Drawing with Pen 101: Creating Shape with Value and Texture

1. Introduction: Hello, and welcome to Drawing with Pen 101, Creating Shape Using Value and Texture. I am so excited to dive into this class with you. My name is Sarah Nelson. I'm an artist and illustrator here in Los Angeles, and I love to draw. I also love to hike, and I love food, and I love gardening, but all of those things also inform my work. Most of my work centers around environmentalism. My belief is that the techniques that you'll learn in this class will empower you to talk about the things that are in your heart. I'm excited to do a deep dive into pen drawing using tools that are lying around your own home and learning how to unlock those tools so that you can create things that you're excited about. You're going to learn how to do hatching, crosshatching, stippling, amazing tools to creating value and shape, and then we're going to talk about textures. Then when we start on our class project, we're going to figure out how to put all of these things together into a proportionate outline and bring a full drawing to life. All of these skill sets are hugely important and have been the foundation of my career. They're foundational key techniques that can translate into all kinds of different mediums, all kinds of different art practices. They unlock a world that you can translate into any subject matter to create really dynamic and beautiful images. This course has lots of mini-projects embedded into each lesson, and that helps you hone in on the skills needed for the main class project. Each lesson addresses a different method of creating value and texture that will help to really bring the shape of your species to life. Be sure to go to the class resource section, use the guidebook and the resource PDF as well as the Pinterest board as you work your way through these lessons. This class is for primarily beginners, but that doesn't mean that you aren't able to learn something if you're a pro painter. If you haven't done drawing with pen very often, this is a great class for you. If you're totally new to drawing in general, this class is for you. I will walk through all different types of techniques that will empower you to not get overwhelmed, but really take it step-by-step to create things that you're proud of. I cannot wait to see what you create. Please, please post everything that you create in the class project section below. We want to see it, we want to celebrate it with you, and I want to be able to give you feedback if you have questions, so never hesitate to reach out. I think it's time to get started. 2. Your Class Project: Let's talk class project. I am so excited about this portion of the class. We're going to prep you with all these different techniques, but then you're going to create something completely from scratch. We're going to focus specifically on a species you get to pick or you can follow along. I'll be doing the blue and yellow macaw. You're going to add proportionate outlines mixed with all the tools that we've learned, hatching, crosshatching, stippling, and then all the different textures that we've learned for scales and feathers. We're going to put them together to create a really dynamic and beautiful drawing. What you'll need for this class are: drawing pens, preferably a Micron 005 pen, but you can use a ballpoint pen too, or a fine line pen, and then you need paper and pencil and eraser and a ruler. I am so excited to see what you create. Please post it in the class project section below, and I hope that you'll allow us to celebrate you and get excited together about the things that you're learning and creating. 3. Understanding Pen: I am so excited to introduce you to the universe of pen and pen drawing and all the amazing pen techniques that I've come to learn about and grow super fond of over the last 10 years of my career. What you'll need for this lesson is a piece of scratch paper, and before we really dive in, go around your house, pause and go around your house, collect all of the different types of pens you have laying around so that we can go and explore the variety of purposes and intentional manufacturing that exists within these tools. Let's dive in. Pen is one of my absolute favorite tools. Because there's such a wide range to choose from, it can be hard to know what types are right for you and the projects you want to work on. I want to break it down. Pens usually break down and can be deciphered by these two things, their tip and their type of ink. Their tip will tell you the types of lines they can create and the ink type will help you to know the width of the line it can produce, if it's archival, which means water and fade-proof, and how intricately you can draw or how boldly. I have collected all of my pen types, just like I asked you to do, and I'm going to go through each of these to give you a breakdown on their design and their intended purpose. Let's dive in and let's start with these markers. They're so often packaged the same way. They look similar and they can all come in different colors. So what sets them apart? Like I mentioned earlier, it's their intended purpose. Markers are intended to fill space and pens are intended for linear work. For example, this paint pen is designed to fill space with an extremely opaque color. It can be used to write with, but that's its secondary purpose. Its ink can be used on paper, but it is designed to be on stone, window, rocks, and it'll shine when it's used on the right surface. Now let's look at Copic markers. It has two tips, brush and chisel, and it can be used for writing, but it isn't something you would use on documents, letters, or homework unless you had no other option. Its ink is vibrant and it's alcohol-based, so it works best with drawing paper and not basic printer paper. I love markers, but I'm going to set them aside, and let's talk about actual pens. First, we have brush pens. There are a lot of types of brush pens and even markers often have brush tips. But there is a difference between a brush pen like this and a brush tip on a marker, and that is, its ink. True brush pens are designed intentionally for line drawing and calligraphy. Next, we have a fountain pen. They're refillable, their line quality is incredibly unique. Their lines are naturally textured and can be used for sketching. But the way the ink builds as you add more lines is that it bleeds into itself and does not layer unless you let every layer dry. Now to the two most familiar pen types scattered across homes around the world, the ballpoint and the rollerball pen. The ballpoint pens sporting all sorts of corporate logos have a lot of metal at the tip. They create indents when they draw or are written with, and that's because it has a thick ink and it's really designed for writing and has been adopted to drawing, especially doodling, but its primary purpose is writing. Rollerball looks much like a ballpoint. It has a metal tip as well. The rollerball ink is a more fluid ink and it doesn't require the pressure a ballpoint pen does to write or draw. Both are honestly excellent drawing and writing tools, which is something I love about pen. These are accessible mediums. But because these specific pens weren't designed for professional artists to use, you have to remember that they have a tendency to smear, they run when water hits them usually, and their ink will fade over time. Now drum roll, the micron pen. This is a fine-tipped pen that is archival, which means its fade-proof and waterproof. They range in size, they range in color, they even have a brush pen version. My personal preference and suggestion for this class is the 005, which is their smallest tipped pen. Because the smaller the tip, the more nuanced your detail can become, and I like detail. These pens are 100 percent designed for artists to use. You can write with them, and I even do sometimes, but they're definitely a great tool for drawing and they were meant to live in both spaces. We've dipped our toes into the pen universe. Please post any and all pens you found around the house and post those into the class section below. Let me know which ones are your favorite and why. Next up, we will dive into how to create confident lines. 