Dip Pens for Realistic Drawing: A Systematic Approach

1. Class Welcome: If you like the look of using Dip pens and curious how to get started. This class is about accelerating your inking skills to get the results you want using dip pens for realistic drawing. Hi, I'm Chloe from Canada. A retired learning specialist, turned full time artist. I spent the last three years building my inking skills from beginning to a full time business. I'm excited to share everything I've learned about drawing with dip pens so that you can have a smooth start for your pen and ink artwork to turn out the way you want. Planning is key. The structure of this class revolves around progressive steps that lead up to a final project. As part of the lessons, we'll first go over tools and supplies. We'll look at which dip pens, ink, and paper combos are the best match for your specific goals and how you naturally like to draw. By doing the exercises, you'll learn more about your preferences for how to render and produce certain effects. We'll practice line quality edging and other subtle effects for big results. We'll work through the fundamentals to create illusions and how to arrange your composition using values in visually pleasing ways. The lessons progress from beginning to advance and are suitable for someone without any inking experience. Though it is helpful to have basic drawing knowledge, you can still take this class and gain insights using alternatives to dip pens, such as fine liner pens. For the class project, you'll render an ink piece subject of your choice using the techniques, fundamentals, and process taught in this class. If you're keen to accelerate your skills using dip pens for realistic drawing, download your workbook and let's get started. 2. Get the Results You Want: When I was first looking for where to begin with Dip pens, my search only led to more confusion. There are so many options for Nibs, pen holders, ink types, paper textures. What if that combination doesn't work? If you've tried dip pens in the past and didn't get the results you were hoping for, it turns out that some Nib types will respond well to your approach and others can just work against you. In this lesson, my goal is to guide your choices so that you can have a smooth start. In your workbook on page eight, you'll see a complete list of the tools and materials that I use for this class. However, these are suited for my style and my preferences for the type of artwork that most inspires me to get the results that you want. The first step to finding the best fit between the materials and your aspirations is to start with the end goal in mind. So let's begin the class by learning more about you and what you're aiming to achieve with dip pens and ink on page two of your workbook, take a moment to answer those three questions. What do you hope to achieve with pen and ink or do differently by taking this class? Is there a particular look or effect that you're excited about exploring with dip pens? Who are your influences? Is there a master whose work resonates with you in terms of what you'd like to emulate in your art if you hadn't thought much about your influences On the next page is a short list of pen masters, four ideas. The list consists of illustrators, comic artists, manga Kas, and a few painters who sketch an ink. Go ahead and look through these. The names are all hyper link so that you can go and admire their work. These answers may influence your choices for the next lessons where we review tools and materials. 3. Best Inking Tools for You: Now that you've identified what you want to achieve with dip pens, let's discuss tools and materials to find a match. In this lesson will cover benefits of using dip pens, types of nibs. Best nibs for your approach and pen holders by definition. A dip pen is a pen that you dip in ink. It has two parts, a nib and a pen holder, also called handle, where dip pens shine and why you would choose it over another inking tool is the flexibility of the nib. You can seamlessly vary the thickness of a line in one stroke without having to switch pens. This is what's called line quality. Another advantage to dip pens is you can own one handle and switch the nib to vary the effects of the line quality. Though myself, I prefer to have a dedicated holder for each nib. This saves time. You can use the same pen with different types of ink and experiment with color. Dip pens are eco friendly compared to non refillable throwaway pens. They're relatively inexpensive and last a long time compared to a regular inking pen. Dip pens can be less convenient because there's more parts to deal with. They require maintenance and care to stay in good working order. It does take longer to complete a piece because of the constant dipping and wiping and safe keeping of your nib during the ink application. And depending where you live, you may be challenged to even find these materials at your local art store. It can be perplexing to purchase online without really knowing what to look for. When I first started, I found it daunting because the vast options I learned that actually a lot of Nibs are made uniquely for calligraphy writing. That means you can narrow your search to nibs or pen sets that are labeled for drawing, sketching, mapping, or illustration Ah. But some nibs labeled for calligraphy are multi purpose for both writing and drawing. If it's not specified on the packaging, you can identify the Nibs visually. The Nibs you want taper into a sharp point at the end. Ah, but there's the crux. Each brand type and size of Nib performs differently. As mentioned, some Nib types will respond well to your approach, and others will be really frustrating. How can you tell which is which? The three things that matter most with Nibs are line quality, flexibility, and elasticity. Line quality is the width or weight of the line. Similarly to how fine liner pens are numbered by tip size, nibs have a range from thin to thick. This large nib is comparable to a tip size seven, eight. This croquill has line with variety compared to a double zero five. If the majority of your work is tiny details or mostly big bold lines, then you consider a Nib by its size and range of line quality. The other factor to consider is the ratio of flex and elasticity. Flexibility refers to how much a nib will bend when you press down on it. Nibs can range from extremely stiff to super soft. If you're a heavy hander using a lot of pressure, an overly flexible nib could feel erratic or sloppy. It