# Drawing black fur



## Seaglass (Feb 22, 2012)

I've got an issue. I've got a black fox character, who is completely black furred. I draw him in traditional ink and paper, not digitally. This is a major issue for me recently. I've been using black indian ink  to color him in, and leaving white highlights which i outline with a gray marker, but it looks too hard on the eyes, I think. I want to use dark gray and a darker gray for shadows, but I haven't been able to find a shade that looks "black" enough.. so what should I do? Hunt for a marker set, or keep the distinctive black ink look? Thanks..


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## Thaily (Feb 22, 2012)

Markers fade, india ink is the way to go.
If you want to use shades of gray, just dilute the india ink and build it up from a thin wash, that way it'll go all the way to pitch black too.
The paper will get pretty wet and may curl, so you might want to use a glued block of watercolour paper and then cut the sheet loose once you're done and it's dry.
If you want to add highlights, look for white drawing ink and use a brush or dip pen.
Be sure to shake the white ink well, it'll have lots of pigment.
Alternatively you can try acrylics, but personally I've had good results with ink.


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## Seaglass (Feb 23, 2012)

Thank you very much for your reply, and sorry for a late reply back  
So I tried watering the ink down like you said, but it's still the same color, only thinner  then I tried adding whiteout, which pretty much ruined the cup i was using, lol. Should I get white ink and mix it withthe black, perhaps? My only comcern is that it will be to hard to paint on the ink without ruining some facial details.


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## Arshes Nei (Feb 23, 2012)

Oh, no don't use whiteout. Whiteout is such a generic name and isn't really consistent....If you're using the office kind of correction fluid ...it doesn't blend well. It's not the right kind of consistency.

You can dilute the india ink by adding water, creating a wash similar to watercolors. Or you can grab some http://www.dickblick.com/categories/gouache/ Goache, since you're trying to do this by painting with india ink?

Because the white highlights against black is really high on a value scale. So you may want to produce some midtones at 60% (or higher grey).






http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iqfgHALp8bc/TrW9m1aDwjI/AAAAAAAABXA/Fds_9v3UCvE/s400/BlackFox131.jpg


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## Thaily (Feb 24, 2012)

If you want gray-gray as opposed to a black wash that you can layer into black, yeah you would need some white, but not correction fluid.
I have good experiences with Talens, otherwise Winsor&Newton is nice, or as mentioned, white gouache. You can buy it in a tube, then mix it on a plate until you have the shade you want.


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## Seaglass (Feb 25, 2012)

Thank you very much for all of your advice  I have sucsessfully found a method that works for me (drawing highlights then blacking out). So thank you for your help! I also got some paint to experiment with as well.


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