4. Creating Confident Lines: We have now gone through the topic of pens, how to pick which one's right for you and now it's time to talk about line, because pens, that's their entire purpose, is to create lines that we then build into something else. It's really important that you feel comfortable and you feel proud of the work that you're creating and confident as you dive into what I like to call the terror of the blank page, which is very common. The second you put something down on the paper, you already get this stinking feeling in your stomach that this is not going to look the way that you imagined or hoped. So we're going to walk through a few different exercises and a few different types of line to help you understand how to use this tool to create things that you actually intend to create. Let's dive in. Drawing a line with confidence is mostly about practice and time, but there are a few psychological components as well. The first and maybe the biggest barrier for most people is the fear of the blank page. A huge thing that helped me to get over that fear though, was learning how to work with pen. You can't erase pen, you can't click undo, it's just permanent. They have an ability to teach us how to let go of the fear of messing up. Instead of constantly getting in that cycle of redoing and undoing, we get to learn from each drawing as we go. Another part of creating confident lines is understanding how to use line and what your options are. When I'm using a pen, I think about the different characteristics of line and the first is line weight. Line weight can change with pressure or the angle of your pen and it's one that line goes from darker and thicker to thinner and lighter. The darker parts of the line feel heavier and can communicate shadow or heaviness just by simple shift in the hand or a small bit of pressure. The next is line direction. When I put an angle line versus a vertical line, notice how your eye responds differently to those lines. In the angled line, your eyes are more likely to move from point A to point B and usually from left to right. Then when I draw a vertical line, my eye either becomes more static or if I incorporate line weight, it starts to move from the heavier part of the line and up to the lighter portion. If I curve my line, my eye follows it's path and I can use line weight to guide it in the direction I want the viewer's eye to follow. Line length is often paired with line direction and line weight. We'll use it a lot with hatching and crosshatching, and especially once we get to textures. Finally, we have implied line and this is where you leave some of your line work up to the imagination of the viewer. In this leaf, I'm strongly suggesting with direction and weight and the shape that this is a leaf. But I'm not drawing all the veins of the leaf, all the tiny details. In this bottom leaf, I'm explicitly giving you all of the details and this is more just telling you a story instead of implying or insinuating. Both implied line or the bold use of line are useful and have their place. What you need to know is how to use these techniques to best communicate your subject matter or concept. We're going to practice a classic drawing method that helps you connect your eyes to your hands. This is a great way to really add confidence to your line creation, because if you can't make your eyes and your hand connect, it's going to be really hard for you to trust the work that you're putting on a piece of paper. For this, you're going to need a piece of paper and a pen and a subject matter to draw. I'm going to use the plants on my desk in front of me and once you have your object setup in front of you, I want you to draw it without picking up your pen. This is called contour drawing. You can also do blind contour drawing by not looking at your paper and only looking at your subject matter and I highly recommend practicing that as well. Find a starting point. I usually take one of the two sides, or at the base with the top of the objects and I start following the outline of my object very slowly with my eyes and moving my hands as I slowly move my eyes. I'm noticing nuances and I'm looking primarily at what I'm drawing and much less at my paper. By breaking down some of the usual methods you'd use for drawing, like looking at your paper or just sketching quickly or picking up your pen, you help slow yourself down and you see what you are creating. One thing I hope we can all agree on as we go deeper into pen drawing is that, it's okay to mess up. This is a safe place to keep going, keep drawing, keep practicing, keep creating, because you will only get better and you will only become more confident. Please post your contour drawings, share your experience in the class project section. I cannot wait to see them and up next, we dive into a line techniques and we're going to start with hatching. I'll see you in the next lesson. 5. Hatching: I am so excited to introduce you to hatching. I could not be more pumped. It's one of my favorite techniques. It's one that I use every single day. It is tried and true. It has been used by so many artists throughout history, including Leonardo da Vinci, and the work is always beautiful. We're going to talk about value scales and spheres. Please post all of your exercises in the class project section below. I can't wait to see what you create. Let's get started. Let's talk hatching. I have got my Micron 005 pen ready and some paper, which means I am ready to rock and roll. I'm using a brand new Micron 005 pens so that the tip and the ink produce their full black lines. Because as these pens age, the tip wears down and lines become wider, which can be really useful. I do have some older pens over here and I'll show you later in this lesson how can we use them. But for now, I'm going to start with my new pen. Hatching is a technique using repetitive lines to create value. In this case I'm starting at the bottom and moving up. I just want to be sure that you're always consistent with the direction your lines are moving in. So here I'm going to start with a value scale using hatching. I'm going to create these vertical lines in a row moving from left to right. Then I will use repetition, not pressure to create value. I'm going to work to create a clear scale moving dark to light. Now the reason we use repetition and not pressure is because these are fine-tipped pens and pressure can crush the tip and it can even make the pen ink explode. Basically nothing good comes from putting pressure on these pens. That's why we use techniques like hatching. Hatching also naturally creates these beautiful textures that can be incredibly useful for various subject matter. We're going to talk more about that later in this class too. Notice how I'm always starting at the base of the row and moving up and I stop a little short of the road each time I start my row of lines over again. This is a really easy way to make sure that your value scale gradually grows lighter and lighter. Something you may have already put together is that the way that you create your lights is by allowing more of the paper to shine through. Your paper will always be your lightest point. You can see I clearly have darks, mids, and lights, taking shape in my value scale. Make sure that you can identify them on your scale too. There are a few elements of line that we really want to keep in mind while we draw with pen and the first is line weight. You can see on this line that the base where I first touched pen to paper is the darkest and the thickest part of the line. It's where the most pressure from my hand is naturally putting the most ink into the paper and it fades up as I keep drawing because the pressure of my hand is releasing. I want to make sure that all of these lines start the same way in order to keep my scale consistent as I move from dark to light. Another element we want to think about is line length. As the scale gets lighter, I can add shorter lines to help it fade into light. Okay, once you have completed your value scale, draw circle on your paper and we're going to do one more exercise together, I call it the sphere. This exercise is really important because it helps us use the tools we've learned already by creating the value scale and adapt it to help us also create the illusion of shape. One of the most important things about creating a round-looking shape using hatching is that we do not, I repeat, we do not want to curb our lines even when you are working with a rounded object. We curve our row of lines, we do not curve our lines. We keep the line straight so that it stays clear and clean. It's so much easier to repeat straight lines and curved lines and keep them consistent. The next thing we want to be sure we do is determine our light source. I'm going to put mine off to the right and I'm going to draw a little son help me remember where my light is coming from and for