would wear out prematurely, or bend out of shape and quickly just get ruined. In turn, an overly stiff nib can limit the range of strokes you can do to create effects and can actually break under pressure. Therefore, if you're a heavy hander, look for a moderately flexible nib. A light handed inker would enjoy a soft to moderate elasticity refers to how quickly a Nib will spring back into its original shape. After pressure is applied, a beginner may find a highly elastic nib too bouncy and unpredictable to make even marks with. You'll get a jittery stroke. Advanced inkers will appreciate moderate to extremely elastic nibs because of how responsive they are to the slightest change in pressure. Choose elasticity by your level of experience. If you're a beginner, look for a Nib that has low to medium elasticity. My recommendations, if you're hesitant about settling on a single pen, a good option is to get a sample it. I really enjoyed my speed ball sketching kit. It comes with two pen holders and six Nims. This way you can compare tests and have a clearer sense of what to look for as you progress and build your kit. I don't recommend that you get a Manga specific samper kit. Those nibs are typically too stiff and bouncy for beginners if you prefer to purchase a single pen. There are some champion Nims that are easier to start with. I call these generalists such as the popular browse steno known as the blue pumpkin. It's a medium saw the all purpose speedball hunt bowl nib, it's a medium, stiff. Ideally consider two pens for a wider range of line quality where you would pair a generalist with a small mapping nib. Either a speed ball hunt, one oh two croquil, which is a medium soft, or the tashi kawa 77 soft meru, which is a medium soft. If you find a dip pen set where the nib and pen holder are sold together, get that. Oftentimes though, they are sold separately. Pen holders come in different shapes, diameters, materials across brands. Some are wider in the grip or offer a rubber section for added comfort. My favorite holder is Tashikawa's model 40. It has a classic mount with two holes that fit standard Japanese and most western Nibs otherwise look for holders that have a universal mount with the four prongs for higher compatibility with different Nibs. Some of the western made cylindrical shape nibs like the Croquill is compatible only with its own croquil holder. To summarize, when choosing a dip pen, you want to consider the shape and size of the Nib for the line quality, the flex elasticity ratio of the Nib for your level of experience and drawing approach compatibility of your pen holder if purchasing Nibs separately and testing brands of similar shape Nibs, because as mentioned, different brands for the same type of Nib will behave differently. Thanks for hanging to the end of last lesson. This is probably way more than you wanted to know about dip pens. So now you're informed to find the best tools for your goals in your workbooks. On page four are three questions about your medium choice, your drawing approach, and your experience level. And page five has a Nib rating guide as reference. In later lessons, we'll do a warm up with your Nibs to see how they behave in motion. In the next video, we'll look at ink and paper. 4. Ink and Paper Combos: Now we'll look at what to consider when choosing ink and paper for drying with dip pens. Look for pigment based inks. The ink sits and glides on the surface of the paper rather than being absorbed into the paper like a de based ink. Both India and acrylic inks are pigment based, waterproof marker proof, and can be mixed with other mediums. The higher quality inks have a pigment carbon mix that contains a substance like a varnish that gives it more permanency and a light fast archival quality acrylic ink acts more like a paint. India ink has a nicer consistency for covering big solids and will generally give you less issues like blobbing or caking on the nib while you ink. Most brands that are labeled as India Ink or drawing ink will work. Different brands vary their formula, such as drying time, viscosity, and opacity. The top preferred brands of India Ink are Speedball, Super Black India Ink, Windsor, Newton Black India Ink, Doctor Martin's Black Star, Waterproof India Ink, and the leader black paper plays a major role in the outcomes for dip pen inking. Bristle paper is ideal because it has a heavier weight, which is more resistance to potential bleeding, lifting and scarring from Nib action. Bleeding is when the ink spreads or feathers out, which is an undesirable effect if aiming for precise line work. Bristle paper comes in two surface finishes, smooth and vellum. Smooth is best for precision drawing and advanced anchors. Vellum is more beginner friendly, and versatile. The surface texture of vellum provides a subtle resistance for the nib, which makes it easier to control marks compared to the slick surface of a bristle smooth. The most reliable brands of bristle paper are Strathmore, Windsor, Newton Bang, Fang, and the Leader. Just a note, Be sure it is indeed bristle paper and not paper simply labeled for pen and ink. Pen and ink paper might perform well using regular pens, but is less suitable for dip pens. If you intend to use wet mediums with your ink, such as guash markers, watercolor or variety inks and washes, then look for a mixed or watercolor paper. Options are hot pressed or cold pressed papers. Be mindful that paper has limitations and anticipate compromises when choosing one finish over another. In your workbook on pages 6 and 7 is further information about ink and paper. The name brands suggested are products that I've tested and I like though there are other good choices out there. My goal is to narrow your search. You can also complete section on page eight once you've gathered all of your supplies. In the next lesson, we'll learn how to prepare and care for your Naves. 