Portfolio Beginning Pen Ink Tips and techniques for learning to draw in pen and ink by Desarae Lee (z-lib.org)

The most noticeable sheep is the one wearing a scarf and hat and smoking a pipe. Your eyes are drawn to
it because it’s unexpected.

POSITIONING
Certain areas within a frame draw the eyes more naturally than others. Placing
your focal point in one of these areas strengthens it. Imagine dividing your
drawing into three sections horizontally and three sections vertically. These lines
and the points where they cross are naturally strong places to create emphasis.
This concept is called “the Rule of Thirds.”

The octopus’ head sits right where the lines cross, which makes it a strong focal point.

LEADING LINES
You can create lines in a drawing that lead the viewer to the focal point. These
are called “leading lines.” They can be actual lines or implied lines (lines that are
not drawn on the page but still lead the eye).

The lines of the leaves and flowers point toward the moth and the man’s face. The man’s gaze creates an
implied line so that your eye follows what he’s looking at.

LIGHT

Your eye is naturally drawn to the lightest area of a drawing, especially if the rest
of that drawing is mostly dark. By making your focal point the lightest value,
you can guarantee that it is what your viewer will see first.

Source Material

Anything that you use to inspire or inform your drawings is called “source
material.” I keep a file on my desktop for this purpose. When I come across
something interesting, I’ll snap a photo and throw it in this file. Many artists
keep hard copies of their source material and pull photos from magazines or
print photos from their phones. Some also create their own source material by
hiring models or using family members to pose in photos that they can work
from later.

There are many ways to use source material. The first and most obvious way is
to copy the scene or photo exactly. Here are a few tips that will help you draw
things as they appear.

PROPORTION

The lines and objects in a photo relate to each other by location and size. By
comparing the size of one object to that of another in the photograph, you more
accurately represent the object. For example, if I’m drawing from a picture of a
person, I may notice that the height of the body is roughly equal to eight heads
stacked on top of each other. This helps me draw the body more proportionately.



ANGLES

Look for strong visual lines in your photograph, and then compare how those
lines relate to each other. For instance, you might notice that one line intersects
another at a roughly 90-degree angle. This observation will help you lay out your
drawing more accurately.

NEGATIVE SPACE

By observing the shape and proportion of your negative space, drawing it as if it
were an actual shape, you can gather information about the positive space, or the
space occupied by objects or characters.

THE GRID SYSTEM

Another way to draw a photo exactly as you see it involves using the grid
system. I don’t often use this method for various reasons, including its
tediousness and the fact that it bypasses the more creative side of the brain.
However, it can come in handy if you’re having trouble getting your drawing to
look just right.

Start by using a ruler to draw a grid on top of your photo. I’m going to break up
my photo into a grid of six boxes across and seven boxes down, but you can use
however many you’d like. Label the boxes by letters and numbers.

Now, draw a grid on your drawing paper. The grid does not have to be the same
size as the drawing, but it does need to include the same number of boxes. Label
the boxes by numbers and letters. Then pick a box and draw what you see in that
box.

Repeat this step for each box, and you will have created an exact drawing of
your photograph.

COPYING A PHOTO OR DRAWING THAT BELONGS TO
SOMEONE ELSE CAN MAKE GREAT PRACTICE, BUT IT MAY
BE UNETHICAL IF YOU PLAN TO SELL YOUR WORK OR
ENTER A COMPETITION.



Another way to work with source material is to use many different images.
Rather than selecting a single photo of a bear, I may browse the internet or visit

the zoo and look at many bears from different angles until I get a feel for the
animal’s shapes and lines. You can use the pages of your sketchbook to practice
drawing a subject until you are confident enough to add it to your artwork.

Using and studying multiple sources will help you build up a folder of source
material in your memory, which brings me to my final provider of source
material: the mind. Continuing with the example of the bear, after visiting zoos
and browsing photos online, you may find that you understand the anatomy and
surface texture of a bear so well that you can draw one without the use of any
source material other than your memory.

Mastering

WHAT YOU’VE LEARNED

Drawing From a Photo

This drawing project offers you the chance to flex your newly honed skills in
value and light-to-dark transitions, as well as working with a reference photo. By
adding layers, you can focus on the abstract light and dark shapes instead of the
concrete shapes of objects. The final piece will contain no contour lines; value
will delineate where one object begins and another one ends.

MATERIALS
Three reference photos of the sky, each representing different tones; smooth sheet of drawing
paper; pencil; fine-point drawing pen; kneaded eraser; ruler; value scale for reference

IF YOU STRUGGLE WITH SEPARATING OUT DIFFERENT
VALUES, TRY SQUINTING YOUR EYES. BY SEEING THE
IMAGE WITH BLURRED OUTLINES, YOU WILL START TO
NOTICE AREAS OF DARKNESS AND LIGHTNESS THAT STAND
OUT.