you to see what I'm working with. Now, when I start to use hatching to create a rounded look, I want to be sure that all of my lines are starting at the base of this circle, which in this case is the furthest point from the light. I'll start my lines from the base and keeping them straight. But I'm going to allow them to shorten along with this curve. Creating shadows on something like a circle can be really tricky because we can't use the same method that we did in our value scale. The light isn't receding from left to right, instead it's receding from bottom to top, but our lines are still going to be vertical. So this is another use for line length. We will add some longer lines intermittently to create those mid-lengths and our lighter tones, and a lot of shorter and repetitive lines closer to the bottom of the circle. The longer I work on this, the more fluid the lines are, and the less choppy the shadings going to look. So as you may have guessed the name of the game with most pen techniques and this includes hatching is patience. Okay, practice these exercises as many times as you need to in order to feel comfortable. You can tell I am really taking my time and I'm rotating line lengths. As I'm going, I'm always watching my darks, mids, and lights, and then blending them to make sure that they're still identifiable, but also transitioning smoothly and that my circle is feeling spherical. Like I alluded to earlier, if you have older 005 pens and the tip is a little faded and ink is a little lighter, you can still use them. In fact, they are excellent for creating delicate detail. We can already see how it's adding a nice, soft blend to my pen work. Be sure to practice these two exercises until you feel comfortable with your pen. Remember to focus on repetition, not pressure, to take your time to use line length and line weight to your advantage. Lastly, when you work on the sphere, remember to curve your row of lines and not your lines. I really hope you'll post this in the class project section so we can see your progress and learn with you and follow along on your pen journey. I will see you in the next lesson where we discuss cross-hatching. 6. Cross Hatching: Let's talk about cross hatching. This technique builds on hatching. We're going to use implied line, line direction, line weight, all of those things in order to create this beautiful value scale using this technique. Use the same piece of paper or find a new one if you are out of room, grab your pen, and let's get started. All you will need is paper, pen, and as we've talked about, my preference would be Micron 005. A fine-tipped pen or a ballpoint pen will do just fine as well. We'll start with our value scale just like we did for hatching, so we're going to do straight lines moving from bottom up in a row moving from left to right. Now we're going to start the cross. We will start at the bottom corner and move at a diagonal up and out, and here's something that is very, very important. These lines are not curved lines. These lines are just at a new angle. In other words, we are using line direction, a very useful and important tool when shading and adding texture or shape. You can see that I tapered off my diagonal lines as I get closer to the lighter areas, and here I'm going to use line length to keep that area lighter. The more paper that shows through, the lighter that area will look, so we always want to put less ink down in that part of our scale or drawing in order to keep that light bright. We can use the line length and the line weight to make sure that that transition happens smoothly. Now, I will add diagonal lines going in the other direction, starting again from the corner across the line, and then I might cycle back to straight vertical lines and back through all of the angles again. When hatching or drawing a subject, it really matters where you start your lines, and you always want to be sure that you're putting your pen to paper in the darkest areas so that you can ensure a seamless shade. But in this value scale, you'll be working on all sides of the scale, so just be sure to put your pen to paper on the edges of the scale, not somewhere in the middle of the row. Something I find really helpful while working on cross hatching is to spin my paper. This helps me to draw consistent lines because my hand only has limited motion. So moving the papers so that I can have consistent motion is one way that I try to keep my lines consistent. You can start to see my darks forming and some of my mids, and just like with hatching, this process can take time, and the longer you work on it, the more smooth the value transition will be. We're off to a good start and you can see my texture is looking good too. Now, let's try these techniques out on this sphere. Let's put down our initial layer of lines just like we did when hatching. We curve or line of lines using line length to emphasize the roundedness of the circle, and we start at the base where it's the furthest away from the light source. Now I will work from the base up and I'll start using some of that cross hatching magic. I'm working from the sides ends still using vertical lines. I'm going to use some line length to reach into the center and create some of those mid tones, and I'm going to use shorter, denser lines towards the base to emphasize that shadow. Because you are angling your lines, the temptation to curb your lines grows. Resist it. Once you feel like you are the sphere crosshatching extraordinaire, you can move on to this next lesson. But be sure to practice as much as you need to. I draw every single day. I use these techniques every single day, and this exercise still always feels beneficial to my work and usually teaches me something new. So don't hesitate to do more than one of these spheres and value scales and be sure to post your work in the class project section as you go. Next up, stippling. 7. Stippling: Cross-hatching, hatching, check. Now you're ready for stippling, which is a departure in some ways, still uses repetition, not pressure in order to create these value scales that I think you're going to be excited about. I will be honest that this one takes extra patience for me to complete. I recommend upgrading your pen size, so go to an 01 or an 08 if you have a variety of Micron pen sizes; otherwise, try it with a ballpoint pen and grab a sheet of paper, and let's get started. Let's dive into stippling. Now before we get started, stippling is different than hatching and cross-hatching. Stippling is the process of using repetitive dots. Again, not pressure, but repetition to create value and to define shape. It has nothing to do with line weight or line direction, but it does rely on repetition, and it is primarily a pen technique. We're going to make a rectangle of tiny dots that will be the base layer for our value scale. Just like we did with hatching, we have that first base layer of vertical lines, this is our base layer of dots. We'll follow the same route as we did with hatching and cross-hatching, where we continue to sweep across the rectangle with tiny dots from left to right, and we'll always stop a little bit short each time in order to create a nicely-faded scale. There are two ways to approach stippling: one is that it is a meditative process, and the second is that it is maddening. I recommend trying to stick with the first for your own sanity. Maybe put on some nature sounds, a good podcast, your favorite chill music, and allow yourself to relax. If you have any recommendations for podcasts or music, please send them my way. Always looking for good recommendations. You can probably already see why I switch to a slightly larger tip. This process can create a really beautiful texture, and it's extremely useful, especially if you are shading in small areas or if you just want the stippling look which has been extremely popular throughout art history. Even though it does take patience, technically, it is much easier than something like hatching or cross-hatching. I would love to hear what of these three techniques you feel like is the most exciting or is becoming a more natural go-to method for you. You can see that I'm starting to get my three tones: dark, mids, and lights. I'm going to call this scale good for now. Let's move on to the sphere. I'm going to switch where my light source is just for fun, and I'm going to put it on the left side this time instead of the right making the right side and the lower right side, my darkest point. I'm going to start just like I did with the value scale, creating a base layer of dots. I recommend taking all the time you need; light a candle, get cozy, and try to make this really relaxing. Here's the thing, I have ADD, so if I can stay patient and create the sphere of dots, so can you. Something that was really important to keep in mind while you're working on stippling is that you want to make sure that you're putting your dots in actual white space. After a while once you get to these darker points, it's really easy to keep putting dots in the same place, so watch out for those white ripples and start making sure that your dots are actually filling in those spaces. You can see that I have my darks, my mids, and my lights. It's all about repetition, making sure that I'm being conscious of my light source and making sure that I'm transitioning smoothly just by keeping repetitive sweeps of dots from one side to the other and always tapering off just a little bit. Take all the time you need to complete these three exercises. They are so helpful, and they will be extremely useful as we move forward into textures. Be sure to post all of your exercise drawings into the Class section below. I cannot wait to see your work. Next up, we're going to talk about reference photos. I'll see you in the next lesson. 