5. Important Nib Prep: New Nibs out of the package are covered in the protective oil or waxy coating. This is for storage and shipping and requires prepping before use. In this lesson, we'll look at Nib prep, maintenance, and storage. It only takes a few minutes, but skipping the step means it'll take you longer for your Nib to work properly. Submerge the Nib in hot water with mild soap for approximately one to 2 minutes, then wipe it dry. Some brands and nibs are more sensitive to heat, so no more than 2 minutes. Even better if you have proper pen cleaners such as speed balls cleaning agent. If not using the special soap to be certain there's no lingering protective residue. Wipe the nib with isopropyl alcohol, then wipe it dry so there is no moisture on the nib. You may have heard of other methods, saliva and toothpaste are ineffective. For some brands of coating, a hot flame works, but it needs to be lightning fast. Or failing this, you'll damage. The finish potato method presents the risk of bending the ties of a softer nib. Once the coating is removed with soap and water and your nib is completely dry, gently inserted back into its holder, get the results you want from a dip pen. Part of the process is being attentive to its maintenance while in use and after each session. Never let ink dry on the nib. Because we're using waterproof, it can be difficult to clean after use. Quick drying inks make cleaning even more urgent. Luckily, if you clean before the ink fully sets on the Nib, then any ink stains you see are cosmetic and won't affect how a Nib performs. Some Nibs are coated in other finishes to help prevent corrosion, but majority are made of typically stainless steel. Either way, they can rust. Never let a Nib air dry. An ultrasonic jewelry cleaner is a nice alternative, especially if you have several Nibs to clean at once for storage. After each session, I insert dry Nibs back in their hole and keep the pens away from snag or fall hazards. For orphan Nibs, I keep them in a resealable plastic baggy along with a sachet of silica beads inside to prevent rusting. A question that often comes up is, how long does a Nib last? A well maintained and careful Nib will last hundreds of hours. I have Nibs that have clocked thousands of hours. You'll know that a Nib is ready to retire when it becomes overly flexible, leaks ink is visibly misshapen or encrusted with ink or rust to prevent damaging your artwork. It's best to just replace a worn out nib. And the next lesson we'll do penhandling exercises and start making marks. 6. Your Nib in Motion: Let's do a warm up to get a feel for your nib in motion and gain control of your instrument. Gather a pencil and eraser, a jar or container filled with clean water. A rag or paper towel your ink, dip pens or pen, two sheets of bristle paper, a ruler, and means to cut your sheet. If using fineliner pens for the entire class, you'll need a minimum of two tip sizes and one sheet of inking paper. If you don't have dip pens yet. You're of course, welcome to state or skip forward to the next lesson. I'll be demonstrating with a Hunt 512 full nip, paired with a universal pen holder, bristle vellum paper, and super black India ink. Grab a ruler and cut one of your sheets into sample size sheets. Use a knife or a ruler to cut the sheets. Press the flat part of your ruler firmly and tear the paper like this. The dimensions are not important. You'll use one of these mini sheets in the worm up, all the exercises and the class project store the remainder of the mini sheets for future projects. As a beginner, I was fond of this tripod grip, but holding the instrument like that builds tension in the body. It also limits the Nibs capabilities. My art transformed after I switch to holding the pen more loosely with the hand high up on the shaft away from the nib. Lock your wrist and aim to move with the whole arm. From the shoulder and elbow, you'll produce the best line quality. Holding the instrument at a 25 to 30 degree angle, not vertical like you'd hold a brush. Let's begin the warm up. Dip your nib halfway up the eyelet, then use the mini sheet to prime your nib with a stroke or two. This safely removes excess ink. Then it's prime to go pull a series of lines towards you using light, even pressure on the nib. If you're right handed, pull top to bottom, moving left to right across the mini sheet. If you're left handed, rotate the sheet so that you can travel from right to left. You move in these directions so that your hand doesn't cover your work and it avoids smudging of fresh ink. Now, depending on the nib, the paper surface and your drawing approach, you may need to reload with ink each five to eight strokes. A good quality drawing ink is viscous and quick drying, but that makes it problematic for accumulating and drying on the nib while in use. This is where your jar of clean water comes in to keep the nib well functioning, periodically swell, rinse it in water, wipe it dry, then reload it with ink. Rather than continuously dipping it in ink. I call this the swirl, wipe load and Prime reload protocol. I sell rinse each time I dip an ink based on the combination of materials you've chosen, you can judge whether that's an effective cleaning frequency to keep your nib happy. That is the pulling motion. Now let's test a push motion away from the body. Vary the speed, very slow to medium speed, but aim to keep even pressure on the nib. Let's make another set of marks, this time varying the line quality. Apply pressure to make a series of thick, thin strokes, then thin to thick again. Try both directions to see what's more comfortable, push or pull. Don't worry if you're not seeing a huge difference when you apply pressure on the nib, it has more to do with how stiff and bouncy your nib is. My five 12 bowl. Nib is a medium, producing an average but consistent range. Note if one direction feels more natural to you. Have a look at your strokes which are more attractive so far, The pulling or pushing motion. Repeat the process with a series of curved strokes, continuous wavy lines, varying the pressure with various marks. And basically tests by fine tuning the angle and direction. This warm up also helps break in the Nab so that it's ready for the next step. Sure, you have a safe spot or a holder to set your pen down when you need to so that it doesn't roll off into hazards, and it prevents the Nab from getting damaged. And the next lesson will begin the exercises. 