Getting Started With Dip Pens for Drawing: And How to Make Progress

1. Welcome: If you're curious about drawing with dipens or don't know how to progress with your pen and ink skills, by the end of this class, you'll know exactly what to look for when purchasing supplies for dip pen drawing. You'll also learn how to control the pressure on your nib to create realistic illusions, how to be successful using different mark-making techniques to shade in a convincing way and methods to explore how to organize a black and white illustration, so that it's legible. This class is all about enjoying the process of creating interesting compositions and rendering subjects in pen and ink using I'm Chloe, a learning specialist, turned full time artist. I'm a professional member of Speed Ball's Artist Network for Illustrators. My work is featured regularly in social media, magazines, and contemporary art galleries. Pen and ink is my passion. And to answer what I get most asked about on my YouTube and from students I've structured the lessons in three sections. The first is about the supplies, choosing the right combination of materials and how to use them to get the results you want. In the second part, we apply the fundamentals of penk directly to mini projects. We'll render a series of subjects to practice key techniques, really focusing on what makes dip pens really special. This class is for all levels, even if you've never rendered in Penank you'll be able to follow along just fine. We'll be Carrots. A simple subject. So we can focus on the skill building. And if you're more advanced, you'll get my best tips for planning professional looking illustrations using my five stage approach. For the final project, we'll create this fun carrot them composition together, building on the skills from previous lessons. I'll explain the how and the why every step of the way so that you can develop your own composition alongside the lessons, following the same principles as for the carat illustration, so you can get as creative as you want and get great results rendering your black and white composition using traditional dip pens and ink. Download the zip file that has all the references and PDF workbook. The workbook has progress shots, lots of bonus resources, such as a glossary of terms, explaining the key fundamentals, a list of influential master artists that you can browse through, and some guiding questions to help you progress further with your art goals. Have a look at those first. Then join me in the next lesson for a deep dive into dip pens supplies. 2. Supplies: When you're first starting out drawing with dip pens, the first challenge is knowing what to get. There are so many different kinds of nibs, pen holders, ink types, and then there's the paper, and they all have to work together. In your workbook, you'll find the list of supplies that I recommend. However, these are what's best suited for my inking style and what's available in my region within my budget. Another hurdle you might face when trying to find suitable supplies is availability. Depending on where you live, your local store options might be limited. Ordering online can just be as daunting because comparing options can be overwhelming. If you've tried dip pens in the past and did not get the results you were hoping for, most dip pen issues can be fixed by one of three things your nib choice, the or the paper. In this lesson, I'll guide you through what to look for so that you can have a smooth start. A dip pen is a pen that you dip in ink, as opposed to say a fountain pen that has ink cartridges built in. Just like fountain pens. So dip pens are intended for calligraphy writing, and those have a broader tip. The dip pens that we want have nibs that taper into a sharp end at the end. For dip pens that are labeled for drawing, sketching, mapping, or illustration. As mentioned, dip pens have two parts, a nib and a nib holder. It's also called handle. If you can find a dip pen that comes as a set, a nib, and a handle together, I would get that. But more often than not, they come separately, and that's when it can get a little complicated. Here's why. The nibs, they come in different sizes, shapes, and materials. Let's start with size. Similar to a set of fine liner pens, the size of the nib determines the size of the line width. This small croquil pen would be equivalent to a tip size 01. This bowl nib size h three. And this big spoon nib maybe an oh five. Oh, but here's the cool thing about dip pens. Check this out. Each nib can give you a range of line width. I can render a line from thin to thick or thick to thin in a single stroke without having to switch pens simply by increasing and decreasing the amount of pressure on the pen. This is really handy, for example, linework. Where the outlines are thin in areas of highlights or grow bold in areas of shadow. It's great for shading using lighter marks to render areas of highlight and gradually increasing the tone using thicker marks in the areas of shadow. Let's talk about the different shapes and materials. Nibs are made of stainless steel or brass and some have a chrome coating. The material of the nib and its shape effect how stiff or how soft it is. So how flexible the nib is, how much it will bend under pressure. Adding pressure on the nib makes the tines spread out, which releases more ink onto the paper. If you're really heavy handed, you'll want a stiffer nib. If it's too soft, you'll either get leaks, blobs, sloppy marks, or even break your nib. If you're light handed, an overly stiff nib, will be difficult to flex, and therefore, you'll have less control over the ink flow. The ink might not flow at all, and then it will flow suddenly all at once. The nib shape and material also affects its elasticity. The elasticity, that's how quickly the nib bounces back to its original shape after you've released the pressure. If you're a beginner, a highly elastic nib will feel unpredictable. You'll find it difficult to make marks evenly, you'll get jittery strokes because of the bounciness as you progress with experience using dip pen, will want a more elastic nib because of how responsive they are to the slightest change in pressure. So when shopping for nibs, consider the size for the format and the style that you prefer to draw. Do you typically like rendering artwork with a lot of detail in smaller dimensions, or do you prefer big artwork with big bold marks and lots of solids? The level of flexibility. That's how softwa or stiff. So are you heavy handed? Do you like doing lots of fast dynamic lines or are you more light handed doing more precise work? And the level of elasticity by your level of experience. So low bounce for beginners. For example, a lot of the manga specific kits, like Japanese style nibs are typically very stiff and bouncy. So I don't recommend those as your introduction to dip pen inking. Let's talk handles. And handles also come in different shapes, diameters, and materials. Some are wider in the grip and offer a rubber section for added comfort. This Tashi kawa model 40 has a classic mount with two holes that fit Japanese and most Western brand nibs, and it's also my favorite. This way, you can have just a single handle and change out the also holders with a universal mount, the ones with the four prongs, which have good compatibility for different brands and sizes and nibs. Though you might find that they have a really tight fit, which makes switching nibs in and out very inconvenient. Some of the Western made smaller cylindrical shaped nibs like this croquil is compatible only