Original artwork description:

This pen and ink drawing of an armadillo began when a friend challenged me to do a drawing a day for 'inktober' last year. One of the prompts was 'armadillo' so I sat down to do a sketch with a pencil and paper and found myself completely captivated by the amazing geometry of this animal.

I decided to translate the pencil sketch into pen and ink as another challenge to myself. Going from pencil to ink requires an enormous restraint - pencil allows infinite nuances of grey and soft transitions between shades, while ink is much more stark. To transfer the pencil sketch into ink I had to consider what the real essentials of the drawing were and try not to keep working at it and overloading the picture with detail.

I was pleased with the final result which, I hope, transmits both the perfect proportions and the quiet nature of this beautiful creature.

The drawing is in black ink on a 20cm x 20cm sheet of Hahnemule natural white, acid free, 300g/m2, hot pressed, watercolour paper. It is initialled in the lower right.

Materials used:

black ink on watercolour paper

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