7. Values Chart and Line Quality: Now we began building a values chart. This chart is essential in many ways. It's a practical means to practice techniques and effects, test ideas towards the final artwork, weed out issues early in the process, and engage your progress over time. It's also the reason to use the same inking materials for the chart that you'll be using for your final artwork. If you have more than one sized dip pen, you'll get a chance to evaluate how each behaves under the same criteria. Keep your small sheet, flip it over on your large sheet of inking paper. In landscape format pencil, eight columns across, five rows down, so that you have approximately three, four inch squares with a gap in between each. The first four columns extend to the bottom of the sheet. There's an example in your workbook on page nine. It doesn't need to be exactly the same as long as you leave space on the side of the squares for later lessons. Let's begin the ink application. Continue to use the reload protocol as we did in the warm up. And the mini sheet is for priming the nimp to ensure the proper flow. Draw evenly space lines moving slowly, using little to no pressure on the nimb for the entire exercise. I'm doing vertical lines pulling towards me from top to bottom because that's most comfortable for me. If from the warm up you noted a preference for pushing the lines, then do what feels more natural. The trick is to keep a steady pace. Slowly released, just as you get close to the edge for the next square, we're going diagonal. Rather than twist my body, I rotate the paper for the optimal angle. The challenge is to match the same tonal density as the previous box, the same gray value. Next we'll go with squiggly lines, again, keeping the same amount of space between the marks as the previous two. Remember to monitor your nib, swirl, wide, load, and prime. Now with the lines on a curve or an arch for the following four boxes, same row, moving across. Repeat the pattern in a slightly darker tone. You'll achieve a darker tone by reducing the space between the lines, bringing the marks closer together. Feel free to experiment with the angle of your arm, but limit the movement in your fingers and wrists. Try to get a feel for the elasticity of your nib. Pay attention to the timing of when it springs back for the row beneath. You have the option to either repeat the first row with the same nib in a darker tone or switch to a smaller nib if you have one. I'm using a cro quill to test the same thing. Or the third option is to use more dynamic lines with speed and less orderly. The more practice, the better. Next we introduce line quality in the third row. Begin the line with pressure and gradually release the pressure to achieve thick to thin. Keep the lines evenly spaced. Aim to release pressure approximately in the same spot so that your texture looks even. This is what's called tapering or a fading effect. Here you can see how this technique shows up in artwork. Tapering the line weight creates a smooth transition of tones. Next column, box, same thing except thye thick. If you're using fineliner pens with practice, you can also achieve that tapering effect by going over the lines gradually. Next box, try thine thick lines, all in one stroke. Then another variety of that with squiggly lines, thick to thin, and some curvy irregular lines. Fun, right? Again, pay attention to how your pen is behaving in terms of the flex elasticity ratio. Here are examples of the squiggly lines in a sky background. You can see how these techniques are used to create artwork. And by practicing targeted exercises, you'll quickly accelerate your skills and control the medium. It's tempting to skip these fundamental exercises. I know now how critical this step is for improving with pen and ink. In your workbooks on page ten, drop down general impressions about using your pen so far. Did you prefer pulling or pushing the lines? What was challenging about the exercise? Changing the speed or varying the pressure. Did you notice the flex elasticity of your nib? What surprised you and what are you excited about? In the next lesson, we introduce more fundamentals and continue to build our chart as we progress the exercises to lighting and shading. 8. How to Work the Fundamentals: Fundamentals are the principles and components of art With pen and ink, the illusion of depth, form, dimension are achieved through the use of grading values. Mark making techniques are the essential design fundamental in pen and ink. Marks are used to render shapes, explain form, build values, add texture, divide space, provide structure, and guide the viewer through your composition. In this lesson, I'll briefly review those fundamentals and we'll dive back into our chart to practice how these apply. Shape is the design of two dimensional elements. Shape is a space enclosed within boundaries. These boundaries can be created with outlines or are implied. An outline is used to explain shapes to the viewer. A shape is flat, a form is three D. Adding volume is what creates the illusion of form. Volume is conveyed through the use of values. With pen and ink, values are created with marks. Value is how light or dark something is. Tone is the degree to which the value is light or dark. The terms tone and value are often used interchangeably. For this class, think of tone as the shading either from light to dark or black to white. You'll hear me use the term tonal density, which is building the tone of a value by creating a gradation. More density means increasing the darkness of the tone. Shading refers to the shadows in a piece. Lighting refers to highlights The difference between the lightest value and the darkest value is known as the contrast. What will make a piece successful is how convincingly we're able to communicate those fundamentals to the viewer. If you're keen to see your pen and ink technique, Sky Rocket, then the following exercises will help with that. Let's continue with our chart. If you have two nib sizes, start with your smallest fine line. Your alternatives start with one or two on our chart, go to the bottom first column. Using lines, create a gradation from light to dark. You darken the tone by increasing its density. You achieve density through spacing the line quality. Bring the strokes closer together, reduce the space between the marks, and progressively use thicker lines by increasing the pressure on the nib, or by switching pens, or both. From my small nib, I'm using a Croquill, then I switch back to my bull nib for the thicker lines. In the next column, I repeat the same exercise, except with a clearer distinction between the tones. Now you can grade the tones as a scale 1-5 These swatches of grays will later assist your decisions on how to render your final artwork. If you intend to draw from reference or from life. A good way to translate what we see into black and white artwork is to compare from your swatches. Here, my reference that I converted to gray scale, I can compare the darkest tone in the picture. A five is the darkest of my swatches, and this is a four, and a three, and a two and a one. You can pre map out your entire drawing in an arrangement of values this way. Now you know how the chart can be used and we'll revisit arrangement of values. In further lesson, we've just looked at the importance of understanding the art fundamentals for pen and ink shape, form, volume, and tone. We practice gradation scale by varying the tonal density using lighting and shading. Finally, this chart you'll see becomes a valuable guide. Definitions of the fundamentals are in your workbook whenever you want to refer back to them as well. On page 11 is a sample of the completed chart. To give you an idea, in the next lesson, we'll continue to build towards that and introduce volume and depth. 