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Do you want to make your pencil sketches more lively? In this article, we will have a look at what is ink art, tools, materials, and a few ink drawing techniques.
In an Ink drawing, an artist goes over the lines they used to produce a rough sketch with thick, dark ink to make it more distinct. For novices, creating in the permanent and unforgiving medium of ink art can be intimidating at first. With the right tools, techniques, and proper planning, this fear of messing up fades away.
What You’ll Need for Your Ink Drawings
Compared to other art forms such as painting, ink art is affordable, convenient, and portable, enabling artists to improve their skills and techniques on their creative journey.
The Pen
The principal tool in your ink journey is a pen. Everyone has diverse preferences, and it will probably take a bit of trial and error to figure out what works for you. Experiment with various tools ranging from ballpoint pens to markers until you find something which produces a satisfactory result and adheres to your art style.
Fineliner Pens
Disposable and affordable, this pen provides you with a neat, consistent, and uniform line, making it the perfect choice for an ink art enthusiast. Nibs of fine liner pens are generally made of plastic or fiber, contained in a metal casing. A more expensive option is fine liner pens made with steel nibs, which are durable and refillable.
Ballpoint Pens
Omnipresent, disposable, and cheap, ballpoint pens are the most readily accessible writing and drawing medium. Ballpoint pens can be used for finer details in artwork, but can sometimes be subject to ink clots on the tip.
Brush Pens
Compared to fine liner pens, brush pens provide more variation in line width. The width of their nibs is wider and then tapers to a fine point. This allows the weight of a line to be varied by adjusting the amount of pressure exerted on the pen.
The Paper
Our pens are now ready, we need a medium on which to unleash our creativity! A wide variety of art papers is available on the market for your pen and ink drawings. Watercolor paper tends to be a popular choice for pen and ink drawings especially if you plan to use markers or do watercolor washes over or beneath the ink drawing.
However, if you like exploring different paper types, unconventional surfaces such as postcards, the inside of a cereal box, cash receipts, or vintage book pages can be used to start your ink journey.
Ink Drawing Techniques
Time to grab your pen and paper. Get creative with the five inking techniques below and in no time you’ll surely enhance your ink drawing skills!
Technique 1: Your Grip & Your Sketch
If you’re nervous about putting pen to paper, try sketching your drawing with a pencil first. Your sketch doesn’t have to be immaculate as your drawing will metamorphose when you begin to ink it. Planning your sketch before inking helps you identify where your final lines need to be positioned, thereby minimizing errors.
Once your sketch is complete, the inking process can start. Gripping your pen in various ways allows the creation of a wider assortment of lines.
Holding the pen as if you were writing will provide control and create short, consistent marks. A looser grip of the barrel further from the tip creates a more gestural and varied imprint on the drawing.
A piece of advice when inking is to maintain a sharp angle between the pen and paper this allows ink flow from the pen to be more efficient resulting in smooth fluid line work.
Finally, adding texture using techniques like hatching, cross-hatching, and stippling can energize your drawing by making it more attractive to the eye. Let’s have a closer look at each of these mentioned techniques below.
Technique 2: Hatching
Hatching consists of a series of parallel lines drawn close together.
At this stage, you can use a ruler to obtain sharp straight lines for an architectural look, but freehand lines will give your drawings more character. The closer you draw your lines the denser the shading effect created. Similarly, the further apart they are drawn the lighter the shading result. An example is shown below.
Technique 3: Cross-Hatching
Cross-hatching employs a similar technique to hatching however here, the lines layer on top of each other.
Start with the hatching technique, and once you’re done, create another layer of hatched lines that overlays the existing linework. This second layer is drawn at a 90-degree angle, but it can be executed in as many layers and angles as you choose. The more layers added at different angles, the denser the shading will become. Cross-Hatching is used for creating areas of deep shadows while creating texture. See the image below for reference.
Technique 4: Stippling
The stippling technique refers to drawing multiple small dots to simulate diverse levels of shading in a drawing. It is one of the most time-consuming pen and ink techniques. The closer the dots are to each other, the darker and more solid the area becomes.
Create each dot by gently pushing the nib of the pen against the paper. The smaller the nib size of the pen, the smaller the stippled dots will be, thereby increasing the amount of detail in the drawing. Consider the size of the nib you use and stay frosty! This technique gives the greatest control over the contrast between light and dark in your work.
Ideally, to achieve a good rendering stippling, all dots should be of the same size.
See the image below for reference.
Technique 5: Mix and Match
Lastly, to create uniqueness in your drawings, I would highly encourage you to combine several pens (fine liners, brush pens, and markers) along with the exposed ink techniques.
Hatching, cross-hatching, and stippling are practical ways of adding the desired texture without having to use an excessive amount of ink in your ink drawing.
Your only limit is your imagination. Be mindful of overusing these techniques as if they are overdone, your drawing can end up looking chaotic.
Below is an example of hatching art and stippling art.
Conclusion
There is a charm and romanticism about ink drawings. The artistic practice of using ink as the primary tool bringing life to a sketch or design through handcrafting strokes may seem like it’s been around since the beginning of time. In this article, we’ve had a look at the several pen types, paper, and five ink techniques to jump-start your journey in the ink art world.
Happy inking!
If you’d like an example of all those tips & techniques applied to a drawing. Check out this POST.
