Why do I Enjoy This?

Okay, for those of you that don't know me and haven't read my previous posts, I am a bit of an artist. My preferred mediums are pencil and pen & ink. While I have spent a lot of time drawing over the years, pen and ink is something I've only really been serious about for the last few years. I tried my hand at it in art class in high school and had decent success, but I was never as comfortable with it as pencil drawing. But when I again tried my hand at it after years of avoidance, I found out I was pretty good. I've posted some of the work I've done in previous posts so you can judge for yourself if you feel like taking the time to go back through them.
I guess what makes my pen & ink work different is that unlike most artists, I have chosen to use the technique of stippling. What is stippling? I'm glad you asked (otherwise this post would have to be cut much shorter than I had originally planned).
Dictionary.com has a lousy definition of stippling. While technically accurate, it doesn't begin to adequately describe just how time consuming the process actually is. Sure, you can get a decent picture using a larger pen and fewer dots, but if you really want it too look good, it takes thousands upon thousands upon thousands of dots from the finest point pen you can get. I use a .05 millimeter graphic pen. That's the smallest I was able to find. Just to help give you and idea of what all is involved in one of my pieces I'm going to start a miniseries of posts following my current work. This work is going to be a gift for my grandparents, so please don't tell them. I don't have to worry about them reading this as I'm quite certain neither of them has ever even attempted to use a computer.
This is a photo of the picture after approximately one hour of work. Yes, I know the perspective seems terrible in this picture. That's because it is. I've always had a problem with that, but you will see that it has been rectified in later posts.

 As you can see, an hours worth of work doesn't get you much when it comes to this style. I have a very minimal amount filled in with almost no fine detail. I should be able to update daily on this work as I hope to have it finished by the 17th of this month.  If you have any questions feel free to email me at looneygrant@gmail.com.