight Cat
And now, how about some negative space effect? Firstly filled in the entire canvas wiith 4B Compressed charcoal and with the eraser, carved in my little milky cat! I left the eyes and whiskers unerased but for the white areas, eraser was used. To make the lashes more distinct, I drew them in with Willow Charcoal. Now this is different! And rather cool too.
Wow what a fun session this was! As you can see, ink and charcoal certainly works well using both analog and digital methods. I enjoy trying out both methods anyhow just for practicing and developing skills and ideas. Furthermore, it is not often I use Charcoal brushes on Procreate which made this more an interesting discovery!
My Kawaii Quarter 