/ic/ - Artwork/Critique

>>6104846
When it comes to metal nibs, the tines is where the problems come from, they'll either scratch, don't align properly, bad ink flow due to the finish not being smooth. Nibs from decades ago depends, if the metal is well preserved they can be great but many aren't. The metal was also stronger and less flexible in the very early days, I'm talking 1900's here. The best nibs are from the 80's to 90's. Today I like the Gillotts, the blue nibs, they're great even if they don't last long.

Kolinsky brushes are also banned, you can't get them in the US at all and the good hair came from Russia which is also banned. You can tell when the brushes became bad, it was around 2015-2017 or thereabouts.

Paper, they had to switch production due to safety and ambiental rules, so the good paper is decades old now.

<This was done with a very flexible and sharp Gillott nib, I've tried the same (vintage) nib today and the paper can't withstand this level of abuse, it starts to shred and the paper fibers lift and it's a big ol'mess.

>>3815745
Try cross-hatch shading. It can make stuff look super dark and rugged.

>>3811914
Am in similar situation OP, 28, just recently decided to hunker down with art as I'm pursuing a uni degree in illustration/design. but I've been sitting on my ass the last few years developing an alcohol addiction and scraping by with the bare minimum.

Did same thing as you when I was younger, lots of partying and drugs and fucking around, in retrospect, it might have been a good thing though because it gave me a lot of time and space to really figure out which direction I wanted to go in without any pressure to conform, yeah... it took time but that's better than waking up in a shitty dead end job at 40 with nothing to show for it, at least you had fun.

I also think that your brain getting fried from that shit is a positive in a way. Normies have no conception of the crushing lows or amazing highs, those moments open up a whole world for you to tap into with your art IF you can break past the mental blocks.

My biggest hurdle is actually starting the day, it can get overwhelming without direction, but even just 1 drawing is a step forward. Just DRAW, I think once you decided to start drawing you'll find that you can't stop.