Winsor & Newton Drawing Inks Tag

Hello, hello! Sorry for the lack of updates as I’m currently on my summer holidays, so I’ve spent much of my time making new artwork and getting my Etsy shop sorted out as it was in need of a new update. It’s been absolutely brilliant having all this time off as it’s means I can concentrate on my art, which I don’t often get!

I thought I’d share with you some of my sketchbook work. If you’re following me over on Instagram you’ll have seen some ink sketches of Mario and more of Mario! I love drawing him; there’s something quite aesthetically pleasing about drawing him! He’s super easy to draw as he lies around all day. Plus, cats rule! I usually don’t work with ink but I gave it a go as I wanted my drawings to be a lot looser and fluid. Don’t get me wrong but I absolutely love drawing with my trusty old pens, however, it’s quite nice to be able to practice using a different medium. So the other day I bought some more Winsor & Newton drawing inks in Veridian and Liquid Indian Ink. I forget how easy they are to use, but not only that, the colours are so intense and vibrant (I don’t always water them down unless I’m layering different colours). I use a paint brush with the inks as I really like the smooth quality you get with it (do use and try out different methods as it depends on what you’re comfortable with using).


Flowers and abstract shapes seems to be a repeating theme throughout my work and I intend to continue with it. I don’t draw from direct observation but instead the process of mark making is more like automatic drawing. So, it’s all from my head basically!

Then I had an obsession with drawing the cats (and it still continues!). I’m not sure with anyone else, but when I’m interested in a subject matter I will literally zone in on it for a couple of days. I like the simplicity of the line drawings as I tried using one colour as a block colour and then drawing the outline with it. But it didn’t look right so I stuck with the line drawings.


Besides the cats I wanted to practice drawing big cats. I was researching Tibetan tigers and Chinese tigers (they looked like they were woodblock prints) as I really love the decorative side to them.

As I said previously about drawing Mario and Toshka, here I decided to add the Indian ink to the drawing (even though I was doubtful at first incase I messed it up). I think it works really well as the black is still quite soft and not too dominant. 

… and that’s about it. Now I need to go out and buy another sketchbook as I’ve finished it!

I’ll post some more progress photos as I’m going (when I buy a new sketchbook). I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this post and feel free to comment below on your own experiences of using Winsor & Newton inks. Or if you have any other recommendations, painting/drawing techniques I’d love to hear from you!

Thanks again and have a super Monday!