Red Demon

Just a quick demon sketch. This illustrates the advantage of using a dip pen. This is the broadest nib you can get without going to just a flat-out metal brush. In addition to varying pressure on the pen, you can turn the pen during a stroke to get the tendrils/horns around the head.

One of the problems with the watercolor paper I'm using is that it doesn't absorb the ink very well unless it's diluted with water. This means the ink just tends to glob on the paper, which leaves me with a few options:
1) wait an abnormally long time for it to dry
2) dab it up with a sponge and risk taking up more ink than intended (which, admittedly, can produce some pretty interesting results).
3) carefully dip the nib back within the line and move the ink around.
I ended up going with the third option, only instead of, say, extending the line, I went outside the lines, giving the shaggy look to the arms and legs. I guess it works, but it's nothing I couldn't have done with a brush, so, in the end, the dip pens are still just a nice experiment, but largely redundant in terms of what I end up using them for.

The only thing that didn't turn out all that well is the eye. I think I applied a little too much red ink to my finger, so you can't see the ridges of my fingerprint, which would have given the demon a little more abstract quality.