The idea here is to imitate shadows and darker/grimier areas of stonework, but also just provide some random depth and texture. It is not a very controlled process though, and I don't sweat it. The randomness makes for loads of visual interest, as well as a starting point for the penwork later.
First I flood most of the surface with water using a mop brush, then I load a smaller craft brush with black fountain pen ink and drip it liberally on the wet surface, trying to make the drops land more towards the bottoms of the buildings since that is where the ink will stay darkest.
Then it's a matter of tilting the piece so the ink flows, dropping more water to move the ink around (fresh water tends to repel the ink somewhat), spritzing with a spray bottle to cause diffusion effects, and then waiting 24 hours at least for everything to dry completely.
I use a very specific ink for this: Noodler's Eel Black Fountain Pen Ink. The reason is the reticulation effect seen above. The ink looks smooth while it's in water, but as it dries it kind of clumps and gathers, drying in zillions of little particles. I've tested a LOT of inks looking for this effect in different colors, but this is the only one that reliably behaves this way.
The effect is almost geologic or effluvial, like a wide river delta seen from an airplane. It provides a wealth of detail, perhaps not quickly, but with very little effort. Just like erosion.
This is just the first layer, of course, establishing the darkest values. Colored inks will follow. The aim of this approach is to layer a lot of random texture and detail onto the surface so that relatively simplistic linework will come to life with the extra depth.
Because this step involves creating essentially an ink puddle, each side of each piece must be done separately and allowed to dry completely.
I occasionally had to raise the top edge very slightly to make sure that the puddle would pool toward the bottom edge of the piece. The ink tends to flow most to where the water is deepest, so this helps maintain the illusion of shadow.
It's hypnotic to watch
I've used this technique before on illustration projects, but I was really pleased to find a way to use it for terrain. I've long been interested in the intersection of tabletop gaming and visual art, and this project is very much a culmination of that interest.
Here you can see the little islands of pigment forming.
Hope this was informative/interesting. More tomorrow!
