Among the art forms I've experimented with so far, one of my favorite things to do involves the creation of highly realistic pen & ink portraits, using ultrafine pens (supplemented by scratch knives and brush-tip pens) on a material called Claybord.

Initially, when I first became interested in pen & ink line art, I was in high school. A friend of mine had created some hip looking posters for a Christian event called "The Jesus Experience". I went down to his studio one day and watched him work. That was the first time I'd ever learned about things such as technical pens (with which he created many of his line art drawings) and rub-on transfer type (which has subsequently been replaced, for the most part, by the computer).

On several occasions, I bought my own technical pens (from Rapidograph, Rotring and Staedtler). I really liked the fine lines such pens were able to produce, and I liked the overall look of high contrast pen & ink art on white paper. But there were also things I didn't care for, with regard to traditional technical pens. I didn't like the fact that it was almost impossible to erase anything and make corrections (just as it would be when creating any type of art with India ink, even with a dip pen). I also didn't like having to continuously fiddle with the delicate mechanisms in the pens in order to keep the ink flowing.

Fortunately, solutions were soon forthcoming.

In the case of the problems I had with technical pens getting clogged up, a number of companies began to come out with disposable ultrafine markers specifically designed to replace technical pens. Such pens didn't clog, the way traditional technical pens had done. To my eyes, the quality of line they produced was indistinguishable from the lines produced by metal-tipped technical pens. Such disposable pens eventually ran out of ink, of course, but the solution to that was to buy enough of them to be assured of always having a new one with a ready ink supply.

About the only drawback I could see was that one couldn't use colored inks in the new ultrafine disposable pens, the way one could do with traditional technical pens. One still can't. But at least Pitt makes really nice brush-tipped artists' pens in 48 different colors. Handled carefully, they can produce fine stippled art, although the dot size tends to vary more than it would with technical pens or standard disposable ultrafine pens.

In any event, most of the art I've created with ultrafine pens has been with black ink alone. I am starting to experiment a bit with ink wash, for gray tones which are real gray tones rather than simulated gray tones created with stippling and similar techniques. But I've always rather liked the high contrast look of black ink on white paper. It reminds me of the dramatic wood engravings created by master printmakers such as Albrecht Durer. Ultrafine disposable artists' pens are excellent for the type of drawing I like to do. There are several different brands, but I think my favorite brand so far is the line of Pitt Artists' Pens made by Faber Castell. The main reason is that I've noticed that their black ink seems to be just a little bit blacker than some of the other brands. Of course, that's a moot point, if one's final goal is to scan the drawing into the computer and then make printouts after using the computer to enhance the image slightly.

Scanning an image and retouching it digitally is one solution to my problems with erasure as well. But I generally prefer to do most of the work with the traditional tools and then use the computer mainly for finishing touches. Even before digital imaging became a viable option, a solution to my problems with erasure came about during the nineties when Ampersand Art Supply introduced a new art support called Claybord. It was like scratchboard (known in the UK as "scraperboard"), but far more durable, since the clay coating was on an untempered piece of Masonite or "hardboard" rather than illustration board. That also enabled the company to put a thicker coat of clay onto the surface.

One could buy Clayboard with or without the black ink coating on top. With the ink coating, Claybord Black was conducive to a style of art in which most of the image was created by scraping back into the black surface to reveal the white clay below, much as traditional scratchboard art had been created. That was interesting and educational, and useful if one's objective was to create an image reminiscent of linocut or woodcut prints or wood engravings. But lines created with scratchboard blades didn't tend to flow as smoothly, and I subsequently discovered that my favorite method of drawing was to use standard ultrafine pens on white Claybord and then use sharp tools such as scratchboard blades and single edge razor blades primarily for the purpose of correcting mistakes, and for the purpose of adding white details to areas which were primarily black or dark gray.

For casual sketches, Claybord may be too expensive. But the expense is worth it when it comes to final drawings, due to the ease with which one can make corrections to such drawings. Charles Ewing, the inventor of Claybord, has an excellent book entitled The New Scratchboard. Be sure to check it out if you want to see just how versatile this incredible art substrate actually is.

Once I had a better idea of what my working method would be, I began for the first time to create some very nice realistic pen & ink portraits on white Claybord. The more images I created, the more I realized that I had achieved a degree of skill which might actually enable me to sell such portraits to others. And that is why I am now creating this page.

If you would like me to create a pen & ink portrait based on a high quality photo of you or a loved one, please contact me so that I can furnish you with price information and ordering instructions.

It would greatly please me to do business with you.

Note: Some of the drawings on this page are based on royalty-free photos obtained originally on a CD-ROM from a company named PhotoDisc.

It's a great way to get "models" when one's primary working method is to base one's drawings on photos.

Another note: I'm interested in exploring the possibility of partnerships with professional portrait photographers and portrait photography studios. Offering my pen & ink portraits as an "add-on" product, for your photo studio customers, is a natural combination!

NOTE: I saw an ad recently for what appears to be a new line of archival ultrafine pens from Prismacolor. They're available with a wide selection of point sizes, and in several different colors as well. I can't attest to the quality of the pens, since I've never bought or used one of them, but it's always nice to have more options. Now if only they'd offer them in as many colors as their Prismacolor colored pencils, which come in a range of at least 120 colors!

What I'm thinking of doing at some point in the future is to make high-quality giclee prints of my pen & ink drawings, on a paper which has sufficient "tooth" for colored pencils, and then using colored pencils such as Prismacolors in order to create handcolored versions of my drawings. One company, West Coast Imaging, sent me some sample prints on various substrates. One sample was a neutral B&W photographic image printed with an Epson 9800 on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag paper. I tried handcoloring the image with Prismacolor colored pencils, and I was pleased to see that it had sufficient tooth for that purpose. I also tried going over the printed image and text with water from a watercolor brush, and discovered that the pigmented ink was pretty impervious to the water, yet the water soaked into the paper rather than beading up. So it seems feasible to me to color such prints with watercolors or watercolor pencils as well.