8. Using Reference Photos: Reference photos. What an incredible tool that we need to figure out how to translate into things that our hands can actually create. We're going to talk about looking at photos and how to pick the ones that are right for our projects. We're going to talk about how to look at it and know what to take from it intrinsically and what to leave out. All of these things are really important. All of these things are really helpful. Let's get started. Let's talk about reference photos for a moment because this part of the project setup is pretty crucial to ensuring a well composed drawing. I want to set you up for success right out of the gate. I'm actually going to use a botched commission as a reference to talk about this. It's a really great example because the client wanted a brown trout and the bait that they use to catch it and the full moon is apparently the best time to catch a brown trout. It's botched because I used the wrong reference photo for the brown trout. Let's look over here where I've typed in brown trout and I've pulled up all of those various images on Google Images. What I was looking for was how the brown trout was positioned, coloring and clarity of the detail of the actual fish in the image, so resolution and the lighting. Now, with fish that are usually actually fished, there is a natural issue when looking for photo references because most of the time when they're photographed, they're being held which covers up and distorts parts of the fish's body that are really important to identifying it. It just doesn't look natural if you're just going to draw it without the hands. Then there are a lot of diagram illustrations that personally I try to stay away from or not draw from just because they're a little too stiff looking and they're usually drawn in a similar style to my pennant marker work. I don't want to copy someone else's drawing. I was looking for a fish that was not held and I wanted the image to have good resolution, clear coloring, not too edited, preferably looking like it was swimming towards the surface. l landed on this image where the fish is swimming underwater and it's in this beautiful crescent shape. The part where I went wrong is when you look at this fish outside of the water, you can see that there are none of those vibrant colors that we had in our first reference photo or that I have drawn here. That's because those colors only appear when the fish is swimming and the light is reflecting just right through murky river water. I ended up having to redo the image to match into the colors known and associated with the brown trout. Now, let's forget for a second that this is a botched drawing and let's talk about translating this image to paper with our pens so you can look at it for position, light source, details, and then try to put it in a setting or a composition with other images that make it clear that this is something of your own. In this case and for this class, I'm looking mostly for textures, the shadows, the defining attributes, like these fins and these patterns. I'm looking for my anchor points to make sure that I can draw this clearly and that it fits my composition. I want to be sure that I can see clear shadows. When I look at this reference photo, I'm paying really close attention to where those shadows start because that's going to tell me how to move my pen. I mentally start breaking down the reference photo into line weight, line direction, shapes to make sure that I can translate it onto my paper. Another thing I want to be really sure that I'm paying attention to is the angle that the photo was taken in. I usually want to avoid getting really bizarre angles that for shorten or cutoff defining components of my subject. For example, with this red panda, I want to be sure that I get images that help me define this as a red panda. In certain angles, it can easily be mistaken for a really puffy dog. I also don't want to use a Photoshop from far above if I'm trying to draw something that looks straight on and we don't want to have to make things up or guess when we don't have to. If you need to be able to draw the feet, you need a reference photo where you can see the feet. You also want to think about light source and try to keep it similar to anything else that you're adding to that composition. I think we're ready to dive into the world of textures. I have a link to a range of reference photos on a Pinterest board for this class in the class resource section. Next step, we're diving into fur. 9. Texture: Fur: I am so excited to dive into textures with you. We have talked about hatching, cross hatching, and stippling. Your toolbox is full so now it's time to put them to use with an actual subject. Because we're talking about fur, I could not think of a cuter subject than the red panda, an endangered species, also something I'm really passionate about. You have a few options with this lesson. You can either use the Class Resource section outline that I have for you and print it out and just follow along or you can try to draw this from scratch yourself and implement the things that I'm talking about as I go. All I recommend is that you do not skip because even though fur might sound easy, there are some tips and tricks that I think will be really helpful for you. I am very excited to introduce you to the world of textures and to talk specifically about fur in this lesson. I have Google image searched for red pandas, feel free to find your own to work from. I recommend one where you get a good look at it's face or you can use the finished drawing that I have in the Class Resource section and work from that image. Now I'm going to start by just doing a quick free hand outline for my reference photo in pencil and once I have that complete, I'm ready to move directly into texture using my pen. When I'm working with texture and I'm drawing a furry species, I always start with the outline. I will mostly be using hatching on this image and I'm going to start here at the ear. I'm going to you use small repetitive lines to create a hairy, furry edge and I'll use some varying line length to show how it's uneven and that just adds to that furry look. Once I've started that outline or even completed it, I recommend you move to work into the darkest areas of your image, because that way you're starting where it's the hardest to mess up and it'll build confidence. I use cross hatching to fill in the eyes, helps it look rounder and darker. Always be sure to leave a little glimmer of light in the eye because it helps it look alive. Something to note is that because we don't have a hard outline to ground our lines in and move out from, we need to find areas that we can move hatch lines both in and out from in a new way. It's tricky to know where to start the lines, so do your best to keep your lines light and rely on repetition for darker value. I will also not be drawing every single dash of fur, I'm going to use implied line to make those tufts, where layers change or colors are happening in new ways, evident. Wind direction is so important when working with fur. Even though we are hatching, we can angle the lines to show which way the fur is laying and moving. A lot of times, fur likes to fan out from a central location, which means lots line direction magic is needed. Something to note about