I took Chloe Gendron's class in order to improve my skill and technique using dip pen and ink. I appreciated the PDFs that Chloe produced, in that it truly does help you focus and target improvement areas, and allows you to practice smarter.

I will also say that Chloe's class inspired me to purchase a few books to help me learn and draw inspiration from:

* Rendering In Pen and Ink - Arthur Guptill (started)

* Pen & Ink Drawing - Alphonso Dunn (not started)

* Pen & Ink Techniques - Frank Lohan (not started)

* Gustav Doré - Alix Paré & Valérie Sueur-Hermel (started...but it's gonna take a while!)

* Alphonse Mucha Masterworks - Rosalind Ormiston (not started)

All the studies I am showing here were done with dip pen and ink on sketch paper - a big mistake. Chloe even told us from the class that sketch paper isn't the best for wet medium and that the sharp pen nibs will tear the paper. Even though I feel the paper handled the ink fairly well, the poking and tearing...ugh. I should have used micron pens or switch to more expensive paper. I had to fight my inner cheapskate and the cheapskate won, but the art suffered as a result. Still...there were a few good lessons learned and I'm not too sad about learning them. I'll explain as I go.

Oh, one last note - sorry for the shadowy photos.

Here are some studies I did being guided by the class:

Pen and Ink Studies - image 1 - student project

In this example, I'm simply just warming up to using a nib and discovering how to control the pen. Also focusing on getting varied line weight in one stroke.

First experience-taught tip: learn to work from right to left (I'm left handed) in order to prevent smudging. Also using a scrap piece of paper under my hand can keep my work clean and free of oopses.

Pen and Ink Studies - image 2 - student project

Next I did some practice trying to use my forearm and elbow instead of my wrist so I could learn to draw smoother long lines like I see in Doré, Booth, and so many other masters. The bottom half of the page is simply values practice.

Second experience-taught tip: using sketch paper wastes ink. The black square was done with a brush and it was surprising how much the paper soaked up the ink like a sponge. Before I knew it, my brush was dry and I had to re-wet my brush sooner than expected (see the black square bottom left).

Pen and Ink Studies - image 3 - student project

Here is some more pen and ink value studies, including some comparisons to ink wash at the bottom. Sorry it's a little dirty looking. I didn't spend a lot of energy on the photo so there's some really bad shadows.

Third experience-taught tip: I consistently battled with little hairy fibers or clumps of soft paper on my nib. This sometimes created pretty frustrating problems when it came to clean lines - even with creating the best angle to hold the pen became a challenge. I could dip my pen and push a line, but soon thereafter, I could only get the nib to work by pulling (until I cleaned the nib, because it was stuffed with paper).

Pen and Ink Studies - image 4 - student project

Taking inspiration of Doré and some other examples I found online, I tried to implement different techniques to quickly render some trees. Bottom Center is my favorite - the contrast of a light subject with a dark background and the brush painted leaves, but the Birch trees are nice too.

Pen and Ink Studies - image 5 - student project

Here are some attempts at shape contouring and more texture usage. I know, I know the shadows from the camera. STOP MAKING ME FEEL BAD! (jk)(Fourth experience-taught tip?)

Pen and Ink Studies - image 6 - student project

I struggled a lot with the sketch paper and dip pen. It really drove home the point of experience-taught tips #2 and #3, especially since I tried to first do an engraving style rendering of the berries and leaves...I should have used microns. It came out really sloppy. But I managed to pull off some good studies using Booth, Flagg and Moebius. I think I will add Moebius to my master's study queue. Fantastic!

Pen and Ink Studies - image 7 - student project

My final study was Gustav Doré. The final experience-taught tip is...maybe erase your pencil lines before you submit a project ;). I still have a lot of learning to do! My drawing skills are not where I want them to be (horses, am I right?), my patience level is not where I want it to be (pencil marks, shadowy photos), and a lot more.

This was a very DEEP class, and it was very time consuming and involved, but I learned a lot!

Jason George

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