9. Subtle Technique, Big Results: Now we'll create the illusion of volume as it relates to the source of light. In pencil, sketch a couple of three D boxes. These don't need to be polished drawings, just aim to make your cubes believable. For this exercise, start with your larger nim, or a medium fine liner pen. Let's establish that the source of light comes from the top left corner for box one. Draw a little sun here. As a reminder, the bottom right hand corner for box two, using lines as the primary technique, the box panels closest to the light are a number two. The panels furthest from the light are a number four. That means the remaining panels are a number three. You'll notice I did not ink an outline around the cube before shading it. This is an advanced technique called missing edges, where the outline is implied. I'm introducing this technique at a foundational stage because I wish I had learned it earlier in my Pannonic journey. This Frank Frazetta master study that I did demonstrates how the missing edges technique is applied in an illustration, most notably here on the spear, the stairs and the prisoner's legs, where the highlights are strongest, the outline is implied. It's a great technique and we'll come back to it in later lessons. Next, in pencil, draw a circle free hand, or if you have a tool such as a stencil or a compass with the source of light coming from the left corner. Also add a small circle to indicate a highlight which stays white. You can render it as you wish. Aim to follow the form, shade it from high light to shadow. As we practice, increase pressure on the nib, on the shadow side of the sphere. I blundered on the form. Despite this, you can see that the tonal gradation automatically creates the illusion of volume. We vary line weight to build volume, and it also works to create depth. To demonstrate this in pencil, draw another slightly smaller sphere beside and slightly above the first one, then stagger a third, much smaller behind the first two. Use your smaller nim. Or if using the same, be very light, use slightly lighter marks to shade the spheres, spreading the line further apart, comparatively to the sphere position in the foreground. For the third sphere, the line work is even lighter. The idea is that the elements that are furthest away from the viewer on the picture plane will be lighter in weight and have less discernible details. This principle is what's referred to as atmospheric perspective, which will also be addressed in later lessons. In summary, you saw how the source of light influences tonal value. Rendering lines that follow the form gives the illusion of volume. Varying the line weight contributes to explaining a sense of volume and depth to the viewer. Next we'll explore different types of mark making techniques to render various textures. 10. Create Illusions with Marks: Texture refers to a pattern or design that describes how a texture might feel. Texture holds importance with pen and ink, especially working in black and white, because proper texture has the power to explain a subject to the viewer in a much more convincing way. The most common hatching techniques are hatching along the form, contouring the form, cross hatching, curve, cross hatching, stippling, scribbling. An irregular lines create textures using any of those or make up your own. A question that often comes up is, are there rules around when to hatch along or across the form? It depends on the piece as a whole. Let's say this is a tree trunk you can shade following the form or contouring the form either are effective at explaining a tree. What makes it work better one way or the other? In my opinion, has more to do with your style preference and what else is going on in the composition. Now I'll demonstrate at double speed the hatching techniques mentioned. The chart has spare boxes for you to experiment with additional textures for ideas, you can refer to your workbook. You don't need to complete these before the next lesson though. We will use up all the spare space on the sheet. In another lesson in your workbook on page 15, know which of the mark making techniques and textures most appeal to you. Were you able to create the illusions you wanted? Which of the exercises were more challenging? And which techniques or textures will you want to practice more in the future? In the next lesson, we'll put these exercises in context with a kickoff of the class project. 11. Project Intro: Now that you've tested your tools in motion, it's time to tie all those techniques together with a final composition. Your class project is to create a piece of artwork that demonstrates your understanding of the techniques and fundamentals that we cover in this class. The final piece can be in the dimensions of your choice. You're welcome to use mixed media with your ink piece to add color. I'll summarize parameters of the class project in more details. In the closing section, for the remainder of the class, I'll introduce additional concepts that will solidify your knowledge of the pen and ink fundamentals. In the following lessons, I'll walk you through a five stage process to complete the project. The stages are research, thumbnails, a subject study, the pencil underdrawing, and the ink application. Each stage is an integral part of the final artwork. It's a good system to weed out issues early on, and helps find a suitable subject, select the ideal format for your composition, evaluate rendering techniques for the style you're after. Additionally, it serves as a method to assess your progress for future improvement. I mentioned issues a lot. Well, the reality of traditional pen and ink, especially using dip pens, is that mistakes have a higher consequence. It's normal to be nervous about making blenders to prevent mistakes. It's best to follow a plan like this five stage process. Do targeted specific practice like what we've already started with our chart, and to respect the pace if you're attracted to pen and ink. That tells me that you're a patient artist. When I make a blender, it's because I'm getting tired. I just want to get the piece done. But inc has its own pace and it tends to foster a calm mindsets. The pieces I'm most proud of are the ones that came out better than expected. And it's thanks to following this five stage approach. In the next lesson, we begin the first stage of our class project. 