with its own croquil holder. Myself, I prefer to have a dedicated handle for each size nib. We've reviewed the different types of nibs holders if you're buying them separately. What about the ones that come as a set? Speedball makes a great sketching kit. It comes with two pen holders and six nibs. If you're not sure about choosing just one pen, kits are a simple way to test. Lots of different nibs. In this particular kit, you'll find that one oh two cro quill and a 112 bowl nib. Those are the ones that I'm using. I also use the larger spoon nib, the 513 EF. This one is not in the kit, but it's very popular and easy to find as a nib and handle set together. Those are the three pens that I use most of the time. If you're looking for just a single pen, the ones that I recommend beginner friendly pen, the brows steno purple pumpkin, if you have a light touch. Another beginner friendly pen is that Speedball 512 bowl nib that I use. It's a good generalist pen, and it's good for both heavy and lighter touch. A more advanced pen, I would say the Tashi kawaGNib make sure that it's a Tashi kawa and not a zebra brand. The zebra brand is very, very stiff. Your workbook is a list of the brands to look for a nib rating guide, and a few guiding questions to help with your search. Next, we'll look at ink and paper. You do need a special ink that will flow just right. Never use fountain pen ink with your dip pen. Look for waterproof pigment based India ink. This ink sits and glides on the surface of the paper. You'll want waterproof, so it can be mixed with other mediums. It's also good for doing ink wash efts. And if you're wondering about colored inks, avoid the dye based inks. Those are more like a stain. You'll find there are more color choices with the acrylic inks than there are with the India inks. Acrylic inks are okay with dip pens, but they're a little bit more translucent, less viscous. It's similar to applying like a watercolor. India ink is ideally what we want for rendering line. That different brands vary their pigment formula, which affects the drying time, opacity, and viscosity. The pigment based inks that contain shellac are very thick. I don't recommend shellac mixes for beginners, but a carbon mix is great, and that's what I use. Read the labels carefully before you buy. And just to note, shape of the bottle. I prefer a bottle with a wide opening so that you can dip your pen directly in it. Some are just a bit too narrow and others come with an eyedropper for dropping the ink directly on the nib. That's not my preference, but some artists really like it, so don't rule that one out. I'll typically use two categories of paper. One is your good paper for final projects, and the other is a more economical Stono grade paper for practice exercises and studies. Either way, look for hot press paper. Hot press paper has a smooth surface, and it's more resistant to bleeding, lifting, scarring from the nib action. You'll get cleaner marks and your nib will last longer. For projects, I recommend a heavier weight bristle paper in the 300 range. Bristol paper comes in two surfaces, smooth and vellum. Smooth is best for precision drawing. It gives you really clean, sharp edges, but it requires more hand control. It is best suited for advanced inkers. Vellum is more versatile and beginner friendly. The marks won't be quite as crisp, but the surface will be more forgiving. Different brands will label their vellum finish as a satin or a semi smooth finish. All are good. If you're interested in dip pens for pairing them with watercolor, then you'll want a fine satin watercolor paper or paper labeled as a mixed media. Be warned that a rough textured cold press paper does interfere with the ink application when you're using a dip pen. It will wear your nibs out prematurely. However, cold press does prefer as if watercolor is your primary focus. So those are the compromises with paper choice depending on the medium that you prioritize. So for practice exercises using dip pens, I use a lighter weight hot press paper. Some come in individual sheets like this deleter comic book paper or in pads like this Canson inking paper. Studies, I also will use my moleskin art sketchbook. If you favor a higher quality paper and wish to keep your artwork bound together in a handsome book format, then the moleskin is a good choice. You can use any all of these options to complete the lessons. There is more information about ink and paper in your workbook to help you narrow your the next lesson, we'll get more familiar using the supply. So grab your dip pen or pens if you have more than one, your ink bottle, your student grade paper, a metal roller, an H or HB pencil and needed eraser because they're more gentle on the paper, a jar of clean water, a rag or paper towel, your workbook for reference, the references, and a bit of mildish soap if your nibs are brand new. 3. Getting Started with Dip Pens: New nibs out of the package are covered in a protective oil or a waxy coating. This is to prevent nibs from rusting in the package. It's like an invisible shrink wrap, and it needs to be removed for your new nib to work properly. Submerge the nib in hot water with mild dish soap. Or it's good to have on hand the speedball cleaning agent for approximately 90 seconds. Not too long, or it could shorten the life of your nib and then wipe it dry. Never let a nib air dry. It will rust. Wipe it dry anytime you clean it, so there's no moisture sitting on the nib. You may have heard of other methods to prep or clean dip pen like spit, toothpaste, a potato, or a hot flame. Just don't. Nibs are delicate, and if the tines get bent or damaged, it could ruin your artwork. Waterproof quick drying inks accumulate and cake on the nib while in use. So it's really important to keep a jar of water in a rag nearby. Depending on the dimensions of your student grade paper, you'll need several sheets for the exercises. We'll use one of the sheets to cut into smaller sheets. Tear it or cut it if you have a knife. We're using these mini sheets to prime the nib throughout the lessons and later for our final project. The dimensions are not important. Just a few rules of thumb before we get started on the exercises. We want the tines to face the surface of the paper at a 25 to 30 degree angle. Not vertical like you would hold a brush. Hold the pen 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 for longer strokes. For details, I rest or glide my pinky on the paper. You want to avoid a tight grip. To avoid smudging the ink as it dries on the paper, something to keep in mind is to travel left to right, if you're right handed, or if you're left handed, travel right to left on the paper. The key is just to remember that ink takes a few seconds to dry. If your ink is brand new, give it a vigorous shake so it's mixed well. I have a larger bottle and fill a smaller bottle with one with a large opening for easy dipping. If like me, you have three nib sizes, I'm using my speedball nibs. Start with the middle size pen. Dip your nib halfway up the eyelet, then use the mini sheet to prime your nib with a stroke or two. I do this each time I dip the pen to make sure there's flow and to remove the excess ink. Avoid wiping your nib on the side of the rim or shaking it to remove excess ink. Use your sheet instead. Keeping the tines face down, pull a series of vertical strokes towards you. Aim for evenly spaced apart using no pressure on the nib, enough for the ink to flow. Then repeat. Now pushing the strokes away from you. Remember to hold a pen loosely at that 30 degree angle