Portfolio: Beginning Pen & Ink

Tips and techniques for learning to draw in pen and ink

Desarae Lee

• Publisher: Walter Foster Publishing
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781633225770
• eBook ISBN: 9781633227682
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Art General

Portfolio: Beginning Pen & Ink will teach you everything you need to know about the fundamentals of drawing with pen and ink.

From the beloved and best-selling Portfolio art series by Walter Foster Publishing comes Portfolio: Beginning Pen & Ink, a book that invites you to explore this classic art medium in new and refreshing ways. This comprehensive guide is packed with valuable resources for artists of all skill levels, starting with the basics and ending with intricate, original step-by-step projects that are sure to impress—and inspire.
 
Portfolio: Beginning Pen & Ink introduces drawing basics, including stippling, hatching, and crosshatching; how to master the fundamentals of mark-making and line work; and helpful exercises for contour drawing, gesture drawing, perspective, and more. Chapters on value, tone, mood, light and shadow, and texture follow, ensuring that artists gain the drawing knowledge they need before working on the step-by-step projects featured in the book. Artists can even learn to add color to their black-and-white art using watercolor for a fresh, modern take on an age-old art form.

Whether you're a new artist looking to try a celebrated art technique, a pen-and-ink enthusiast, a mixed-media master, or a graphite-pencil fan looking to branch out to new mediums, Portfolio: Beginning Pen & Ink will teach you everything you need to know.

The Portfolio series covers essential art techniques, core concepts, and media with an approach and format that’s perfect for aspiring, beginning, and intermediate artists.

Also available from the series: Beginning Acrylic, Beginning Drawing, Beginning Watercolor, Beginning Pastel, Beginning Colored Pencil, Beginning Color Mixing, Expressive Painting, Beginning Color Mixing, and Beginning Composition.

BASIC
Techniques

Line Work

The first step to using pen and ink is learning how to control and communicate with line. Let’s go over a few types of lines to give you some ideas.

STRAIGHT LINES

A straight line may seem fairly static; it goes in only one direction. But flip that line onto a diagonal and give it some friends, and you’ve got a party!

When using straight lines, keep in mind that horizontal lines communicate rest, peace, relaxation, and stagnation, while vertical lines imply strength, dignity, and power. Diagonal lines imply movement, dynamism, and activity.

CURVED LINES

What if we change that taut, straight line into a loose, curvy one? Curved lines bring an organic touch to a drawing. Shallow, gentle curves communicate comfort, ease, and sensuality. Steep, tight curves may suggest confusion, intense movement, and chaos.

USE CURVED LINES TO SUGGEST FORM, CREATING THE ILLUSION OF THREE-DIMENSIONALITY.

THICK VS. THIN LINES

Another way to change how your line communicates is by adjusting its weight, or its thickness or thinness. Thickening a line makes it seem heavier and more imposing. Thinning a line communicates delicacy and lightness.

By varying the weight of a single line, you can make parts of that line stand out or appear darker in some areas, creating the illusion of three-dimensionality.

ADD VARIETY

You can change the quality of your line by varying its length and repetition. Long, continuous lines feel visually smooth, while short, choppy lines look rougher.

HATCHED LINES

Repeatedly using straight lines in a drawing is called “hatching.” Crosshatching means repeatedly layering straight lines in different directions. We’ll go into more detail about this when we talk about texture (shown here) and value (shown here).

IMPLIED LINES

You can also form a line without drawing it at all. This is called “implied line” and requires using the negative space in a drawing to make it seem like there is a line. Another way to imply a line is by almost-but-not-quite connecting two separate lines. In both cases, your eye makes sense of the negative space by creating a line where there’s nothing.

CONTOUR LINE

A contour line delineates the visual edge of an object. It’s very possible that you’re already using contour line to draw! Any time you draw the outline of an object, you use contour line.

Take a close look at this drawing. Do you see any of the types of lines we just discussed?

Exercise: Contour Drawing

Let’s p...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• Introduction
• Getting Started
• Basic Techniques
• Mastering What you've Learned
• What's Next?
• About the Artist
• Copyright