12. Project Research: And the first stage is research. In this lesson, we look for inspiration, gather references, so that we're all set up to create our pen and ink artwork. Here are four suggestions for finding a suitable subject from life, from imagination, from photo reference, or a combination of these. For this class, I'm opting for a royalty free photo combined with my own photography for the project. Plan to have a single element as the center or focus. If you're wanting to draw scenery, for example a landscape or a town, pick one thing in that scene to be the main emphasis. I'll be constructing a scene by adding a background and a foreground to my subject. A King Fisher on the log will be the focal point. Flowers in the foreground with a distant landscape and clouds in the background. I'll be using these elements to demonstrate the process for the remainder of this class. Complete your workbook on page 16 where you'll also find links to suggested royalty free resources. Go ahead and conduct your research. Come up with one or two ideas. In the following lesson, we'll start sketching these ideas for project thumbnails. 13. Project Thumbnails: Now that you have ideas for your project, we'll explore how to explain the subject through a series of thumbnails. And the thumbnails will determine the composition and the values arrangement. For most art projects, thumbnails are typically small concept sketches. Thumbnails are simple, but they're the first step to resolving potential problems. Composition is the structure of a piece. Guidelines for effective composition include the golden ratio and the rule of thirds to divide a picture plane in visually pleasing ways. These two guidelines are linked for reference. Ultimately, it may come down to the eyeball method, where you judge what looks best. Intuitively, you want to achieve a combination of balance, symmetry, and clarity. You've invested effort into grading values in the exercises, and this is where that chart plays a defining role in the outcomes of your final piece. An effective arrangement of values places emphasis on the subject strategically so that the eye flows naturally through your piece. In this arrangement, we see a white spot against a black background. The white pops and the eye goes directly to it to demonstrate how this arrangement looks. In an illustration, here's a bright house against the background of dark trees, and the dark trees are supported by a gray texture. It invites your gaze towards the main focal point. Have a look at your values chart. It's easy to number this composition. The house is zero, the trees are five, the path is of one. Now here is the reverse of the previous treatment. In another illustration, also by Arthur Gutpill, is a dark building silhouetted against a white sky surrounded by gray. These two examples are extreme contrasts with the darkest and the lightest values juxtaposed. These arrangements are simple to execute, but what if you're trying to match the tone of your subject? More realistically, the main subject might not be all white or solid black. If we look at my subject here, he's somewhere in a mid tone range. By doing a thumbnail first, it provides the opportunity to resolve tonal problems at a low commitment stage of the project, rather than be frustrated to figure out how to keep my composition harmonious at the inking stage, let's put these principles into practice. For supplies, you'll want a pencil eraser and sketching paper. Start with the boundary lines of the picture plane. I'll try a horizontal layout first. With your references in sight, loosely sketch the main elements to establish the structure of your composition. Use basic shapes to represent the main subject and supporting elements I've outlined. The bird used circular shapes for the florals in the foreground and some kind of landscape in the distance, on the horizon, line clouds in the background. Don't add shading or texture yet. Keep your thumbnails as a contour drawing without any details. This should only take three to 4 minutes to sketch. Some artists will fill a page with thumbnails. It's up to you how far you want to experiment with layouts. Now, for the values arrangement, if you're using a reference, convert it to gray scale. As I have comparing my subject to my chart on a scale of one to five, he's mostly a three with a darker beak. Shade your subject first in the tonal value that's most dominant. I prefer to frame the bird with lighter values because the clouds are mostly white and the flowers can stay as two. The background sky, I'll shade darker behind the clouds and maybe a darkish horizon line just to make sure. Let's see if I make the clouds dark instead and move those other values around. You can see how thumbnail sketches can really help. By doing the stage, you find the best composition plus a combination of balance, symmetry, and clarity by arranging the values to frame the subject. Go ahead with your thumbnails. You can refer to my samples on pages 16 and 17 of your workbook. In the next lesson, we'll see about the source of light and hatching treatments. 