from the paper, now diagonally. Pull the strokes towards you, keep the pressure even so that your marks are all the same thickness. Then again, in the pushing motion. Do another set moving horizontally this time. Pull and push, keeping the tines face down towards the paper. When your pen is out of ink, give it a swirl in the water jar, wipe it dry, then reload it with ink. I've learned the hard way that it's best to rinse and wipe each time, rather than continuously dipping it in ink. After you load it with ink, remember to do a few strokes on your spare sheet. Now for some more advanced pull and push marks in a curving motion. Try a few marks where you're varying the speed, the distance between the marks, and the direction. Let's repeat the same marks now using pressure on the nib to make older marks. You'll need to reload with ink sooner than before. Try varying the pressure going thick to thin and a single stroke. If you have several nib sizes, repeat the mark-making exercise with your other nibs. Let's take a moment to consider. Was there a motion that felt more comfortable? Do you prefer the pulling motion or pushing the marks away from you? Was there a stroke direction that felt more at ease, top to bottom, side to side, on the diagonal? Have a look at your strokes. Which ones turned out better so far? Brand new nibs do need a bit of a break in period. So not only does this exercise warm up your hand, it also improves your nibs performance. A few last tips about dip pens. Make sure that you have a cup or a holder to set your pen down so that it doesn't roll around and get damaged. Nibs do last a long time, especially if you keep them clean, dry and rust free. You'll know that a nib is ready to retire when it becomes overly flexible. It leaks ink, is visibly misshapen, encrusted with ink or rusty. It's best to just replace a worn out nib. All right, continue to test your dip pens. Just save a bit of room on the bottom half of your exercise sheet, and in the next lesson, we'll apply what you've practiced to a subject. 4. Linework: Just a reminder that in your downloads are the reference photos, lots of them. And in the PDF are the drawings and the finished ink pieces for you to refer to follow along with. You can print them out. I've just got them on my iPad here. Pull out a new sheet and your pencil. Take a rough measurement for the proportions. The carat is twice as long as the stem. Put a dot to mark where the carrot tip starts and estimate the distance to the head and then mark that with dots for the carats with another mark where the stem will end. Draw a line across the middle as the guide. Then connect the dots to build the outer edges of the subject. The subject, that's the carat. Estimate where the stem bunch fits on the carat head. Then start pulling lines to build the stems. Here we want to be mindful of the overlaps, so what sits on top and what's underneath. Define the stems that are on top first. Then clean up the remaining lines from there. Add curved strokes as a reminder that the carat is three dimensional. It has a tubular form. Let's talk about the art fundamentals for a minute. With pen and ink, shape is the foundation. That is the most important thing to get right for the drawing to look convincing. Form, that's what gives our drawing volume and depth, making it look three dimensional. And composition, that is, if shape is the most important and the foundation, composition is the most complex. That's organizing the things so that your drawing is legible. For our first subject, we'll focus on shape with an outline to define the edges. For form, we use line quality. This is what we've practiced so far, making thick and thin strokes. Adding a horizon line will automatically anchor our drawing, also giving it a sense of space and perspective. Grab your midsize pen. The source of light is on the top left hand corner. That means the side of the subject that is closest to the light will make the outline appear thinner. So we use no pressure on the nib and outline very lightly with a broken edge. The side of the subject furest from the light appears thicker as it falls into shadow, which translates to more pressure on the nib for a bold outline. The small lines that curve up help create the illusion of form. Since this is line art only, there's no rendering, it helps to really emphasize details in the outline. Same idea with the stem bunch. The outlines closest to the light source are broken and thinner. The outlines farthest or locked from the light become gradually thicker and bolder. We can emphasize the line quality with a bigger nib and increase the contrast for more depth. You erase the pencil marks when the ink is dry, and let's not forget our top tier fundamental composition by adding that horizon line and a cast shadow, so it's not floating in space. This immediately gives a sense of dimensionality, a foreground and a background. All of this with just a few thin and thick lines. Next, we render using different shading techniques. 5. Shading with Strokes: We begin the same way. First estimate proportions and mark your sheet with dots to draw the carat that sits in the front of the tube in the photo reference. Decide where the stem bunch will start and end, then draw the center stem that's wider and in front. It has an odd shape and these broken bits on top. The other stems shoot up from there. After the initial sketch, we clean up the lines. Estimate the negative space in between to add the carat that's above and behind. The second carrot stem looks similar. It has a wider branch in the middle, two on either end of the head, then the remainder sprout out from the layer underneath. We'll ignore that third carrot that's in the reference. Save the cross contour guides, but erase the center line. We'll outline the shape, then use line quality to give our subject form. Plus add volume using values. So we are shaving our line art. We'll render it including cast shadows for additional depth. Grab your earlier exercise sheet and join me to create a value chart. Here is the sun. In our first box closest to the source of light is all white, and that's a value number one. The box beneath it, still close to the light gets a bit of gray value. We're using broken lines in a diagonal direction using no pressure on the nib, evenly spaced apart. Values three and four are solid lines. As we move further from the source of light, there's less space between the strokes. The light gets choked out with more ink. Switching to a bigger nib for the darker values going even bolder. When we reach a nearly black value, we can build a tone with a cross hatch. This gray tone chart has seven values, but it could range anywhere from three values to 12 using any direction for the marks. This chart is a helpful guide to remind us how to render the shading in relation to the source of light. Dip pens make it a little easier to build the values in a smooth gradation simply by controlling the pressure on the nib. We'll use those principles to render our subject. Let's map out where the highlight will go, the horizon line. And the case shadows. In relation to the source of light, we begin with a broken outline values one and two for the side of the subject that gets more sun. There's two subjects now. Maybe the carat closest to the front is further from the light. So between the two and a three value. As we continue with the outlines, the principles remain the same, leaving broken edges where we estimate is a highlight. This is why it makes sense to start a little lighter. We can always go darker, but not lighter. There's