Inks

India Inks

India inks come from ancient Asia when carbon residue from burning oil was blended with water and gum.
Coloured inks were prepared using natural inks (octopus ink) or vegetable pigments diluted with egg white or rice starch. Original India inks are solid sticks while “modern” ink is liquid.
Both are very black and lightfast being made from carbon black, with the liquid ink having one major difference: it is indelible.
This particularity means that the initial lines (once dry) are not diluted when a water based colour (ink, watercolour) is superposed.
There are varying qualities of ink sticks: the “shades” of carbon black vary depending on the materials combusted and the resulting dilution of binders.
Of course with liquid inks it is important to look out for indelible inks falsely labelled India ink as they are not lightfast.
They can be used for pen drawings, calligraphy using pens, brushed or reed pens (carved from bamboo) for wash drawings, depending on how much the inks are diluted.

Writing instruments: goose quills, reed pens (usually for drawing) or metal nibs enable the artist to draw lines of different thicknesses. Calames (reed pens) can also be sharpened to different widths are and metal nibs are available in varying sizes. They range from more or less supple drawing pens to technical pens (for technical drawings- they produce a monoline) which gives longer lines before recharging with ink. The latter can be bevelled and used for calligraphy. For lines of regular thickness, tubular calibrated nibs are used.

Coloured drawing inks

Made from water soluble resins and colorants, these drawing inks are used for their transparency and luminosity. Like watercolours they are not indelible. They are most often used for illustration work and for reproduction roughs (in advertising, cartoons and books), as they are usually not lightfast and quickly lose their vividness and intensity.
They can be applied with the same materials as India ink as well as spray guns (pen size paint gun for light air brushing and for obtaining extremely delicate backgrounds.)

Acrylic ink

As its name suggests, acrylic ink is a solution of pigments and acrylic resins. A product of the important evolution of the colour industry, this ink is indelible, lightfast and transparent.
This means that colours can be layered without diluting the colours underneath, tones can easily be enhanced, and work exposed to light with no risk of it disappearing in a couple of months.
It is used with the same tools as India ink and airbrushing.