Hedgehog: Adding colour to a pen & ink illustration

This speeded up film, with no commentary, shows me adding watercolour as a top wash to a permanent inked illustration of a hedgehog and log-pile.
I think it's probably more of a quiet way to spend 20 minutes with a cup of coffee than a tutorial, but hopefully it'll be of interest and bring a smile.
Because the ink is waterproof, it doesn't run when the top colour is added.
The illustration comes from The Hidden Universe by Alexandre Antonelli published July 2022. This appears in pen and ink inside the book, and in full colour on the back cover.
The Hedgehog is the European hedgehog. The butterfly is the Small Tortoiseshell. Plants include nettles, grasses and ivy. There are turkey tail bracket fungus and smaller "mushrooms" sprouting from the decaying logs.
This illustration suggests ways that we can help wildlife in out own back-yard. Just leaving an untidy corner with a woodpile and scrubby plants can encourage an entire ecosystem to form, and if you're lucky, this may well lure some wild mammals like the hedgehog too. The Small Tortoiseshell butterfly caterpillars feed on nettles, and rotting logs are great for the health of soil as well as for wildlife.
Equipment used
Mechanical Pencil Pentel H lead 0.5mm
Unipin fineline water and fade proof ink pens 0.1 and 0.05 width
Fluid 100 Hotpress watercolour paper (by Global arts)
Winsor & Newton watercolour pan paints
Winsor & Newton series 7 paintbrush size 1
Buying orignals
The original is available to buy from my website, along with many others from this book and other projects:
lizzieharper.c...
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[@victoriatucker7774]

I love this so much!

[@LizzieHarperillustrator]

Awww thanks Victoria!

[@sarajamal799]

Nice details 🍄🍄🍄

[@LizzieHarperillustrator]

Thanks a lot, I sometimes get a bit obsessed by details. Glad you noticed them!

[@ruthhevia9217]

BEATIFULLLLLLL🌷🌷🌷

[@LizzieHarperillustrator]

Thank you very much

[@AbraCassandraCrafts]

So beautiful. Would you ever consider doing a step by step iris? I've been wanting to make one for my grandmother as it's her favorite flower but I can never find any tutorials on HOW to do them and the ones I've tried ended up a disaster.

[@LizzieHarperillustrator]

Hiya Doom-full prophetess What an excellent idea! Yes, I'd be really happy to do an iris at some point. It'll have to be next spring, but Ill see if I can remember to do one when theyre next in season. I love iris too, and theyre such odd flowers, botanically. Great idea, thank you. x

[@deborahgoodwin3426]

So beautiful!! But, I must confess, I miss your delightful dialogue!

[@LizzieHarperillustrator]

Delightful? Thats one word for it! Thanks though Deborah!

[@jodaisyart]

Stunning, Lizzie. I too, like the bird sounds.

[@LizzieHarperillustrator]

Sparrows, robin and blackbirds. Noisy fellas

[@annstevens_fiddlehead]

Just wonderful.

[@LizzieHarperillustrator]

Many thanks!

[@creativecolours2022]

Hi Lizzie ! Marialena's here. This is a fantastic illustration. What impressed me is your ability to produce so expressive line work with these fine liners. The thing that I don't like on these felt tip pens is that they give a very consistent width of line that makes IMHO the drawings look a bit more technical. They lack the more expressive variable width lines that nib/ dip pens can produce and I can't make them no matter how hard I try to work the way I want them to. How do you manage to made them produce such good lines?

[@LizzieHarperillustrator]

Hmm. Good question. A lot is to do with pressure, but you know that. I find dip pens scary BECAUSE of the unpredictability! At college we learnt with dip pens, and although the lines were vey lovely, there were more splotches than I wanted. I've used these felt tip nibs ever since. I just sort of draw and stipple with them, I guess. Which is no help at all to you, asking for specific techniques! The nibs may well vary from brand to brand, I like these Unipin ones. But other brands feel ok to me, too. So there's no answer. A bit of an obscurification and fudging of the fact that Ive said nothing of any use at all! Sorry. Hope all is well with you and lots of love x

[@creativecolours2022]

@@LizzieHarperillustrator I've never manage to make them work for me Lizzie. I'm completely unable to make them work. I don't even have such kind of pens anymore because they do their own things....lol No matter how I hold them or press them they don't give me a more organic to say so line. lol It is funny... ! When you work with dip pens you have to have a cloth or paper towel in order to control the excess ink on your dip pen. It is good to check the consistency of your ink. You can diluted always with some water or alcohol ( depending the ink that you use) to bring it to the right consistency that works better with your paper and the nib that you use. You can draw with them by using their sides or reversed, and so with one nib you can get a whole range of lines not to mention that you can go for a flexible nib too. And you don't have of course any limitations on the ink that you can use because they don't clog like the fountain pens. Anyway..You are just great! It is your skill that makes them work so well. :)

[@michellerichert8225]

beaucoup de charme dans cette composition, très joli, merci, j'aime beaucoup ( and also birds singing !).

[@LizzieHarperillustrator]

Merci a vous, Michelle. Je suis contente que vous aimez la composition, c'est toujours difficile a mettre beaucoul des choses dans la meme image. Je suis hereuse que vous pensez que ca va bein dans cette illustration, merci.

[@violetsands]

as always just wonderful to watch you work!

[@fionarae8365]

Thank you Lizzie - this is really helpful and I am going to embark upon painting my ink sketches now I have see this (I like the birds in the background too). It is, indeed, a lovely way to find some peace and quiet with art.

[@LizzieHarperillustrator]

Go for it, Fiona! Light touch, and a bit of bravery. You could even scan them, print them out on high quality cartridge, then paint on the originals. That way you wont lose the ink originals if something goes wrong. Enjoy x

[@magpiemagpie5488]

Beautiful artwork

[@LizzieHarperillustrator]

Thank you so much 😀