more info about broken edges in your workbook. Let's practice the rendering for a minute. The carrot stems have a tubular shape, the carrot more like a cone. For either shape, we can give them volume by rendering with strokes, traveling parallel to the form. The gradation of values describes the tubular shape. Both shapes are rounding and the light lands on the shape gradually. Whether we're rendering along the form or across the form, contouring the subject. These are the curve marks that we practiced earlier. Now they're in a gradation. We'll go along the form for the stems, mindful of the gradation effect and cross contour for the carats. Starting with the stems closest to the light source, we begin with our broken outline. Open edges between a value one, a white and a value two, dashes and dots. I'm careful to keep the values rather light on the first pass. At the same time, it's safe to assume that the stems that are tucked underneath are blocked from the light. We already know from our previous study to make that bold, the outlines that are in shadow. Adding some contrast now section by section, that helps us keep track of what stems are on top and which are tucked underneath. For the carat closest to the viewer, depending on the angle, you could decide that it's below the other carrot and render it in shadow. Or in the reference, the carrots are more stacked. But in our drawing, by giving the front carat more light, it informs the brain that it's not sitting directly below, but at more of a forward angle. For the carrots, you could go with a smaller nim for the finer detail, but I will continue with the same size because it has a good enough range. We'll start at the top. I'm traveling left to right so that I don't smudge the ink, using curve strokes, evenly spaced apart, but irregular lengths. The length variety gives it a more natural look, fading with broken lines, dashes and dots towards the center highlight area. Above the highlight are the lightest values, and below the highlight, the rendering gets darker using bolder strokes closer together, just like we practice with the horizontal fade effect going thin to thick. Next, we'll address the darkest values around the carrot top. Then smooth out the transition of tone where the highlight is using dots. Because the carrot is more cone shaped, where the form rounds, there's a reflected light. To make that reflected light seem brighter, we bump up the contrast there. So a bit away from the edge, we add a bold dash, and we mirror this on the lower half. It's darker in the lower half, so our dash there is slightly thicker and longer. This makes the carat appear more round, and we finish off with a little dark dense in the carrots. Now I see the lower carrot needs more tone in the stem area. We can repeat the same process to render the carrot, starting with the curve strokes, evenly spaced apart of irregular lengths. Fading with broken lines, dashes and dots towards the center highlight area. I'm going ahead rendering below the highlight area, going a little darker using bolder strokes closer together, just as before with the horizontal fade effect going thin to thick. We address the darker values around the carat top and use bold dashes to create the illusion of reflected light. First at the top, above the highlight area and below. Finishing with those dense, the little blackish marks along the length of the carat. To really make our carats pop three dimensionally, we'll bump up the contrast in the areas of shadow by adding a cross hatch, four in nearly black value six. It's not a full cross hatch. It looks more like this, adding a small dash perpendicular to the curve strokes. Repeat on the lower carat. Now we add the cache shadow with a light diagonal, even spaced hatch. Another loose drop shadow for the second carrot to give it a sense of distance. We can also darken the section immediately under the front of the carrot to reinforce that it's sitting on a surface. With your larger nib, we can thicken the bolder outlines for added contrast. Let's not forget our horizon line to anchor the subject. Erase the pencil lines, change your ink water, and in the next lesson, we'll get into shading with textures. 6. Shading with Textures: We've given our shapes a form. We accomplish this by building the volume, shading the shapes with values, rendering values with strokes, and now we'll render our subject using texters. On your exercise sheet, join me in creating a texture with squiggly marks, starting with a value number three. Meaning we're not just using pressure, but our strokes are continuous and unbroken. They're not broken. They're continuous. Then we can gradually bring the squiggle marks closer together progressively, using more pressure for a bolder texture. Value number three was to establish the pattern. Value number two, fading to white is the same pattern, but broken up. Squiggly marks like this are great for organic textures, such as foliage, like a tree or a carrot top. A quick measurement shows that the carrot is of equal length to the stem. So make a center mark on your paper and estimate the length and width of your carrot from there. Then the length of the stem and a rough outline of the bushy edges. Add the stem bunch using the same steps as before. In the reference, there's a bigger piece that wraps around the front, the remainder shoots out from underneath. Then the leafy stuff sticks out here and there. Our job here is to show just enough detail that the viewer can identify what it is. And the remainder will be an illusion that we create. That means we're not drawing every single little branch and leaf, just a few so that it's visually convincing that it's a carrot top. I'm not even looking at the reference anymore. For the carat, we'll once again map out the area of high light and also the boundary for the bounce light at the bottom's edge. Add a cow shadow that will double as our horizon line. We'll outline the carat first. Business as usual with our thin and thick strokes. To render the top portion with light, evenly spaced apart strokes that vary in length, curving towards the highlighted area. We'll repeat for the bottom with thicker strokes, but mindful not to ink all the way to the bottom's edge. We leave that white as our reflected bounce light. This will make the carat more three D. Now smooth out the transition with a value two in the highlight area with dashes and dots. And to make the form more obvious, we once again increase the contrast using short old dashes in between the strokes. And on the bottom half with slightly longer thicker strokes. Then the little dents on the carrot. This will look even better with the cast shadow. But first, let's move on to the leafy texture. I'll be working on this section tip to head, starting with the outer edges. Then the branches to define the main shapes. I'm using light, even pressure on the nib, basically working with a value three to start with, and we'll render the very top of the branch with strokes for consistency, then start the leafy bunch using the same principles as our previous practice. We start with the value three in little clusters that go light to dark. This tells the viewer there's more leafy stuff underneath. And there's also more at the top closer to the light so we can add the broken texture above what we just rendered. Then counter that with more contrast where there would be shadow from leaves blocking the light. And just like our squiggles are quite simply describing a step bunch without having to draw everything out, we give just enough hints of the subject