Fun with grandpa’s crowquill. on Flickr.

Today I needed to ink something in a scratchier style than usual. I looked over into my pen cup and there was my grandfather’s crowquill.

My grandfather was an amateur cartoonist - he was a PR man in the “Mad Men” era and so a lot of his work went into client newsletters. Before he died he passed on some of his old tools. I’ve never really liked crowquill much before, although I love the way the lines look when other artists use it.

But I gave it a whirl today, and I really enjoyed it. I made every possible mistake (flicking the nib, dragging my hand over wet ink lines) and look a complete mess, but also got some neat effects. I have a story script I think would look good with crowquill lines, so it was a very pleasant discovery.

And it was a sweet, melancholy thing to use one of his old tools.