Introductions!

Hello again! The Community Relations' Traditional Art Team are proud to present to all of you the second instalment of Project TradSavvy.   Joining us here today for the coverage on sumi ink, is =Azrael-Nekhbet, a bright young artist of astounding talent:

The Interview

1. Hello, and thank you very much for participating TradSavvy as our guest artist!   As this article is covering sumi ink, please tell us what is it about this medium that draws or fascinates you so.

Well, sumi painting requires a prior knowledge of the subject that you are attempting to depict, and is sort of a form of meditation. Say you are going to paint a bird, you look at your paper and imagine that bird being brought to life by the work of a few brushstrokes... It's the simplicity of sumi painting that makes it ever so complex. Each stroke represents movement, energy.


2. Naturally every artist upholds differing principles, or even none at all, when it comes to the mediums they use. Rather than divulge into "methods", is there any one aspect that you would recommend for one to pay attention to when using sumi ink?

Sumi painting is a depiction of form, and each stroke must embody that form you are depicting. Quick, harsh strokes suggest a form in motion, and soft smoothe strokes suggest calmness and contemplation. Overall, sumi ink is about portraying emotion captured in whichever form you may desire, from still life to animals to scenery, even abstract. It's all about letting the mind flow without boundaries. Sometimes just playing with brush strokes will result in inspiration for many things. It's as if you're creating a physically defined form from chaos.


3. What would be your estimated budget for getting all the necessary tools in order to pursue a genuine interest for sumi ink?

My first sumi set I bought a year ago at University Art costed $36.00, which is a pretty good deal since the set comes with a sumi ink stick, a suzuri (grinding stone) and two brushes, a large and medium point.

You can also purchase Japanese watercolours for around $18.00-$20.00 which last for quite a long time. For brushes, I would go with the ones in the starter kit but over time you can purchase more brushes which range in size, shape and quality of hair. I have seen brushes at U.A at around $60.00, but I would rather stick with the smaller brushes as they can still accomplish the same task. For paper, rice paper is around a dollar or more for a pack, but you can also use watercolour paper.


4. What would be your recommended shopping list?

Large Sumi brush for doing larger strokes, but can also accomplish surprisingly fine lines too.

A medium to small sumi brush is essential for paintings requiring small quick strokes.

Sumi ink, which can either come in the form of an ink stick or liquid form. I use the already liquid sumi ink to take to school if I want to paint, and the ink stick for at home. Believe me, the ink stick will last you a LONG time, I've used my ink stick numerous times, and still looks as if I've used it only once.

A suzuri for grinding the ink stick. First add a drop of water on the grinding stone, grind the ink and you're all set!

Japanese watercolours. There is a set of pearlescent paints and then a small set of 6 colours. I would start out with the smaller set, and as you gain more experience with sumi painting you can purchase more colours to experiment with.

Rice paper, which I would use only for works such as bamboo, fish or flowers. I tend to use watercolour paper for works requiring more overall time, such as the tissue paper koi fish.

5. What are the differences between one type of material/tool over the other? What in your opinion justifies the difference in cost?

Since most sumi brushes are made of various combinations of animal hair ranging from camel, sheep, horse and badger, I want to purchase a brush that feels rather soft, lasting and not overly stiff.
I have mistakenly bought two cheap brushes which lost more bristles than the two brushes in my sumi set...

Overall the largest, high quality brushes tend to be the most expensive, but reasonably priced brushes of fine quality and endurance are preferred.


6. Is there a general plethora of mediums and methods that can be used in conjunction with sumi ink in order to achieve different effects? Please divulge.

I've used sumi ink with markers, micron pens, watercolours, india ink and coloured drawing inks, even coloured pencil.

In -soul of fish- I used primarily sumi ink and a blue-grey micron pen, in which was then given a layer of prussian blue watercolour, silver watercolour and red watercolour for the eyes. India ink works very well with sumi as to give it some solid dark tones, but is only applied sparingly.

In paintings such as the Black Ruby I have used sumi ink initially for the fish, then gave the whole page a watery wash and applied light red over the page. After the page has dried a bit I then apply small dabs of sumi ink on the fish and in the corners of the page especially the upper left corner. Afterwards, I apply a bit of india ink for the scenery only, and for small details on the fish after the page has dried completely. I then used tissue paper for the tail fins, which was painted over with sumi and red watercolour.


7. Finally, which are some of your favourite ink art pieces, both on and off dA?

There are so many sumi works that I love, one of my absolute favourites has to be Yoshitaka Amano,
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"Refinement" by ~Orcagirl2001

"Schooling Shrimp'" by ~xocieira

"Dragon Orchids" by ~MingMyaskovsky

In closing...

Thank you very much, and to all of you, we hope this article was enlightening and entertaining.   Please stay tuned for the next installments!   Any suggestions and/or questions please feel free to comment!

Be Inspired, not directed.