with our play of light and dark. For the very bottom, we can add broken texture here as well. But this time we make them solid black. Then add just a bit of black like a cashedo under some of the squiggles that look like tiny leaves. Then just like we did with the carrot, we smooth out the transitions where it's overly white, filling the spaces with dots and dashes. Then add a few strokes to render the start and end of the branches so that they look more bendy. Go ahead with the cast shadow now. Again, with even space diagonal strokes. Then a second pass with shorter old strokes over top. Then the third pass with cross hatches to get the full effect of the bounce light, making the carat appear more round. Once it's dry, erase the pencil lines, and in the next lesson, we'll talk more about composition. And 7. Composition: Now we'll cover a few more important aspects of composition, and then we'll be ready to begin our project. Position is where objects are placed in the picture plane in relation to each other and the horizon line. Arrangement of values is how the values are distributed in the picture plane to render your subject. And all of these fundamentals work together to frame the main subject. And lead the viewer through your composition. The picture plane, that's the boundary of your composition. In this picture plane, we have some carrots lying around. The position and size of the carrots in relation to each other and the horizon line, give us a sense of depth, a bigger carrot is likely closer to the viewer. We talked about line widths for highlights and shadows. It also works for near and far. Old means closer to the viewer. Fin means further in the distance. If I were to place another subject in the very forefront, I'd make it even bigger and bolder. The rule of thumb in a composition is to aim for a foreground, middle ground, and background. To make this perspective more obvious, we use techniques like size, placement, line quality, and details. Bigger, bolder, more visual information of the objects in the foreground, then gradually lighter, smaller and less detail as we move back past the horizon line. Our first practice was line art. So now what if we add shading with rendering? We're still using all the rules from the previous example, but now we need to think of the foreground, middle ground and background as overlapping layers of values. And we need to arrange those values in a way that helps clarify those layers. The carrots have a cross contour curved hatching, and I want them to stand out from the ground that they're laying on. So we can still use hatching strokes, but we change their direction going diagonally. You can also change the value level like here 3-4. Then with the background layer, I'll go with horizontal strokes. Then the layer behind vertical strokes, then back to horizontal, but just a different value. So changing the stroke direction and tonal value guides the viewer through composition, making it more clear what is in front and what is behind. Also texture. How you arrange the values in the composition can also help you put more prominence on the main subject. In the scenes above, there's carrots lying around in the dirt with clouds in the distance. So what? What if this middle carat is the main character? And you want the viewer to look there first. You can make this carat the key point of interest by rendering it super detailed. Or super dark and framing it with lighter values, then use sparse detail to render the remainder in the composition, or the reverse make the main subject super light and frame it with darker values. The key takeaway here is that for your pen anding composition to turn out the way you want, it helps to plan ahead because there's a lot of options and not all combinations will work out well. In the next lesson, we'll bring everything together following a five stage process for our final dip pen anding project. 8. Project Start: The pen and in projects that I'm most proud of are the ones that turned out better than expected. And that's thanks to this five stage approach. The stages are research, thumbnails, a subject study, a pencil underdrawing, and knee incaplication. Each stage is an integral part of the final artwork. It's a good system as it weeds out potential issues early on because ink especially using dip pens can be an unforgiving medium. As mentioned in the introduction, you can join me to create this composition together or a version of your own creation in the dimensions of your choice. By following this five stage process, you'll have a great framework to be successful with your future projects. First step is finding a suitable subject. So the first stage naturally points to doing research for inspiration and to collect references. Followed by doing thumbnail sketches to test those ideas, either you come across things that you're inspired to draw, and then you sketch them out, or if already have something in mind, do a rough sketch of it, and then look for references to support those ideas. Of course, we're not limited to what's online when doing research. You can use live objects or take photos from your surroundings. If you're planning to design your own composition for this project, go ahead and gather a few images, look for landscapes, a main subject, and a few other supporting images. Next stage after research is assembling those references in a harmonious composition. On a new sheet of paper and pencil, join me now for the concept thumbnails. We'll start with landscape orientation. This carrot bunch image can be our main subject. With no pressure on your pencil, draw a light grid. This is the rule of thirds model. The idea is to position the subject on any intersecting point of this guide, and it should give us a pleasing composition in the end. First, roughly draw the outer shape of the carat bunch. The main carrot will be in the middle, another below, and one above. Just like in our previous drawings, build the carrots from the center lines. Let's add more carrots underneath. Keep the drawing very loose and basic. Our mission with these thumbnails is to figure out the best composition. This means our focus is on the placement and proportions of the objects together on the picture plan. So don't spend too much time making it nice. Something important, a foreground, a middle ground, and a background. We know to add a horizon line to anchor the drawing. There's a gap in the foreground. We could put another carat there, or why not my garden lily? Then layer in the landscape and the background. Mm. It's not bad, but it would be nice to see more of the background. Let's try it on the portrait orientation, starting with the main subject carrots. Now we know about the flower in the foreground, so we can place that next. A bigger flower here feels the space way better. Next, are the carrot cops. And we have more space for a defined horizon line topped with a cloudy landscape. The second thumbnail is visually more appealing. We could use this as a composition for our project, but let's keep exploring ideas in case we land on something more exciting. The second image will naturally look best in portrait format. This time, I'm starting from the center grid. The carrots, they spread out from there to the intersecting points. Leaving enough space for the hand, that's above it. Draw the little V shape for where the top of the thumb and the index finger meet. From there, it's easier to estimate the size and placement of the fist and then draw the arm. From here, we can construct the thumb The index is hidden, but there's another finger