14. Project Subject Study: We'll refine what we started with, the thumbnails by doing a subject study. Now you can experiment with mark making treatments to render your final piece. Looking at your preferred thumbnail, identify which elements in the composition stand out as having a texture so we send texture is a distinct pattern that gives the illusion of a surface. A surface that you can explain to the viewer using various techniques that we practiced for my main subject. There's a distinct feather pattern on the bird's head and wing. Potentially the log and flowers, which could be addressed with texture. Sky and clouds might have some rendering. And the hills in the horizon line. The objective is not to single out each element, but rather to evaluate the possibilities and then narrow those options down to a few accent textures. Consult your workbook. Reflect back on the masters whose style you might want to emulate in your artwork as well your chart. Which of the mark making techniques and textures most appeal to you? For myself, I've settled on mostly linework, hatching, and cross contour hatching. And for accent textures, I'll be testing irregular lines. What helps is to frame part of the reference image and draw that section as though you're zooming into a picture in pencil. I've gone ahead and sketched those sections of the elements into frames to test my hatching treatment. Let's first establish the source of light. If using multiple references, use lighting cues from the references of the main subject. Look for the deep shadows and the high lights to locate where the light is coming from. For my subject, the source of light is above and to the left. If you're drawing from imagination, you can choose where the source of light is coming from. For the ink application, Using my bigger nib, I start with the subject using the hatching treatment as plant. Remember to refer to your thumbnails for the values arrangement and the chart to match your values by number. This is the time to integrate all the techniques we've practiced so far. My subject, I said, was three, the flowers were two. I've rendered those first two frames as such using my bigger nib, referring back to the spheres on the chart. If you recall, when objects are further away from the viewer in the picture plane, there's less detail. The hatchmarks are lighter, thinner, and therefore using a smaller nib. Go ahead with your ink sketches. These subject studies are not polished. Like final drawings, the focus of the stages to test hatching techniques and your textures on the elements of your composition. You want to keep an eye on the value scales for the arrangement that you planned in your thumbnail. If you find that the frames are too small and limiting and you're unhappy with how things turned out, you have the option, as a bonus step, to do further studies in a sketchbook. I didn't like the feather pattern on the bird's head and wing in the first frame, so I did an additional version of a subject study as an optional exercise before the final artwork. You have a section to complete on page 18 of your workbook. In the next lesson, we'll talk about the underdrawing. 15. Project Underdrawing: The underdrawing is the pencil drawing of your subject and the last stage before the final art. Miss lesson, I share tips to prepare your pencils for the inks. There are different approaches to the underdrawing. Some masters, like Mobius, said that his inks turned out better when he included a lot of information with the pencils and his underdrawing, such as changes in plane direction or an indication of the line treatment for the shaded areas. That way he could focus on the artistry rather than on decision making while inking. Some artists swing the opposite way. They'll go direct to ink with very little information in the pencils, just a few marks of the subject in proportion. My approaches, somewhere in the middle, all include more information for the main subject, especially the face and any area on the drawing that I'm a little less confident with. I'm quite comfortable with the main subject because I have a lot of experience inking birds. So for my kingfisher, I include only the lines that contour the edges of the forms. I penciled a few more details for the foreground section. As for the background, I'll revisit that section after I've made progress with the inking to gauge whether I need to adjust any of the shapes or add details. It's a balance between saving time and feeling confident with your ink application. Drawing everything out might not be necessary. Since we've already planned and practice each section in the previous stages. We also want to be mindful not to dent smudge or overwork the paper as this affects the surface for the ink application. How I like to ideally do my underdrawing is to erase the graphite from a section that's been inked and pencil additional details only when I reach that section. In terms of the sequence for how I did the under drawing, I started with the border and the main subject. I added basic shapes for the foreground elements followed by the background. I'm paying attention to my thumbnail for the composition and the references for proportions of the elements. Once all the shapes were on the page, I added more information to the subject's face and the foreground flowers, including a dedicated spot for the artists signature. I concluded by erasing the construction marks. Complete page 19 of your workbook. Once you're satisfied with your work, join me in the next lesson to begin the ink application. 16. Project Ink Application: Congrats on making it to the final stage of the process. Chances that your project will turn out the way that you want is very high. With this level of preparation from these lessons, I'm confident that you'll have a great experience with your ink application. The only addition to the materials is either a glove or a spare sheet of paper to protect the surface of your artwork from skin oils. Six tips for confident inking. Begin your ink application with the main subject for the bird. I started with the eye with a small n. The eye is the natural focus point. After the main subject, I proceeded to ink the elements that are closest to the viewer, going from most detailed to least detailed in the picture plane. Try the missing edges technique first. Rather than using a solid outline. You can always add marks later to adjust the effects. We briefly touched on this technique in the charts exercises. There's an example in your workbook on page 14 In sketch one, the outlines are minimized, edges are missing in the areas of strong highlight. In sketch B one, I outlined everything with a solid line. Compare two to B two, after I added the shading, which one looks more convincing with the edges implied? It engages the viewer to complete the outline in their mind. If after your shading is complete you don't like the effect of the minimized edges, it's easy to add a contour, but much harder to remove. Let's return to our chart for a moment where we shaded the boxes and spheres. Since we shaded these forms without any outline. Now try adding contour lines, leaving gaps where there's more light. The background then acts as the edges. I use a combination of these techniques where I'll use broken outlines for missing edges or do the shading first, then layer in the background to