Inksplats

While browsing the web one day, I ran across a web page full of wonderful drawings by Stefan G. Bucher, who had invented a great way to inspire imagination! The idea is to drop a blob of liquid ink on paper. Then you get a can of compressed air, put on the long straw nozzle, and blast the ink a few times, spreading it out in unpredictiable organic tendrils.

Now you look at your shape, turn it this way and that way, rotate it, until you see something. Then you start drawing, using the blob as part of the picture.

I used liquid acrylic ink for both steps. For the blob, I put a thick coat polymer ink onto an old, stiff toothbrush, and then moved the toothbrush around in a spontaneous gesture. Then I let it dry. Later, I’d rotate the paper until I thought a saw a place to start drawing, and I jumped in, often with little to no idea of what was to come. A rule I imposed on myself was that there could be no preliminary pencil drawing or erasing. I loaded a pen with the same acrylic ink that I used for the blob, and then just started to draw… something.

It’s liberating and fun! Here are some of my favorites, showing both the blob and the final drawing from it. Click on any drawing to see it full-size, or for a carousel of all sketches.