Flatrock update

This technique is addictive. Be warned.

Late last night I finished the line drawing for all the rocks, their nooks and crannies and then started adding some shading. I have a little wiggle room when it comes to actual shapes, but I want to make sure that the light is correct on these. This may well be my ultimate rock challenge!

Until you start to explore in detail the surfaces of rocks, you never realize just how they are formed. The layers in these rocks are fascinating, as if building blocks were stacked then toppled over for the larger ones.

I anticipate about 25-30 hours to completion for this piece, but I'm not really paying a lot of attention to the time span. Perhaps I should, but as I work in spurts and rarely extended hours of time, it becomes difficult to remember to jot down time frames for applying ink.

I tried to buy a .18 and .13 nib for my Rapidograph locally, but with no luck. The nib I'm using for this is .25 which is fine but I would like to go finer still to really get high resolution detail. It seems that mail order will be my choice, however my local art store has said they will find out costs to order them in for me. Living on an island has its challenges when looking for anything that is vaguely out of the ordinary in terms of art supplies. Patience is always required. That and careful planning.