Reference photo

Lightly sketch three frames or panels. Inside them, pencil in the basic shapes of
the clouds and landscape. These lines will be erased, so apply very little pressure
while sketching. Also outline the abstract shapes you see.

Now look for the darkest values in your reference photo, using your value scale
shown here.







Use a pen and a single, smooth hatching stroke to fill in the dark areas. You’ll
build up the darkest values through four different layers of hatching, so don’t
make these shadows too dark yet; they’ll darken as you add more hatching. For
slightly lighter dark values, space your lines farther apart. Erase the guidelines
for the darkest values.

YOU WANT TO CREATE TEXTURE THROUGH VALUE RATHER
THAN LINE, SO KEEP YOUR STROKES SIMPLE AND CLEAN.







Look for abstract shapes in your source material that represent the five or six
ranges on your crosshatching value scale. Lightly draw an outline on your paper
to represent these mid-dark values.

DETAIL







With your pen, repeat the process of filling in the pencil outlines with a smooth
hatching stroke. Make your lines perpendicular to the first layer of hatching, and
include all of the areas that were filled in by the first layer. In these darkest areas,
you’ll now notice crosshatching. Erase your pencil guidelines.

LOOK AT YOUR DRAWING FROM A DISTANCE TO MAKE SURE
THAT EVERYTHING IS COMING TOGETHER. IF IT’S NOT,
TURN YOUR DRAWING UPSIDE DOWN OR TAKE A BREAK
BEFORE YOU ASK YOURSELF WHAT NEEDS TO BE
IMPROVED.







Find the medium values (3 to 4 on your value scale) in your reference photo, and
lightly pencil them in.

DETAIL







Stroking in a different direction (such as diagonal if you’ve been hatching
horizontally and vertically), fill in these shapes with smooth, even hatching.
Include all the areas you’ve hatched and crosshatched so far. Your darkest values
should now have three sets of hatching lines.







Use pencil to outline the areas that will be left completely white.





With lines that are perpendicular to the previous layer and a smooth, even
hatching stroke, fill in the entire drawing, minus the areas that should stay white.
This is when your gradient work will really shine.

Finally, erase any pencil lines, and look for areas that may need some extra lines
or finishing touches.







Adding Color

Now, let’s add color to your work. You’ll have the opportunity to experiment
with two new media in this project: watercolor and colored pencil. There is not
nearly enough space in this book to talk about each one in detail, so this project
uses simple techniques. If you’re interested in combining more of your pen-and-
ink work with watercolor or colored pencils, there is an endless array of
websites, online guides, and books to guide you, including Portfolio: Beginning
Watercolor and Portfolio: Beginning Colored Pencil (Walter Foster Publishing).

MATERIALS
Mechanical pencil, kneaded eraser, tube watercolor paints, water, paper towel, 2-inch watercolor
paintbrush, blue painter’s tape, blotting sheets and weight, hot-pressed watercolor paper, felt-
tipped pens in various sizes, pencil sharpener, colored pencils

Start by lightly sketching some basic shapes and outlines, and then erase and
refine until you have a light outline of an octopus.

When working with watercolor, pencil will not erase after you’ve layered paint
on top of it, so use a light touch.

To keep your paper from wrinkling or buckling when you add watercolor, place
painter’s tape along the edges.

Choose two colors to work with. These colors will blend into each other, so
make sure you choose colors that mix well. We’ll do two graded washes.

With a wet brush loaded with your first color, fill the very top of your piece with
paint. Add clean water to the paint, slowly working your way down as the paint
gets lighter and lighter.

Let this layer dry, and then repeat the process from bottom to top with the second
color.

IF YOUR PAPER WRINKLES OR BUCKLES, LET IT DRY UNTIL
IT’S JUST SLIGHTLY DAMP. COVER YOUR PAPER WITH A
BLOTTING SHEET OR CLEAR PLASTIC ON BOARD, AND THEN
PILE WEIGHT ON TOP. WITHIN A DAY OR TWO, YOUR PAPER
WILL DRY FLAT.

Sketch in more details on the octopus, such as its eyes, surface features like
spots, and tentacle twists and suckers. Work carefully; too much eraser work can
damage your watercolor finish.

WHEN DRAWING EXTENSIVELY WITH PENCIL, PLACE A
PIECE OF SCRAP PAPER UNDER YOUR HAND TO PREVENT
ACCIDENTAL SMUDGES.