here. Just a rough estimate. Looking at the negative space in the photo reference, it's fine if it looks a little cartoony. Again, think of this as a proof of concept. Will this idea work, and is it worth pursuing as a final project? It's okay. Maybe not the most interesting composition. I mentioned earlier that at the research stage, you can either search for images, then sketch your thumbnails based on the references that you've gathered, or you can reverse the sequence. In that case, start with the thumbnail concept, drawing from imagination. Then look for references to support your ideas. For example, I liked this concept of the carats in the field like a Salvador Dali painting. Carrots also make me think of bunnies. This is way more fun. We already have the carrot references. We just need to search for a man walking hands behind his back, looking down, and this image is free if we download it in low resolution, which is fine. We just need the general pose of the gentleman. So our subject takes up most of the page. I'll position the head high above. Ears can come out of the frame a bit, eyes facing downwards. Use the reference to estimate proportions of the body, approximative that works for now. I want more space at the bottom of the picture plans. So rather than redraw the character, we can just move the frame a bit. And bring in the carats. One in the very forefront. And two from our previous exercises. Okay The horizon line, cloudy sky, a tree line, more carrots in the faraway field to enhance that sense of depth. I still prefer the vertical to the horizontal layout. So let's stick with the portrait orientation. Now that the placement and proportions are figured out, we need to decide on the distribution of values for this composition to work. Do we want the character or the carrots to be the key point of interest? How are we to layer the stroke direction and the textures in our foreground, middle ground and background? M 9. Subject Study: That brings us into stage three, the subject study. The study stage helps us figure out how to ink our composition so that it's clean and legible. Let's draw our thumbnail again so that we can test two different combinations. Also, I think Bunny Man needs to be a little bit smaller in composition, and we'll keep the carats in the frame just for comparison. Grab your dip pen, and we'll start with the outline. Don't worry about line width at the stage. We're still working with a thumbnail sketch. Our priority is to figure out the values and how to orient the stroke direction and textures. Okay, so far we've practiced value gradations with strokes and a leafy texture. But now we have a new subject, so let's create a new texture. Grab your exercise sheet and wherever you have space, start with a value three. No pressure on the pen, short dashes, stagger your marks randomly so that the texture looks natural. This pattern works well for fur or grass. Add more pressure, bring the hatch marks closer together for a darker value. Then back to the top for the value too, using spars, broken dashes and dots. White fades to solid black, value number one to value level seven. Next, do a variation of the same texture using slightly longer dashes in a horizontal direction. This texture works well for clothing or different elements in the environment like dirt or a moody sky. When you change the direction of the hatch marks, it affects the illusion. For example, applying the same texture, but in a cluster formation now creates the illusion of a hairy sphere or a distant shrub. So now we have a variety of hatch marks that we can use for our project. Let's not forget about line quality. All of these techniques combined help create realistic effects with our dip pens. Example, using curved marks can be a carrot texture or clouds as well. It's all about the context. Back to our subject studies, we can apply the fur texture as we practice. Be mindful of the direction of light, plus, most importantly, the arrangement of values. For this study, let's say we want Bunny Man to grab attention. Our option is to make him really dark framed by lighter values or really light framed by darker values, and we'll test both options. He's mostly let's make him mostly a value one and two. Except for the pads in the reference, they're a bit too dark to begin with, but it's better to make mistakes in the study than in our final. So we have enough contrast between the pants and the carrot. We need to make the carrot a couple shades darker with strokes going in a different direction than the pants. The pants have vertical strokes in a value three. The carrots have diagonal curved hatches in a value five or six ish. Hm, should be okay, right? I had switched to my bigger nip for the darker carrot, but the second carrot should be lighter because it's a bit further away. And next to the dark carrot, we can see it rather well. Carrot heads, same rendering technique as before. The carrot in the front is tricky. We don't want to divert attention to it. Even though it's in the very forefront, and I said, front is bold, the rule would be to make the objects in the foreground more bold. But because it's in the extreme foreground and it's not the main focus, we do want to keep it light without too much rendering. Otherwise, it will steal the show. Let's add the background elements to gauge if our values arrangement is effective leading the R through the composition. Extreme foreground, foreground, middle ground and background. Yeah, the pants are too dark, so bump up the contrast on the carrots so that the overlaps are more distinct. Then pick a stroke direction for the remainder so that all the overlaps differ well enough without competing with the main subject. It needs more contrast still. Adding the kind of shadows will help with that. The tree line on the horizon line would look good, dark against the white shirt. Change the stroke direction, so the layer is more obvious. We could have used, we could have used the leafy texture here. We'll use the cloud strokes, though, against a darker moody sky. It's good. The layers are clear. We can see what's in front and what's behind. You erase the pencil lines and take a moment to reflect on what's effective and what needs more clarity. The pants overlapping the carat is the crux in this values arrangement. A solution could be to leave white space like a halo all around the character. The top portion of the character works well. It's the pants. We could make them lighter or go even darker so that the halo is more effective in contrast. That would really get our attention. Okay, if we make him all white like this example, then he won't pop off the page. Not enough contrast. If we look back at our carat references, basically, they're more of a mid tone, nowhere near as dark as the carrots in our thumbnails. Plus, if we include our prior exercises as part of this subject study, here's proof that they look best rendered using middle values. Now that we have done a thorough analysis, let's render our second thumbnail to verify our assumptions. We'll begin the same way using the fur texture in the character's face, mindful of the source of light, and that we want to keep the top half of the character in those lower level values one to three because it worked well in the previous study. We might as well go ahead with the outline. Let's keep the shirt a tad lighter for now. Then go super dark with the pants, starting with the vertical stroke that follows the form. Lots of pressure on the pen. Et's build a toe with a curved cross hatch, starting with the back half of the pants because