act as the contouring edge. Start light, build the darks gradually by using the techniques we practiced in our chart. For some mediums, it makes sense to start from dark to light, back to front. But within, there's no clean way to remove the darkness. Once it's committed to paper, you can add, but you cannot subtract. One way to resolve this is to render a first pass of the entire composition in a tone slightly lighter than you intend or lighter than the reference. We want to avoid having a single area that is overworked or overpowering here on the bird's shoulder. I definitely went overly dark too soon, and it affected the whole values arrangement. Once the first pass is complete, I assess the relationships of values and address the areas in the composition that need more contrast, or smoothing with mid tones in the transition areas, like my wing here, it helps to periodically squint at the artwork, take a step back, or take a photo. I notice more things when looking at the art from my phone or in a different light. If you get to a section and start to hesitate on how to ink it or you start improvising, this can quickly lead to blunders to me. These are red flags that signal it's time to pause. For example, after a, I came back to my piece and resolve my issue by adding information and pencil for how to render the clouds. If you're getting lost or uncertain about how to resolve a blunder, leave the artwork overnight. When you come back, read through your workbook, look at your values chart and assess how to get back on track. But oftentimes when you see it again the next day, it looks better than you thought and an easy fix. Remember to build the darks gradually as we practice, by bringing the marks closer to each other or letting the light in by widening the gap between the marks. Continue to use line quality to create the illusion of depth and volume. Crosshatching is one of many methods to shade artwork. It's an effective technique for building tone as a pattern. However, I find that crosshatching can create chaos, or monotony for the viewer when it's over used or rendered with inattention. Rather than add lines across marks to shade an area, try building density in the shadows by using the methods shown so far. Layering each mark with purpose. Remember the source of light. I often will pencil a little sun as a reminder, Rotate the paper, not your body, to avoid smudging and for the optimal position to create beautiful marks. Be sure to sign your work as a finishing touch. I also date the back and pencil. Please go ahead and complete the section in your workbook. In the next lesson, we'll wrap up and review what the cement for your class project. 17. Bonus Content Tips: For reliable ways to track your progress. Here are three quick tips. The practice exercises offer an accurate picture of our art progression because there's targeting an area for improvement. Date your values chart three months from now when you create a fresh one. You can compare your technique more directly by simply having a habit of writing down the date on exercises, even on thumbnail sketches. To keep a chronological record becomes a useful means to assess progress, limit the subjects that you practice within a time frame. For example, if you want to improve how to render portraits, then only do portraits for 21 days, use a timer. It makes it easier to compare progress when the subject is rendered under similar constraints. Meaning you compare a 15 minute sketch against another 15 minute sketch, like apples to apples. The theme here is that it's more straightforward to assess our progress objectively by comparing exercises or drawings to one another when they're completed under similar criteria. Whether it's the same subject, same medium, or executed under the same amount of time. Do a formal review every four to six months and see if there is a visible progress. Make note of why that is, and be specific as to what you did differently to achieve those results. 18. Project Conclusion + Next Steps: Thanks for watching the class, going through the workbook, doing the exercises, and of course, bringing it all together by doing your final project. I shared everything I wish I had known when I got started with Dip pens. I hope that you'll find it valuable in getting the results that you want with your Dip pen and ink projects. We talked about finding the best fit between the materials and your aspirations. We reviewed what to look for when choosing inking supplies, then tips to maintain nibs and how dip pens behave in motion. By doing the exercises, you learned more about your preferences for how to make marks and to produce effects that you can directly apply in your ink work. Moving forward, we talked about key fundamentals, shape, volume, lighting, and shading, how to build tones, plus the importance of arranging values to harmoniously lead the viewer through your composition. In adopting the five stage approach, you'll be equipped to resolve potential problems before getting too far into an inking piece. And it also provides a process to find suitable subjects and plan out your artwork step by step. A key takeaway is that this process, especially the values chart, is an effective method to assess your progress over time. Another bonus is that the same values chart can be used again as reference for many projects. There's no need to create a new one for each project. Complete the last section of your workbook and reflect on the final stage. What went well with your ink application? Is there anything you would do differently in the next piece? What are you still curious about? And what might you practice more often after today? If you have questions about general content in this class, you can write me a note in that discussion page. If you want specific feedback on your final artwork, please be sure to post your work to the projects and resources page of this class. When you post your final artwork, you would share a short list, just a few bullets of the materials that you use so that other students can be inspired by your work and learn from your choices. It's optional to include the chart and thumbnails, though helpful to others to see your planning progression. This was my first class teaching on skill share. If you're curious for what's next with de Pen, you can follow me here as a teacher or on social media. I'd love for you to leave a review as this helps other students know about the class. Congrats on finishing and I wish you all the best with your art goals.