Faded ink drawing - anything that can be done?

o1s1n

I'm pretty sure nothing can be done with this, but thought I might ask just in case!

I collect original comic art and unfortunately my favourite piece has some fading to the ink. Some of the black has faded to brown. I believe it wasn't framed properly by the previous owner and he probably had it in some sunlight.

Most of it I don't mind - it is just one top panel is particularly bad. You can see the image but a lot of the lines are either really faded brown or not there at all.

This piece is by a hero of mine who was one of the main influces which lead me to draw and then as a result end up in NCAD. So it's beyond special to me. His early work is notoriously hard to find as nobody wants to let it go - so I'm rather lucky to have this.

Sadly he ended his life last year due to MS so I would love to get this framed up and presented properly in honour of him.

You can see what I mean about the faded in here -



And here's the top of the image where it's faded the most (the only section I'd like to have fixed up) -



Now I don't want to mess with any of the work or have anything redrawn. So in fact there's probably zero which can be done. One thing though, the pen he used left some deep lines...so if there were some way of filling these lines? With graphite perhaps?

spinandscribble

forgive me if i'm wrong but it looks like an unfinished panel more so then the ink fading that much. the brown could be sepia pens or indeed some fading has occurred as the artist used a pen that wasn't as long lasting.

I think the best thing to do is frame it and keep it out of direct light. I know if it was an artist i respected I couldn't risk messing with the work.

o1s1n

Ah it's faded alright. I have the original comics/books this panel was printed in and all the lines are there. It has that 'left in the sun too long' look to parts of it. Was drawn in the 80's so it's possible it's been sitting on a wall somewhere for over 20 years.

I would say you're right about the different pens. He seems to mess about with a lot of different media. - actually you've just made me notice, most of the bits where the ink is still perfect are drawings on paper that he stuck down to the board! How I didn't see that before is beyond me. :eek:

The bits that have faded on the other hand were drawn straight onto the board. Probably at a different time with different inks. Interesting.

looksee

I would leave it. Its a kind of natural progression relating to the inks and the 'life' of the drawing. If it were simply a matter of cleaning, like an oil painting, that would be different, but I think it should be allowed to age gracefully (out of the sun!)

ztoical

From the way it's different sections fading it looks like the piece has a mixture of different ink brands most likely some weren't archival - fraid there isn't much that can be done. Either that or the mount card used in the frame is not archival and the acid from is causing the fading...given the spots that are fading I'd wager it's more likely it's the ink.

spinandscribble

o1s1n wrote: »

I would say you're right about the different pens. He seems to mess about with a lot of different media.

Common enough when illustrating something requiring this much detail/change in texture/line, do it myself. It would surprise me more if he only used one brand/nib type

o1s1n

looksee wrote: »

I would leave it. Its a kind of natural progression relating to the inks and the 'life' of the drawing. If it were simply a matter of cleaning, like an oil painting, that would be different, but I think it should be allowed to age gracefully (out of the sun!)

I quite like that, gives a completely different way of looking at the aging process. Thanks

Just remembered the website Comicartfans.com. So thought I'd see if anyone else had Hicklenton artwork from that same Nemesis story.

Similar ink browning on all of these too -

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=483013&GSub=75778

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=699043&GSub=102213

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=699041&GSub=102213

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=355962&GSub=55742

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=62794&GSub=8173

On a somewhat related note while I have ye here (!), do any of you know the best framing place in Dublin city centre to get this done? I've heard good things about Baggot Framing.

stcstc

one this you could do is try and slow the fading

you could put uv protective glass in the frames etc and use conservation quality mountboard

this wont make them any better, but will help slow the process

briscotti

those drawings are **incredible**