that part is more in shadow. The front, just a few dashes so that it appears lighter, making the legs look more round. The shoes sort of disappeared in the first study. Let's make them darker for comparison. Yeah, that's an improvement. We sent the carrot and the extreme foreground needs to blend in more. So let's keep the rendering even more subtle there. The border first, good. Moving on to the carats in the middle ground using the same technique from the exercises, just a tad lighter and less detail because this is a thumbnail. But we can still capture the correct pnovalue that we're after. We're aiming for a middle gray. For the field, we said to leave a white hallo around the character to attract the attention there. Then the cast shadows, based on the position of the sun, already, this values arrangement is way more engaging. We said to use the leafy texture for the trees on the horizon line, which contributes to framing the character and really delineating the background boundary adding to that sense of scale and depth. Some light hatching in the clouds. So here's a summary of what we did. Stage one and two, we did research and concept thumbnails and these go hand in hand. You gather references, then organize a harmonious composition by doing thumbnail sketches, or you start with an idea, then look for references to support your concept in a thumbnail composition. The objective there is to position the objects on the picture plane with the main subject foreground, middle ground and background. We use the o thirds to build our layout. Stage tree is your proof of concept by doing studies in ink. The objective there is to explore the most effective way to lead the viewer through your composition using hatching techniques. So mark-making in an arrangement of values that frames the main subject and clearly communicates what's in front, what's behind in that composition. Stages are extremely helpful to resolve shading and rendering problems early on so that your projects have a happy ending. Those were the steps leading up to the final artwork, whether you are creating your own concept or if you like to render the composition that we've developed throughout the lessons in the workbook, you'll see the underdrawing that you can refer to or trace to follow along with in the next lesson. 10. The Underdrawing: After all of this preparation, the rest is really straightforward. We tested our ideas, we practiced our techniques. We made a solid plan, and we're ready for stage four the underdrawing. I'm switching to my bristle smooth paper. I'm using an 8.5 by 11 piece. You can go smaller or larger. It's up to you, ideally in the same proportions as your thumbnail study. In pencil, draw a border to frame our composition, and very lightly, pencil in the Role of Thirds grid. This will help with proportions and positioning. From here, I have all the photo references ready on my tablet. But for the initial sketch, you'll want to refer to the mini study, since that's the composition we want. I'm opting to make Bunny Man slightly larger, so his ears are out of frame. The head is about here. Then the feet to end in the bottom half here. That means we need to fit the body in between those markers, starting with the shoulder, arm, belly, pelvis, then a couple of lines for the legs. Oh, it's Atman. Atman. That settles approximate measurements. Now we can roughly construct the character from there. First, define the edges of the main shapes, and we'll add the details after. Glancing at the photo reference, let's correct the pelvis. Now we can mark where the knees go. Actually, where do we want the feet feet first. Then estimate the distance for the knees about halfway to the pelvis. Let's just confirm that we like the placement before going any further with this part of the drawing. Okay, he's a bit bigger. Check. There's space for the carrots. Check. Good view of the horizon line. Yep, check. All good. Now we can improve the shape, the outer contours. In the reference, the fellow wears loafers, but we can use the placement of his feet. Our bunny has bigger feet. That looks good for now. Let's move on to the extreme foreground, middle ground and background from here. Let's have a look at our carat references. I like the angle of this one. Let's add some of the circular guides just as a reminder to hatch the shading in that direction. We can include some of the surface detail at a later time. The underdrawing stage is a delicate balance. On one hand, we want to draw the details so that we don't improvise too much at the inking stage, on the other hand, we want to keep the inking surface clean. Too much graphite residue and erasing on the surface interferes with the ink application when using depends. So it's important to keep pencil traffic at a minimum and treat the paper with care. You'll notice I'm holding the pencil up high and very loosely to make marks. Gently erase some of the building marks and the rule of thirds grid where we don't need it anymore. And the stems of the carat tops. Same method as we did in the exercises. I liked how there were more carrots laying around in one of the thumbnails. Let's try a few of those. Let's separate the bushy trees into clusters to remind us to texture this section at the inking stage. Great. Now, all the elements are in position. Sharpen your pencil. We can now refine some of the key details, starting with the character's face. Check the final underdrawing in your workbook to follow along with. Here I make a few edits as I work on his face. I'm aiming for in between, less cute than Peter Rabbit and not as creepy as Donnie Darko, somewhere in the middle. Okay, that's coming along. In the study, I had him looking downwards, but looking directly at us is more inviting for the viewer. A few marks as indication of the fur in his face, then some folds in the shirt and pants is all we need here. Guidelines in the carrots to help with the curve hatching for the ink application. Then pull a few more lines for the carrot top stems. And we'll ink the leafy texture the same way as we did before. Go ahead and draw the outer edges of the leafy part. Include only the information that you need for the next stage. One thing we do need is to map out where the highlights will go. We're keeping the sun on the top left hand corner as before, and we need another line at the very bottom for that reflected light. Let's add a bit of vegetation, rocks and pebbles in the landscape. This adds to the illusion of scale and perspective. Draw the objects bigger in the front in relation to the smaller ones in the back. Now let's begin the ink application. I'll be using all three nib sizes here. However, it's entirely doable with a single nib by varying the pressure. 