Help needed on ink washes

[Arturo]

YouTuber Mig Doc uses ink washes. I bought acrylic calligraphy ink and tried it on some scrape plastic. Once dry, impossible to remove with water as he does on his videos so easily. Anyone here familiar w/ using ink washes ? I’m I using wrong kind of ink ?

[pigsty]

5 hours ago, Arturo said:

I’m I using wrong kind of ink ?

Could be.  There's ink, and there's ink.  I used to rely on Winsor & Newton ink for illustration - it's great for that, but no use for models because it contains shellac and is utterly waterproof when dry.  I used to love Games Workshop’s inks for weathering, but they were discontinued.  Then there’s whether your ink is opaque or transparent, and whether it’s waterproof by other means.  I’m not sure, but I think acrylic inks may be inherently waterproof. 

 

Because of all this, as a rule I use watercolour paint instead of ink.  You can apply it thinly and build it up, because it’s guaranteed to be clear, and you can remove excess just by wetting it again.  Some”ink” is actually concentrated watercolour.  It’s very useful, and it would behave the same way, but it tends to be expensive.

 

If you want to continue with ink, the best advice is to see what it says on the label about water fastness (and light fastness), and to give the bottle a good shake to check just how clear it actually is.  And if you get it from a proper art supplier, especially one near an art college, you should be able to ask the staff for advice and even test it out.