lines is that even though you're making hatch-like lines, these overall are just outlines. Some of them can be curved like this swoop and you'll hatch from that line using straight lines. Because you don't want to curve your hatch lines, it's important to be able to know when you need to create an outline line and when you're just using hatching to create value or shape. Now there are some changing colors in my red panda and there are a few shades of red, a few shades of that white fur and black for the eyes and nose and some gray areas in the ears. Start thinking through the shades of what you're looking at and try to show emphasis and shifts in value to accommodate the color and value changes in black and white. Colors are not static, so you don't want your mid-tones to be static either. Mid-tones include a wide range of tones so use the wide array. When we are working in the white areas of the fur, we want to be careful not to overdo the line work and we want to keep it looking white by leaving the paper visible. Only place shadow and line work where fur needs to be defined because it's shifting direction or it's layering or there's a shadow that helps define the shape. Like I mentioned earlier, blacks or dark areas are rarely solidly or flatly dark. With these techniques, you can create the variance even in the darkest parts of your drawing, allowing it to stay dark but even with the dark, have a range of value. When we work on the forehead, we will use line direction to create those orange and white hairs that fan out over the forehead. You'll only need one or two light layers there with different line lengths to show the texture fanning out. On the bridge of the nose, there's a lot of fanning because it's both moving in and up and out, and wide into the cheeks. Sometimes it isn't line direction, but direction of your hatched rows that can be equally effective in showing shape and texture and value as line direction. Here we have it. I can keep working on this for as long as I want but I'm going to call this good for now. I can't wait to see your work with fur in the Class Resource section, be sure to post it. Up next, we'll talk about feathers. 10. Textures: Feathers: We have fur down. We're just piling on our knowledge and our tools right now, and we're diving into feathers, which is one of my personal favorites because I love drawing birds. I love using them for teaching because they actually utilize all of our techniques in one subject matter. I am using the beautiful indigo bunting. If you have not looked them up, I highly recommend Google searching them. Their blue is unbelievable and gorgeous. Grab a piece of paper, grab your pen, and let's get started. I have a new sheet of paper. I have my O5 pen. If you would rather not draw your own outline, just feel free to print out the outline that I provided for you in the class resource section. You can easily Google search indigo bunting if you want to find your own reference photo and create your own outline. There are so many excellent images to choose from. I'm going to start just like I did with the red panda. I'm going to create a quick pencil outline, and once I have that finished, I'm going to move on to my pen. This time I'm going to start with the eyes because sometimes starting with the darkest parts is the best way to build up confidence, and it also sets my value scale. I'm going to leave some white in the eye just to show that reflection of light. Like with fur, the outline will not be full solid lines. But unlike with the red panda, birds' texture usually shifts throughout their body, and it does depend on the bird. But most of them have some areas that are fluffy and others that are smooth. So I want to be sure that I allow the outline to shift along with the bird's feathers. In smoother areas, I'll leave small, almost dashed lines moving horizontally around the body and more hatched tufts for areas that are feathered. I'll add some implied line and some small hatched marks to show where the feathers are starting to layer and where their feathers that help us to identify this type of bird, like big feathers, feathers with special markings, or different coloring. We have to make sure that we're sticking to the identifying marks because a slight shift could change the entire identity of the bird. I'm using line direction to show the direction that the feathers are laying. Also, like with our furry creatures, we don't always have a good or obvious place to anchor our lines. When possible, and it is a little bit more possible with feathers, we want to find those darker areas and move out from them. When you don't have a darker area or an outline to move away from, remember to keep your lines really light and to rely on repetition for that value. We also want to be thinking about our value scale while we work. Because we are transforming our bird from color to black and white, we want to make sure that our use of color is reflected in the value shift. Just because this bird is fairly monochromatic, there are still dark, mid, and light tones that we want to represent. As we're hatching, it's good to remember that we do not want to curve our lines, we want to curve our line of lines. When I'm working on the dark part of the head, I'm using hatching to give, both the definition to the shape, but I'm also trying to maintain texture on the head. When I move to the breast of the bird, there are a lot more defined textures that are fluffier, and I want to show that with my hatched lines. Lines moving down and the outline of the area is a little less tight and more loose in my hatching. All of that helps to show that fluffiness. I can move both from the base of the wing and up from the exterior into the center, which allows both the texture to appear, but it's also giving me a place to anchor my lines. I'm going to emphasize that small shadow at the bottom of this wing. Sometimes the way that feathers are moving and the shape of the body are moving are not the same. For example, this back is rounded, but the feathers on the back are moving straight down. So I'm going to add some hatching to show the roundness of the back and the little shadow of this wing on the back. I'm also going to add small hatched lines that are a little more weighted to show the feathers are moving down the bird's back. You can see how these two textures can look unified when they're used together. When I get a little further down to the back of the bird, there are more highlights and shadows. So I can do a little less controlled hatched lines that show some of the shadowed areas, and it not only defines the textures of that area, it also starts to add important value. As I look at the bird, I can see that the tips are darker. So I'll move from the edges in and add a small shadow where they overlap. You can see these layers are coming together. The shape is being defined. I'm getting my darks and my mid-tones, and the outline is varying according to the actual texture of the bird. Identifying marks are coming together too. Yay. I will work a little bit longer to add a little bit of the mid-tones and textures to the back feathers. But otherwise, this bird is good to go. Don't forget to add your work to the class project section below. I am so excited to see your featherwork, and I will see you in the next lesson where we talk about scales. 