11. Ink Application: Starting on the frame using a large nib with pressure for a bold line. Because the ears are out of the picture frame as a style thing, I like to also leave an open gap somewhere in the frame for visual balance. For the character, we want a bold line. Either use a large nib with no pressure or a medium nib with heavy pressure. Also, this section is facing the sun, so ink bold, but with a broken edge. Plus, his face is furry, so we use little dashes around his face and head to indicate the texture. A solid outline for the clothing. Slightly bolder lines on the shadow side. Then wait a few moments for the ink to dry before moving on. We'll go ahead and render the character right away. For the face details, the smaller nib is perfect for that. This is when we use that other piece of paper that we cut at the start. We had one for priming the nib, and this one I use for protecting the artwork from my hand. We'll start with the eyes. A note. If you're nervous at all about the eyes and face, you can switch to a 005 fine liner pen for this section of the artwork. The key here is to leave a small white circle for a reflective highlight at the top of the pupil. If the pupils are all black, he will look like a demon. If we make any mistakes while inking, at the very end, we can use the white gel pen or guash for touch ups. Just working around the key features of the face, gently dabbing the tip of the nib to create light marks. It's easier to add ink than to remove it. So less is better on the first pass with ink. Once you've captured the features, have a look at your values textures chart. Well, start on the lighter side, dots and small dashes. Thinking about where the sun is and where there would be shadows or darker sections. Use longer dashes closer together for those darker areas. I'm not using pressure on the nib at all yet, patiently, carefully building the tonal values to create volume. If you're finding this overly challenging, don't worry. This is the trickiest part of the entire drying. Once we've completed the head, the rest will go quicker. We've already practiced the other sections, so you know what to expect. We'll build his cheek area in a cluster formation to make it look more round below the cheek towards the neck and at the chin is where the values are darkest. Use a bit more pressure on the nib for those darker marks there. Then smooth out the transitions of tone where the highlights are a bit too strong, like around the eyes and on top of the nose. Use very light vertical strokes to shade the tip of the nose. The change in hatching style for the nose tells the viewer that it's a different surface texture. Same for the inside of the ears, which is also darker in tone. I've switched back to my medium sized pen and adding more contrast on the shadow side to finish up the head section. Moving on to the shirts and pants. First, the fold lines on the shirt, using no pressure on the pen so that these marks are thinner than the outlines. Going very light with the application of the horizontal dashes for the shadow area on the shirt. Sprinkling a few more dots near the bottom of the folds to emphasize the drapery effect. It makes sense to continue with the fur pattern on his arm, so we do that next. Concentrating the intensity of the values on the top of the arm, making it look like it wraps around the arm, leaving a high light on the sunny side and a narrow reflected light on the shadow side. Going ahead with a bold vertical stroke pattern on the pants, using more pressure on the nib means more frequent dipping. You'll note that I'm going in sections. This is to emphasize both the folds and the creases in the cloth and also to create volume in the legs. The stripes run parallel to the form. They spread and gather where the fabric would naturally bunch up. On the second pass with the curved cross hatch, we're mindful of the form, and placing additional emphasis on the highlights and low lights. The strokes gradually stop before the sunny side of the edge of his pants on the leading leg. The leg that's towards us is situated further from the sun, so the marks are therefore darker. Change the direction of the curved hatch for the leading leg. The curved hatches are traveling in an upward motion now, following the tubular form of the pant leg. Then we smooth out the transition of the tone by adding short dashes, where we left white spaces for the highlighted areas. Then a few more dashes to emphasize the shadow areas, intensifying the darker tones gradually, one small dash at a time. Going ahead with the boots, they're shaped like peanuts. And we'll shade them using the same techniques we used on the carrots and in the previous mini studies. Just adding a bit of case shadow below the hem of his pants. Then rounding the boots by adding contrast to define the core shadow, which bumps up the highlight and reflective light. As squiggle over top of the core shadow, it's also called a terminator line. We'll make the soles of his boots solid black. The case shadows will add later once the background is all done. This is a good time to take a break from your project. Once the ink is completely dry, we continue on to the background. The extreme forefront, as mentioned, needs to blend in. The idea is that we notice it later. That means that we'll keep the outline and rendering subtle using sparse detail with no contrast. Keep it bland. Just working the rendering in curved, irregular length strokes, contouring the form above and below the highlighted area. The bottom is more in shadow and therefore has additional marks. Before we make any adjustments to the values, we'll render the carrot top stems. In real life, the color of the stems are darker than the carat, so we can make them a darker value, not with line weight, but by bringing the marsh closer together comparatively. So we will get a darker tone without adding too much contrast. We save the contrast for the bottom half of the carat that's in shadow. Plus by making the corner a little darker, it helps to frame the composition as a whole. You'll render the middle ground carrots on your own, using the same process as we practice in the exercises. Then I'll join you for the leafy texture. Just a few pointers to remember we want a subtle hallo around the character. So keep your values lighter in that area. Render one side of the carrot first with irregular length strokes, evenly spaced apart using even pressure. Remember that the marks are slightly thicker on the bottom part than the top half. Staying mindful of the areas of highlight and reflected highlight on both carrots. Also, remember to smooth out the transition of tone in the highlight area using dashes and dots. Then layer in thicker strokes of irregular length to help emphasize the illusion of roundness at the top and at the bottom of each carat. Then add those little divots in black, intensify the darker values on the shadow side with the tiny cross hatch dashes. When complete, you'll have a subtle lighter value halo around the character and will return later for the cast shadows. Good job, everyone. Now we begin the leafy stems, starting with the outlines, a broken edge at the top for the stem. Then just noodle your way through the leafy bits when deciding on the line thickness and value density. Keep an eye on what's in front and what's behind, what's in the light, and what's obstructed from the light. This will inform your inking decisions. Once the stems are shaped, start the squiggly texture, working in small circular clusters, building your texture from light to dark, making it look three dimensional. Okay, the bits of white space that show through the carrot top will be rendered once we add the field in the background. So leave those spots open for now. The faraway carrots will have a thin, broken outline, lighter values, less detail. This communicates that they're far away. And so as well, the trees on the horizon line are darker to anchor the composition. However, we keep the texture very basic, as basic as possible. It's like they're blurry in the distance. We can only make out shadows and abstract shapes, going super light around the character for that halo effect, then doing the opposite, doing extra dark around the carats in the faraway field so that the contrast frames the shapes better. Also, you'll see that we're aiming for darker values as we near the edges of the picture frame as mentioned before. Clouds done. