Karin Wanderer Learns

Hello & Hello Again!

Every so often on this blog, we take a break & share a #recipe instead of talking about art. You can find a complete list of the recipes at the end of this article. Would you like to share a recipe in a future blog post? Let me know!

This week, we’re making Gold Bars!

This is my absolute favorite citrus recipe. I make the filling with lemons,oranges or a combination of both! What really makes this recipe special, though, is the olive oil shortbread crust.

Shortbread Crust

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• 2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Instructions

• Heat the oven to 325°F 3 (163°C).
• Lightly grease an 8-inch square baking dish & line it with enough parchment paper to hang over two sides. Without parchment paper, lifting the bars out of the pan without breaking them will be difficult.
• Mix flour, sugar, & salt in a medium bowl.
• Add the olive oil & mix just until a lumpy dough forms.
• Put the dough in the pan. pat flat with your hand, & prick all over with a fork.
• Bake for 50-55 minutes, rotating halfway through. You want the crust to be lightly golden brown. Remember that this is going back into the oven, so it shouldn’t get too dark!
• While that bakes, mix up the filling.

Lemon or Orange Filling

This recipe can be made with lemons or oranges or both. For simplicity’s sake, I am just going to say ‘lemon’ & we’ll all agree you can do whatever you want. Let me know if you try limes!

Ingredients

• 1 ¾ cups sugar
• 1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 6 large eggs
• 7 tablespoons flour
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt

Instructions

• Combine the sugar, lemon juice, eggs, flour, oil, zest, & salt in a large bowl. Whisk until it is smooth.
• When the crust is puffed & golden brown, pull it out of the oven. Re-whisk the lemon mixture.
• Pour the mixture onto the hot crust, then return to the oven.
• Bake for 25-30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through, until the edges are puffy & the center just barely jiggles when you nudge the pan.
• Cool on a wire rack to room temperature, then cover & refrigerate until cold.

Finish Them

Gold Bars are very tasty as they are, but there are a variety of toppings you can try! I don’t like my sweets to get too sweet- I usually just sprinkle a tiny pinch of salt on my Gold Bars while they cool on the wire rack. Of course, this is dessert. If you want sugar on top, I won’t stop you. Once the Gold Bars have fully cooled, you can dust the top with a bit of powdered sugar. However, if you really like your sweets sweet, you can make a glaze by whisking ½ cup of powdered sugar & 1-2 tablespoons of lemon juice. Pour over the fully-cooled bars. Allow the glaze a few minutes to set- if the Gold Bars are fully cooled it won’t take too long! Once your topping has been applied, lift from the pan & cut into squares.

Past Recipes

• Vegan cake
• Plum tea.
• Wolfe3D shared his favorite pizza recipe in my first collaboration!
• Brownies (very good for beginner bakers!)

We’ll get back to talking about art next week. Is there an author or topic you want me to cover? Let me know on Mastodon or Ko-Fi!

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• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

I love to draw & paint with #ink! That is not news to regular readers, since this is the fourth article I’ve written on the subject. Lots of different inks are great for lots of different types of art, but my absolute favorite ink is sumi. Again, this is not news to many people, since this is the third article I’ve written about traditional Japanese ink. To find those earlier articles, click #ink. Now, I get to talk about several types of sumi art that I have not had a chance to try (yet!)

Sumizuri-e

Sumizuri-e means ink printed painting. It is a form of woodblock printing using sumi which dates back at least to the 700s. That means it is one of the earliest forms of Japanese printing. The stamp design is painted, then carved from a block of cherry wood. The stamp block is then inked. A sheet of paper is carefully laid atop the inked stamp & pressed with a tool called a baren to transfer the image. Creating this art was a group effort- an artist designed the stamp, a woodcarver created it, & a printer inked the stamp & made the prints. This art style has remained popular for over a millennium, & it is easy to see why. Sumizuri is a minimalist, monochromatic art style that produces strikingly beautiful pieces. Sometimes a stamp is still being used for prints hundreds of years after being carved, as with this piece that was carved in 1698, but printed around 1915.

Woodblock prints with color use a wide range of techniques. Some are relatively simple, such as painting the individual prints with watercolors or colored ink after the sumi dries. Some methods are more complex & are, essentially, early versions of modern color block printing. The Great Wave off Kanagawa, possibly the most famous piece of Japanese art in existence, is an example of this.

Gyotaku

Now we get into the meat of the subject! I do not apologize for that pun! Gyotaku is a portmanteau of gyo, or fish & taku, or stone impression. It is fish printing! Making actual fish into ink stamps! Now people will have to believe you caught a fish “this big”, because you can literally unroll a scroll & show them an impression of the fish in question! I’m not joking- these prints are hung in tackle shops for that exact reason. This method is used for other forms of marine life as well, but fish prints were the majority of what I found by far. Fish stamps render beautiful amounts of detail. I had expected just a black fish shape when I first read about them, almost a silhouette, but that is not the case! Look at this print, for example. Aren’t the scales gorgeous? In the most basic form of gyotaku, the print is left black & white, with the eyes painted in after the print dries. This is the form most often used to keep records by people who fish. Other forms get more artsy. Some add colored ink directly to the fish, while others print in sumi & then add color after. Many places online claim you can still eat the fish after printing if you use plain sumi. Some fishing services that offer sumi prints will filet your fish while taking care to keep one side intact. They then lay the intact side over a basket or some other type of frame so that the fish holds its proper shape while printing, but the rest of the meat doesn’t touch ink. My sumi ink does not indicate it is food-safe anywhere on the packaging, & let me just remind you that the main ingredient is soot, so let the buyer beware!

Oh No, I Did It Again

Say it with me now; “Karin got distracted geeking out about art & now she needs at least one more week to finish talking about the subject at hand.” Woah, you all managed to say that in perfect unison. It was impressive, & a bit creepy. Well done! Have you tried any of these kinds of sumi art? Will you? Let me know on Mastodon or Ko-Fi!

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• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

Every so often on this blog, we take a break & share a #recipe instead of talking about art. I’ve shared my favorite vegan cake recipe & my best plum tea. Wolfe3D shared his pizza recipe in my first collaboration! Would you like to share a recipe in a future blog post? Let me know!

We’re Making Brownies!

This is one of the oldest recipes in my collection. It is both simple & easy. According to my exhaustive research, there are infinite brownie recipes on the internet. There are prettier brownies, there are fancier brownies- but I can make these when I’m down to my last spoon. To me, recipes like this are invaluable!

Ingredients

• ¾ cup butter, melted & cooled enough that it won’t cook the eggs
• 1 ½ cups sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• ¾ cup flour
• ½ cup cocoa powder
• Spices to taste (I use cardamom, cinnamon, & a touch of cloves.)
• ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoons salt

Directions

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C).

• Grease an 8x8 pan. (If you use sticks of butter to bake this, you can use the paper wrappers to grease your pan. An 8x8 pan is small enough that there is usually enough butter left on one wrapper to grease the whole pan!)

• In a large bowl, mix the melted butter, sugar and vanilla thoroughly.

• Add eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly.

• Combine the flour, cocoa, spices, baking powder, & salt in a separate container. Gradually blend this dry mixture into the egg mixture.

• Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan.

• Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until the brownies begin to pull away from the sides of the pan.

• Let the brownies cool completely in the pan. Do not rush this! If you cut them while they are still warm they will dry out fast & you will lose that wonderful brownie-y texture.

Quick History Lesson

There are many different stories about who invented brownies. The most popular claim is that brownies were created for an event at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. I would have thought such a simple, delicious dish was much older!

We’ll get back to talking about art next week. Is there an author or topic you want me to cover? Let me know on Mastodon or Ko-Fi!

Get my art on mugs & vinyl stickers in my Shop!

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• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

Hello & Hello Again!

This is part of an ongoing series of articles about #ink. If you would like to know more about ink in general, read this. Sumi is my personal favorite ink. If you would like to know more about this traditional Japanese ink, read that. If you would like to know more about many different ways sumi is used in art, read on!

What is Sumi-e?