11. Textures: Scales: Scales are such an interesting component of creators. They exist on fish, reptiles, all these amazing ancient beings. They're weird to create. So get another sheet of paper out, get your pen out, get ready to share what you've been working on with me, and let's dive into the betta fish. This lesson will be a little bit different because we will talk about two different types of species. They both have different types of scales, and we're going to focus on the betta fish and the chameleon. I am going to start with the betta fish, starting, like I always do, with a pencil outline. Feel free to look up your own reference photo or use the outline and reference photos I have available for you in the class resource section. Now, it's time for a pen. I have my 005 Pen tool. Part of the reason I chose the betta fish specifically is because it has some bonus texture that we get to talk about in its fins. Its fins are so much like petals or leaves, and so when we talk about that portion of the fish, these will be textures that you can also translate to most botanical drawings. One of the main differences when working with a scaly creature versus a furry or feathery one is the hatching and crosshatching are not creating texture, they're only creating value and defining shapes. Stippling might be used for texture, but overall, we're using implied line to indicate the texture. When we start with the fish and reptiles, usually you will use mostly a solid line as an outline for the body. You won't use hatched marks to show any kind of hairy texture because you want to make sure that it looks smooth and solid. Because our lines are so solid and smooth, you want to be sure that your lines are intentional. As I go around the body and the fins, I'm going to add some ripples in the outline, and then I'll start with the scales of the body. I don't want to draw every single scale. I will use the basic define line of scale which, in this case, is a half-moon, and add little references to it throughout the body. This is already starting to communicate a shift in texture from the fins to the body. Once I have those in place, I'm going to start adding hatching to show the roundedness and the folds in the body. I'm going to start with the darkest areas. I'll use line direction to help that I know which way the shadow is moving, and I'm going to layer with repetition, not pressure, to create my dark values. I'm going to use some line lengths to make sure the value transition is smooth. In the fins you'll want to move from the body or the folds down using hatching more than crosshatching to show how the fin is rippling and how the light and the shadows are moving across it. Use line length and allow the row of hatched lines to show the flow by moving them with the curves of the shadows and the ripples in the fins. Using a variety of line length really helps, especially at the edges of the fin, to show how that ripple effect is happening. Now let's talk about the chameleon and their different type of scale. I have already completed my rough pencil outlines, so I'm going to dive right into pen. Now because this is a pretty bumpy creature, I want to reflect that in the outline. I'm not going to use hatching, like I did with furr or feathers, but I'm going to allow my pen to ripple over the outline for the bumps and spikes, leaving my lines clear but still communicating the fact that there is a texture across the exterior and it's not completely smooth. Now as we work on the scales of the interior, we're going to be looking at size. Scales are not consistent usually and they change in size and in definition, so the more prominent ones, I'm going to add more full outlines, and for the less explicit, I will add a slight squiggly line to show the light scales that are around places like the mouth here or part of the ridge of the nose. There's a ridge from the front of the mouth over the eye that I can use half circles to show that shift in scale, and when they're really small, stippling is a great technique to use to show this texture. With scales, you don't use hatching and crosshatching to create texture just like we did with the betta fish, but you can use them in tandem to show shape. So I'm going to use hatching again to show shadow and to show where the body is more rounded and to emphasize the scale texture sometimes, if they're big enough to leave a shadow. You can also use it to show some of the stripes or the shifts in color, and anytime we're drawing, we want to find good places to anchor our lines. So finding shadows, making light marks, and using repetition to create value, is a great way to start. As always, we're looking to make sure that our value scale shift from dark to light and that we make good use of our mid-tones, but also that we don't shade too much to the point where the texture, in this case the scales, are no longer visible. Also, can you see that I messed up on the tail? I hope that helps you worry less about messing up. We all do it. Sometimes we just have to roll with it and do our best from there. Our little chameleon is starting to come together. Share your betta and chameleon with us in the class project section. I can't wait to see what you've created. Next up, we're going to start working on our class project and we'll go over how to draw proportionate outlines. I cannot wait. See you in the next lesson. 12. Creating Proportionate Outlines: We have learned so much so far. We have talked about hatching, cross-hatching, stippling. We've gone through all these different textures, fur, now there's scales. Now we're going to talk about how to create a proportionate outline and get you officially started on your class project, which I am so excited about. What we're going to do in this lesson is we're going to figure out how to make sure that when you draw something that you're looking at, that you're not having a head that's way too big for the body or a body that's way too big for the head. To keep everything proportionate, make sure that if you are referencing something, it's accurate to what you are referencing, and I can't wait to see what you create. Let's go for it. It's finally time to start the official drawing of your chosen species for your class project. I'm going to create a blue and yellow macaw, and I'll have guides for that specific species in the class resource section. The main point of this lesson is less creating a macaw, but learning how to put everything we learned into practice for a complete start to finish drawing. Our first step is to create a proportionate outline. You will need paper, pencil, a ruler, and a pen. There are two ways to approach creating proportionate outlines: the first is shape building and the second is freehand drawing. In both cases, you will want to check your work at the end. Let's start with shape building. Shape building is the process of breaking down our image into its most simple forms and slowly adding nuance and complexity as we go. It makes something that may initially feel very overwhelming, much more simple to digest. When I look at this beautiful macaw, I'll start with a circle for a head, triangle for the beak, rectangle for the neck, oval for the body, and two ovals for the two wings. Once I have those in place, I'm going to slowly start going over these shapes and solidifying the outline around them, adding some of the details that I notice as I go. You can continue to break down shapes even further if you want to by adding smaller and smaller shapes into the big shapes. But I've found that just adding these big shapes to start is really helpful and gets you where you need to be. As I'm refining this outline, I am paying very close attention to my reference photos. I'm noticing the arc of the beak, the type of rounded head, if it's a flat curve or high curve, etc. I'll start to add some of these other elements like the eye and some of the feather variations. You can see I've added all of the major elements to this beautiful bird, and I'll add it where I notice discrepancies like the height of this wing. This will not be perfect right off the bat, but that is why we are building this foundation in pencil. Freehand is drawing what you see as you see it. You move slowly around the outline and you try to capture all of the complexity at once. Neither of these methods are better than the other, both will achieve awesome results. So just lean on the one that feels the most helpful to you. Personally, I typically use freehand. It's what I'm the most comfortable with and used to, and I've trained my eye and my hand to work in tandem, paying attention as I go, to see where the beak is aligned with other parts of the bird, and where the eye is aligned, etc. You can see I'm not pressing too hard with my pencil, I want to be sure that I can erase it when I'm done, but I am being very intentional with my lines, and I'm trying to notice the width, length, general shapes, everything that I'm drawing as I go. You can see my two birds next to each other. They both look fairly similar. But let's check our work to see if they actually turned out. In checking our work, I'm looking for things that align to help me know that I made things proportionate. For example, I can see that the top of this right shoulder is right above the right foot. We'll use my ruler to see if those are aligned in my drawing, and if they aren't, I can make a mark to show where the foot should be. I can see that the end of this beak needs to hit the lower part of the neck. In one drawing, I have it too short, and in the other one, I need to lengthen it. You can make as many alignments as you need to in order to make sure that your drawing is proportionate and well-aligned. Like I've mentioned throughout this class, we want to make sure that identifying features are done correctly, and sometimes that includes beak length, head width, wing length, etc. Knowing how to get these drawings to be proportionate can be really helpful and important. If you decided to do the macaw, I have a simple grid alignment, full of the anchor points in the class resource section for you to look at. If you decided to use a different species, these tips still apply. Get out a ruler, find the areas where the characteristics align in your image and apply them to your drawing. Please post these outlines in the class project section. Let us know if you used shape building or freehand, and I'll see you in the next lesson where we start to add our textures. 13. Adding Texture: We have created our outlines. We are down to the final step of our official part of the class project. We're going to start adding texture to our species. I cannot wait to see what you make. Let's dive in. It's time, we're going to finally add texture to your class project. This is so exciting. You'll need your outline, an eraser, your pen, preferably that goo old micron 005, and your reference photo. If you have some more endowed micron pens, this is a great time to get those out and ready as well. Like in all of our texture lessons, we're going to start with the outline. I'm going to grab my micron 005 pen. I'll start with the left shoulder where it meets the wing and I'm going to start to make some slightly dashed lines around the head. The head is full of these flat laying feathers. So I'm using lines that are intermittently breaking up to show the texture of the head and solid lines to show the strong and smooth quality of the big beak. As I make my way around, I'm keeping my lines gentle, noting texture, and I'm slowly starting to get the full outline drawn in. I'm using line weight, varying how I use my pens so that certain areas appear more bold and others more delicate depending on the definition in the value. These lines that I'm putting down are all outline lines so remember, they can curve if they need to. As I add references to the tufts of feathers throughout the body, I'm not only referencing texture, but I'm also creating areas where I can incur my pen lines when I start hatching and crosshatching too. I'm going to add some of the textures in the head, those zebra stripes. Here's the finalized pen outline. I can erase my pencil now if I want to, but I'm ready to move into adding more texture and value using hatching and crosshatching. Into Phase 2 we go. We're moving to our darkest parts now. I'm going to start with the beak, because my beak is my darkest part. Like with other dark areas, we want to keep our darkest areas dynamic. I'm going to use cross hatching, moving from the outlines into the center to create the shift in value. Watch for highlights, watch for value change within these areas. Line direction is going to be really helpful to help keep the rounded look in the beak and to keep it looking smooth. I'll use just hatching moving down to create the neck shadow and I'm also going to move through the stripes along the face, moving from the top of the stripe down and I'm never curving these lines. I just changed the angle of the line to follow the curve of the stripe. I have a lot of work to do to get that beak as dark as I wanted, but I'll come back to that throughout the process and keep deepening that dark tone. I'm going to move on to the lower fathers, getting the shadow beneath the wings and then adding texture and feathers above it by using that shadow as my anchor point for hatched lines moving up. Once I have that shadow under the wing started, I'll move to the other layered feathers in the wing, moving down in a row that swoops like a half circle, outlining the layered feathers as I go. Then on the left side, I'm going to move from the area where the blue and yellow meet, moving out using that color shift as my anchor point. Seems like the light source is coming from an angle on the left. So I'm trying to keep that true in any way that I can, especially when I'm adding my shadows. Initially, I'm just laying down some shading groundwork, so I'll continue to refine the shadows as I go on. I'll move to the general yellow part of the body from here, using line direction to show both how the feathers lay and how the shadows fall. Make sure your highlights and shadows are true to the actual image and not just assumed. I'll use the referenced feather lines to show the tufts with rows of small hatched lines showing their shape in these half circles and I'm keeping them as a reference. It's all starting to come together. We can see all the texture and the base layers for my tones are placed. It's time to build on this and make them more defined. I'm going to add a little stippling in the white part of the head that meets the beak because there is a similar texture in the photo and I'm working on the colored part of the head. I want to move from the bottom up and also add small lines moving in from where it meets the yellow. In order to show the shape of the head is rounded, I'm going to continue that pattern in the parts where it's green too. The head is marked with blue, green coloring against this yellow and it's a good time to really think through colors translated into black and white because this will require thoughtful use of metones. The same goes where blues and yellows meet on the wing. You want to be sure that the blue stays dynamic because it does have highlights and shadows that it translates into a different color from the yellow, and the same goes from the yellow, especially when you put it up against the white. We've talked a lot about repetition and not pressure. But I do want to add one note to that; you never want to add more pressure, but you can relieve pressure, allowing for lines to just barely touch the surface because your tip is just barely touching the paper. This is a great way to add tone for the yellows and the body without making it seem dark. Another great way to get that tone is by using worn down microns that have naturally lighter ink because they're just older and their tip is nearly gone. They're also great qt blending and smoothing out areas and you can see how that's working nicely in these shadowed areas. When I look at the part where the yellow and the white meet, you want to go both directions to show that the colors are meeting and their are feathers overlapping there. Again, you don't want the yellow to feel too dark, but you do want to show that there's a color change. I'm just continuing to find places to anchor my lines so that you can follow the feathers laying on top of one another using shadows of the feather layering as my starting point. It's starting to look rounded. We're starting to see those shadows come into play and those colors are starting to vary. This process is going to require a lot of repetition and time, but you've got this. I'm going to just keep going over each section of the body, darkening my shadow, adding texture to my mid-tones and here it is. We have the textures, the values, the varying colors translated into various tones. Our contrast is good. We did it. Post your projects in the class projects section. I want to see them and I want to celebrate with you. Up next, we have a few bonus sections and the first is that we're going to look at how pen drawing using archival pen works with other mediums, specifically marker and watercolor. I'll see you in the next lesson. 14. Adding Other Mediums: I am very excited for this lesson because we get to take this incredible drawing that we've made, and we get to add a little playfulness to it. We're going to talk about watercolor and marker, and how those work with the pen drawings that we've just created. I'm going to show you how a pen can be so effective with both of these mediums. I can't wait to see what you create. Please, document your process, your playfulness. If you don't want to use the drawing that you've just worked so hard on, use the value scales that you've been practicing with, the circles and those value scales to play and practice. This does not have to damage your piece, you can play and learn about these with things that you hold less and dear to your heart. I can't wait to see what you make. Let's play. What you'll need for this lesson are some watercolors, paper that can handle watercolor, which means just thicker paper, and any markers that you have lying around. You can also use one of your value scales or fur texture drawings. You do not have to use the class project illustration that you've just spend so much time working on. I'm going to use a Legion Stonehenge paper, which is great for a variety of mediums. We're going to start with watercolor, and I'm going to show how watercolors sits with this archival pen work. I'm going to start with some yellows, and stay in the warm colors. I'm going to charge my brush with color, and then I'm going to apply it from the edges of this sphere, the darkest parts, and I'm going to move it towards the highlighted area. Notice how the pen does not bleed. It's because I used an archival pen, which again, is fade proof and waterproof. It becomes a little more subtle because it's now under a layer of color, which is actually an effect I really love. It holds its character, it molds well with this medium. These two are just an excellent pairing. If you used a ballpoint pen, see if it runs, see how it interacts with water, document it, and share it with the class. There are so many amazing watercolor Skillshare courses, and I have a bunch of my favorites linked in the class resource section below. Go check check out if you want to learn more about that amazing medium. Next up, let's work with markers. I have talked a lot about markers in my other Skillshare course. I won't tell us how to use markers, I just want to show how beautiful these two mediums look when working together, especially when you use these specific pen techniques. I'm going to use my chameleon drawing, and I'm going to start with one of my lightest colors as a base layer. Just like with watercolor, I'm going to move from the darkest areas out. Just like with pen, I'm working in line forms. It doesn't matter if my lines are straight because we're not hatching with markers. But I am moving from my anchor points out throughout the body. My pen work will soften with this alcohol-based marker, but they keep their shape and they don't bleed or ruin the marker tip. If you do use these markers with pencil or runny pen, it will ruin your markers because their tips absorb graphite and other pens inks, and then they carry it into a future drawings and other markings. Be careful what you mix your markers with. As a fun side note that these markers are refillable, which is one of my favorite parts about these markers, and one of the many reasons I love them. I'm using my hatched areas as a guide as I move to darker markers. I'm going back and forth between lighter markers and darker markers helping them blend together. You can see how helpful our pen work is, markers cannot capture that texture in the same way. This allows the chameleon's color to really shine and stand out, but also let the dark and beautiful textures that chameleons have specifically, it allows those to shine as well. Almost all of my work is built on this combination of mediums, pen and marker. I am a huge fan. I hope you've had fun trying new combinations. Please share all of your work. Up next, we'll take a quick peek at the digital world, and how these pen techniques translate. Bye. I'll see you in the next lesson. 15. Digital Pen: We're here. We're at basically the finish line. We are going to talk about all the things that we've learned so far and translate it into a digital sphere. I am very excited to share this information with you. I hope that you have access to iPad or some kind of Surface where you can use either Procreate or Adobe Fresco. We're going to walk through the universe of digital pen drawing so that you can do that in your own world with your work and share it in whole new way. I'm very excited. Let's dive in. I am so excited to give you a quick peek into the world of digital pen. I'm going to be using Adobe Fresco, but almost all of this applies to Procreate, or really all other drawing platforms if you prefer another type. I have a Skillshare class that goes into depth on Adobe Fresco so I'm not going to go into all the tools or how this platform works. I'm just going to show you what's possible. There are also so many other Skillshare courses on Fresco and Procreate, and I highly recommend checking out each of them. I'm going to start with pixel brushes, and I'm going to use my Blake pen, which is a default pen on Adobe Fresco. Using my Apple Pencil, I'm going to add a new layer and try hatching and cross-hatching. You can already see that this is starting to look a lot like our pen on paper. The one difference is that this particular brush is making its lightest mark when I first touch my pencil to the surface, and it gets darker as I move up, which is the opposite of what happens when we actually work with pen and paper. This just means that we need to adjust how we make our hatched lines. But the principles still remain the same. Every brush that you try is going to be slightly different, and you can use pressure and not make a pen explode. But in order to get the right texture, you're still going to want to continue using repetition. You can change the sizes of brush, you can change the brush types, the brush tips. You have a wide range of customizable options, but this also gives us the ability to use what we just practiced throughout this entire class in order to create digitally in ways that you can easily collaborate. You can translate it onto product. You can easily share your work. There's so many doors that open with the digital realm of drawing. Let's look at vector brushes. These can scale infinitely, and are my favorite for actually doing digital cross-hatching and hatching. They don't get darker with pressure, they only get wider, but their ink color just stays consistently black. Because vector brushes can be scaled infinitely, they also allow me to create a crazy amount of detail that doesn't get lost at any scale. You can see how this is already starting to look a lot like the pen work we were doing earlier in this course. There are a number of types of vector brushes that have different tips, which again makes it good to know the types of pen or brushes that you want to use for your project, specifically. Because of layering, there are so many other things to explore. Things that you can pair with your pen techniques, including color layering with something like watercolor, a marker or pastels or oil paints. You can create an infinite number of blends. There is so much to explore. Learning how to translate all the work I was doing by hand into the digital realm has been an incredibly powerful tool. It's just opened up so many doors for my career. I highly recommend looking into these drawing platforms and seeing what is possible, and what it does for your work and your career. Oh, my goodness, we're just about done. Please share your experiments in the Class Project section below. I cannot wait to see them. Next up, I'm going to share some final thoughts. 16. Final Thoughts: You did it. You have been on this epic pen-drawing journey with me, and I am so grateful that you took the time to walk through each of these steps, learn how to do hatching, and cross-hatching, and stippling, and all of these textures, and proportionate outlines, and then how to add different mediums and digital drawing into those beautiful pieces that you've created. It's amazing all the things that you've absorbed in this class. I'm so, so excited to see what you've made. I'm so excited to celebrate with you, and I hope that more than anything, that one, you've had fun, but two, that you have been surprised by what has come out of your own hands onto that paper, and that you're feeling excited and encouraged by what that means is possible in the future. Please review this class. Please post all of your work into the class project section. Follow me on Skillshare. Let's be in touch. I cannot wait to hear more of your thoughts and more of your work, and I look forward to seeing you in another class. 17. BONUS: Inktober Galapagos Penguin Time-lapse: Happy Inktober everyone. It has been so fun watching everyone create and share their work and celebrating along the way. It's been a blast. If you are watching this after Inktober has already passed, I'm so glad you're here and I hope that you enjoy working on this Galapagos penguin as much as I did during this fairly special drawing season. This is not an instructional video, it's purely just a time-lapse where you can watch me create a Galapagos penguin from start to finish. There are worksheets in the class resource section, please use them if that's helpful to you and I hope you post in the class projects section. I love celebrating your work and sharing it with other people and giving feedback if you have questions, so please, please share. Thanks for being on this journey with me. Happy drawing.