In Japanese, sumi means black ink & e means painting. It can be confusing to figure out exactly where the line is between “sumi-e” & “art someone made using sumi.” Some people don’t think there is a line at all; they use sumi-e as a collective term for all sumi-based art. Some insist that it is only sumi-e if it is painted using only ink, featuring only a very few traditional subjects (e.g.– mountains, bamboo), AND only painted on rice paper. Many people fall somewhere in the middle. Outside of the rigorous purists, a general description of sumi-e might read as follows: It can be just sumi, but some forms of sumi-e incorporate watercolor paint or colored inks. It is often but not always painted on rice paper.

Sumi on watercolor paper

Ink Wash

Ink wash painting was brought to Japan by Zen Buddist monks. This is the type of sumi-e most people are familiar with: stylized landscapes rendered in greyscale created with diluted black ink. Have you seen Disney’s animated movie Mulan? The opening is an animated example of the ink wash style. (Note: As Mulan takes place in China, it is likely that the opening is not depicting sumi. It is more likely meant to be India ink, which was invented in China.) Some ink wash artists put an emphasis on minimalism, while others do not.

Sometimes the ink wash landscape is paired with writing such as poetry, a riddle, or philosophy. This is called shigajiku. The results can be quite striking! I kept getting distracted while writing this because I wanted to track down translations of practically every one I saw.

Sumi & white ink on watercolor paper

Tattoos

Tebori tattoos are inked by hand using sumi. The resulting tattoo is a beautiful greeny- black. Beyond this point tattoos get so complicated so quickly that if you find this topic interesting you should really research it yourself. Have fun!

Oops

I meant to wrap up the sumi series with this article, but I have failed! Can I stop geeking out over pretty paintings & finish talking about sumi? Find out next week; same Karin time, same Karin channel!

Do you like this ink? What did you think? Let me know on Mastodon & Ko-Fi!

Sumi on rice paper

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• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

… Chibi?

Chibi is an art style of over-exaggeration. Its origins are said to date back to Japan’s Edo period. The contemporary form of chibi arose from Japanese anime & manga developed in the 1970s; original credit is often given to a robotic cat named Doraemon from a manga of the same name. Anime series such as Dragonball & Sailor Moon, Studio Ghibli movies, & popular merchandise lines such as Hello Kitty are often credited with spreading the art style around the world.

Isn’t That Just Kawaii?

Yes & no. Kawaii essentially means cute. Lots of things are cute without being chibi. Chibi is a subset of kawaii. Something that is chibi is kawaii, but not everything that is kawaii is chibi. The English word comes from the Japanese word chibi (ちび). This word is considered rude if used to describe an adult, but appropriate when used to describe small children, smol objects, or cute art.

It would be polite to call this lil friend a chibi-doragon (チビドラゴン)

The Momentous Importance of Epic Proportions

Chibi art follows a small number of extremely important rules. 1. Chibi characters have very large heads- often anywhere from ⅓ to ½ their total height. (A more realistic proportion would be for a person’s head to be ⅙ to ⅛ their height.) 2. Chibi faces are mostly filled with their huge eyes. The mouth is very small & the nose is often left out entirely. 3. Chibi characters follow an extremely minimalist design.There isn’t space for a lot of detail! Most chibi characters have simple outfits & accessories. Since their enormous heads are the focus, extra effort is usually put into their hair or hat. 4. It must be kawaii! I have seen some “gross” chibi characters as the art form develops over time, but even the gross ones are pretty cute!

TL;DR: Chibi characters’ features are pushed out of proportion to an almost obscene degree. That’s why the chibi style is sometimes referred to as the ‘super deformation’ style or ‘S.D.’ for short.

Contemporary Chibi

Chibi art has only grown in popularity over time. From Hello Kitty to Funko's Pop! Vinyl, this is a style people love. You don’t even have to like anime to want chibi action figures of your favorite live-action characters or mythical beasts.

How-To Books for Chibi Art

[Quick review of my review policy: All of them are unpaid & unsolicited!]

Cute Chibi Mythical Beasts & Magical Monsters by Phoebe Im You Can Draw Manga Chibis by Samantha Whitten & Jeannie Lee You Can Draw Manga Chibi Characters, Critters & Scenes by Samantha Whitten & Jeannie Lee Drawing Chibi by Kikai Anime Manga for the Beginner: Chibis by Christopher Hart Chibi Art Class by Yoai

Do you have a book recommendation? Let me know on Mastodon or Ko-Fi!

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• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

Last time, on King Ink: I insinuated that I was going to tell you which #ink was best, then left you with a cliffhanger about how ‘the ink an artist works with is a very personal decision.’ I have since gotten hate mail, death threats, & absolutely wild offers of ancient family secrets & firstborn children. “Karin,” you collectively sob, “Please! Don’t leave us in suspense! What is the best ink?!” I will now tell you, if only to stop the steady stream of infants being left at my front door. The best ink is…

Sumi

Why? Because it’s the one I use. I told you, it’s a very personal decision! Sumi is a traditional Japanese ink. How long ago was this tradition established? Well, long enough that the word sumi literally means black ink in Japanese! This undiluted ink is a glorious black, & when diluted it gives a lovely range of grays to play with. It is permanent, with certain types used for tattoos. This ink is preferred by my favorite artist (Stan Sakai) as well as my second favorite artist (me). What makes this ink unlike any other ink? Read on to find out!

I painted this with sumi & a single shade of blue watercolor.

Carbon Ink

There are many different kinds of carbon ink. ‘Carbon’ is also often referred to as ‘soot’ or ‘lampblack’. Sumi is a carbon ink. Other carbon inks include India Ink (which actually originated in China). ‘Carbon’ ink is a very literal name for it; the pigment for this ink is made from the soot of burned wood, resin, or oil. Collecting the soot is a painstaking process, & only the first step involved in turning that soot into ink! Ancient recipes for carbon ink involve mixing the soot with water & a binder such as gum arabic, which is also used in watercolors. While many modern ink recipes still use carbon black pigment, their recipes are much more complex. Every carbon ink is different.

Plum blossoms are a very popular subject for ink painting, & one of my favorites.

A Word of Warning!

One thing I would like to make clear: sumi is not vegan. Lots of ink isn’t. If this is important to you, always check thoroughly! Check the type of ink, the brand of ink, & the specific color of ink you are purchasing. I started using sumi because my favorite artist does, back before it ever occurred to me that ink wouldn’t be vegan. (While I am not personally vegan, I do prefer to know when I am using something that contains animal products!)

How Is Sumi Made?

Sumi is made from soot (often from pine resin or rapeseed oil) mixed with animal glue (often egg whites or fish skin). Sometimes incense or other ingredients are added, but they are not required. This makes a soft, claylike lump that is kneaded until it is a glossy, uniform black. It is then pressed into molds and left to dry. It can be used immediately once dried, but sumi sticks are believed to improve with age.

This was painted with sumi & a white gel pen.

Sumi Rumors I Keep Hearing But Can’t Prove… Yet.

• A 70-year-old stick is “perfect”, which is to say it is nicely aged but not so old it has become crumbly. A crumbly ink stick is not wasted, it can be mixed with new animal glue and re-formed into a new ink stick. The new stick will then need to be re-aged, as it is the animal glue partially decomposing that makes it “nicely aged.”
• The highest quality sumi is a neutral grey when diluted. High-to-middle quality sumi is often blue-grey when diluted. Low quality is brown in tone.
• The highest quality of undiluted sumi reflects the least light, both wet & dry.

This was painted with sumi & white ink.

Is It Always A Stick?

Today, Sumi can be purchased in many forms. The traditional ink stick required you to use a grinding stone to mix the ink with a small amount of water to create the ink. While I do have a few small ink sticks & a stone, most of the ink for my paintings come out of a bottle. (#NotSponsored but I love this ink so I’ll tell you about it anyway!)

This was painted with the sumi linked above & white gouache.

Books About Sumi & Ink Painting

(#NotSponsored but I love books so I’ll tell you about them anyway!)

• Sumi-e by Shozo Sato

• Japanese Ink Painting by Ryukyu Saito

• The Art and Technique of Sumi-e by Kay Morrissey Thompson

• Special Subjects: Beginning Chinese Brush by Monika Cilmi

• The Spirit of the Brush by Sungsook Hong Setton

• Art of Chinese Brush Painting by Caroline Self & Susan Self

Sumi-e

Oh no, this is getting way too long! This was supposed to be a short piece about my favorite ink! I guess this is Sumi: Part 1, tune in for Part 2 when I will talk about different styles of ink painting, as well as sumi artists whose work I admire. Have you used this ink? What did you think? Let me know on Mastodon & Ko-Fi!

Get my art on mugs & vinyl stickers in my Shop!

Donate to support my works & get cool perks on Ko-Fi

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• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

Every 2 months or so on this blog, we take a break & share a #recipe instead of talking about art. Last time Wolfe3D shared his pizza recipe in my first collaboration. The time before that, I shared my favorite vegan cake recipe Would you like to share a recipe in a future blog post? Let me know!

This week, we’re making Plum Tea!

This recipe is delicious hot or iced.

Ingredients

• 4 ripe plums
• 1 cup sugar – any kind
• 1 cup water
• Lots of ice
• Your favorite tea*

*I used Apricot Medley (#NotSponsored) this time, but have made this recipe in the past with many different herbal & black teas. Part of the fun of this recipe is getting to experiment with whatever tea you like!

Directions

• Stem, pit, & quarter 4 plums. You do not need to peel them. If the plums are very small, you only need to cut them in half- but you may need 5-6 plums to get the same results.

• Put the plums into a tall pot with 1 cup of water & 1 cup of sugar.

• Bring to a boil, remove pot from heat, & let sit, covered, for 20 min.

• Uncover, remove plums, & let the simple syrup cool.

• Pass the time by eating the extra-delicious plums on fruit salad, granola, ice cream, etc. They will keep in the fridge for at least a day, maybe longer- but they get eaten so fast in this house I’ve never managed to find out how long!

• Fill ½ of a pitcher with ice, then fill ⅓ of the pitcher with syrup

• Fill the rest of the pitcher with your favorite iced tea.

I love that this one recipe makes both drinks & snacks, with minimal effort. The hardest part is waiting for the syrup to cool!

We’ll get back to talking about art next week. Is there an author or topic you want me to cover? Let me know on Mastodon or Ko-Fi!

Get my art on mugs & vinyl stickers in my Shop!

Donate to support my works & get cool perks on Ko-Fi

Join us for #ArtABCs, a year-long art challenge!

Find me

• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

Alina Chau is an award-winning artist. You may know her past animation work on projects such as Star Wars: The Clone Wars. What you may not know is that she quit her job at LucasArts in order to pursue her own artistic dreams! Today, she is an author & illustrator whose palette, plants, & people absolutely blow me away. I have read every one of her books available at my library. Her words & watercolors are overwhelmingly beautiful.

Alina Chau, Illustrator

Bonnie's Rocket written by Emeline Lee Bonnie wants to build a rocket ship. Hundreds of miles away, her Baba is developing equipment for the Apollo 11 space mission. This story follows Bonnie as she tries several different rocket designs & gets letters from Baba talking about their work. The book includes several different rocket-building activities for children! It is best for ages 5 & up. If you have space-obsessed 3-4 year olds, you might be able to read it in sections as it is a bit long & wordy for small children. The activities look very fun & require supervision. A great book! If I worked with slightly older children I would definitely have this in my classroom. I spent more time than I should have painting scenes from Chau’s books this week

Lunar New Year written by Hannah Eliot This sweet book introduces the readers to the Chinese Zodiac & Spring Festival by showing how one family celebrates, taking the time to briefly explain the significance of their traditions. The illustrations are beautiful & detailed; there is so much to talk about on every page! A very fun & informative read, good for preschoolers as well as older children.

The Rise (and Falls) of Jackie Chan written by Kristen Mai Giang As you may have guessed from the title, this is a biography about the powerhouse stuntman & brilliant actor Jackie Chan. This book goes out of its way to emphasize how hard he trained & how careful he is about his work. I loved learning more about Jackie Chan’s life! This book would be good for ages 4 & up. There is a bilingual edition but I have only seen the English one.

Double Happiness written by Nancy Tupper Ling In a series of illustrated poems we follow our main character as she & her family moves very, very far away from her Aunt & Uncle & Nai Nai to a new home. This is a great book for children ages 5-8, with a very sweet story that demonstrates healthy coping mechanisms for dealing with something as emotionally stressful as moving house.

The Nian Monster written by Andrea Wang Three days before Chinese New Year, Xingling’s grandmother explains how many of their traditions are meant to keep the Nian Monster away. It’s a good thing she does, Nian returns to eat the city that very day! Can Xingling use her wits to save the day? I love both the story & the illustrations so much! Especially the paintings of the monster, which manage to be bright & colorful & intimidating all at once; that is a hard balance to strike! I would read this with anyone 3-5 years old, but older audiences will probably enjoy it, too.

In the Spirit of a Dream & We Are the Change, both collaborations with many artists I enjoyed both these books quite a lot! Unfortunately I read them so long ago I don’t remember specifics. It’s definitely worth checking out if your library has them!

Alina Chau, Author/Illustrator

Marshmallow & Jordan I absolutely love Marshmallow & Jordan! I sat down to read just the first few pages of this graphic novel one Saturday morning, & ended up finishing it in one sitting. On her way home from school, Jordan hears crying. She finds that it is a white elephant crying over their injured leg, & decides to bring it home to take care of it. The rest of the story is even more magical than the beginning! The characters are well-crafted & believable in a way most authors don’t manage when writing tweens/teens. Characters who use wheelchairs are few & far between in comics. Chau clearly put a lot of work into understanding how the main character would navigate her world in a wheelchair, & it shows. The character designs & environments are beautiful! The story is so compelling; it made me care about sports just because Jordan & the other characters do! This graphic novel is recommended for ages 8-12, but I think older readers will also like it.

Alina Chau, Unstoppable Force Of Nature

Chau’s creativity seems to know no bounds. Her style works well with many artists/authors. This article only managed to cover a small portion of her work; I had to cut myself off because it was getting so long. I look forward to seeing what she creates in the future!

Would you like to know more about a specific picture book or comic book illustrator? Let me know on Mastodon or Ko-Fi!

Get my art on mugs & vinyl stickers in my Shop!

Donate to support my works & get cool perks on Ko-Fi

Join us for #ArtABCs, a year-long art challenge!

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• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

It’s Inktober!

Inktober is an art challenge with daily prompts for every day in October. The goal is to encourage people to post one #ink drawing every day! Every October all of social media gets flooded with #Inktober drawings & paintings. There is also a version that lasts all year – #Inktober52 – with a different prompt each week. Don’t like the official prompts? That’s OK, there are dozens if not hundreds of unofficial #Inktober lists out there! I have been sharing my art online for just over a year, so Inktober is the only annual art challenge I’ve had a chance to participate in more than once. I realized today that I haven’t ever looked into the history of ink, so I’m going to tumble down this rabbit hole & I’m taking you all with me.

Micron Pen Ink

What Is Ink? When Did Ink Start?

Writing is a concept that has fascinated humans. Around age three most children start to understand the distinction between writing & drawing. Children who have not yet learned to write will often make scribbles lined up horizontally or vertically, with left or right alignment, according to whatever style of text they have been exposed to the most. Is it any wonder that a medium that we invented to write with should be equally fascinating?

Ink has existed for at least 4,500 years. People in China & Egypt are both credited with discovering ink at the same time. This is called Simultaneous Invention, & it happened with the wheel, too. I have to say ink is “at least” 4,500 years old because there is some debate over when people started using ‘ink’ as opposed to ‘paint’. The debate rages on in large part because of a simultaneous debate over where the line is drawn between what is ink & what is paint.

Sumi Ink depicting the Plum Tree, a very popular sumi-e subject.

What Makes It Ink, Not Paint?

There are many different kinds of ink, & many kinds of paint. Sometimes the only difference is that you use paint to cover a wall, & ink to write a letter. Most of the differences can only be discussed as generalities. Paint is usually more lightfast, whereas ink is generally a “fugitive” pigment unless it is designed to be long-lasting. Ink generally has the consistency of water, while paint is often thicker. Paint often changes the texture of any surface it covers, but ink usually doesn’t. Natural inks mostly come in blacks & browns, whereas natural paints come in a rainbow of colors. In short: you could apply most ink with a paintbrush, but most paint could not be applied with a fountain pen. This is because inks are made with very small pigment particles that dissolve easily, while paints often use larger particles that may dry with a slightly grainy look.

Sumi Ink depicting a cat, a very popular subject in every form of art.

There Are Many Many Many Types Of Ink

The earliest inks got their color from a variety of natural materials. Egyptians used inks to write on papyrus. Those inks were made of ingredients such as ochers, which are also the colorants used in some of the earliest paints. Many inks, such as India Ink (which is actually Chinese) & Sumi (Japanese), are colored by soot. Whether the ink is a cool black or a warm black depends on what is burned to produce the soot & what the soot is mixed with to make it into ink. There was also cephalopod ink which dries to a shade of brown called ‘sepia’, because of the Latin name for the cuttlefish: sepia officinalis. Other inks were made from chemical precipitation formed from ingredients like oak galls & iron sulfate. I have made inks from crushed berries & vinegar (pretty successfully) & walnut shells (pretty unsuccessfully). Dyes that work with synthetic inks were discovered by a chemist named William Henry Perkins while he was trying to cure malaria, & now ink comes in any color you like. Even today, though, many inks are made with animal-based glue & other non-vegan ingredients, so if this is important to you it is something you must be very careful about!

Which Ink Is Best?

Some artists remain devoted to one type of ink, or have different types designated for different jobs. Some artists have a more free-for-all approach. Bill Watterson, of Calvin & Hobbes fame, uses India ink & watercolors. Stan Sakai, creator of Usagi Yojimbo, uses Sumi & watercolors. Suisen Nakatani, a kokotsu-bun specialist, also works in Sumi. Alphonso Dunn uses an impressive array of inks & pens with his watercolors. Cheriue Ka-wai Cheuk is an expert in the gongbi painting style, which is specific about all the tools an artist uses. The ink an artist works with is a very personal decision.

I work with Sumi because I, personally, am a shameless Sakai fangirl.

What’s your favorite kind of ink? Are you participating in #Inktober? Let me know on Mastodon & Ko-Fi!

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• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.

The Amazing Author/Illustrator

It absolutely breaks my heart that more people haven’t heard of cartoonist Nie Jun. His watercolor comics are beautiful. His use of greens stops me in my tracks page after page after page. He paints insects with as much love & attention as people. I spent this whole week finishing all my other work at the last minute because I wanted to paint so much of his!

He is the perfect author to continue my #WatercolorBooks series. I will be talking about watercolor comics & picture books & their illustrators from both an artists’ perspective as well as that of a preschool teacher, where applicable.

The Breathtaking Books

My Beijing: Four Stories of Everyday Wonder is the loveliest comic I have ever read. The stories focus around a child named Yu’er, her grandfather, & the people in their small neighborhood. It is marketed towards 7-10 year old readers, but I’m in my 30s & enjoyed every page. Really, it is a book for everyone- although some of the storytelling devices may be a bit confusing for children younger than 7. All of my paintings were from this book.

I ran out of time to do anything beyond reading Seekers of the Aweto. Two brothers seek (can you guess? … No, what an odd guess! ) Aweto, aka little plant spirits that can be used for medicine. The first book was amazing! Nie Jun’s love of insects has been cranked up to 11, his mythical creatures are a sight to behold, & his landscapes are dazzling! This comic series is great for anyone ages 12 & older. The second Aweto book came out this year & my library has not gotten it yet. I am very excited to read it!

This is Yu-er’s grandfather, a true insect aficionado.

The Lovely Lianhuanhua

One of Nie Jun’s earliest inspirations was Lianhuanhua – old Chinese sequential art. Lianhuanhua was the precursor to modern Manhua – modern Chinese comics. It is a very interesting form of art worth checking out, if you're interested! While I have been calling Nie Jun an illustrator for clarity’s sake, he calls himself a Manhuajia, or ‘humorous cartoonist.’ Does the word ‘manhua’ sound familiar? It eventually made its way from China to Japan, when it became the word ‘manga’ we all know & love today.

Spoiler alert: cats are awesome.

Would you like to know more about a specific picture book or comic book illustrator? Let me know on Mastodon or Ko-Fi!

Get my art on mugs & vinyl stickers in my Shop!

Donate to support my works & get cool perks on Ko-Fi

Join us for #ArtABCs, a year-long art challenge!

Find me

• All pictures posted are my own work.
• All reviews are my own unpaid & unsolicited opinions.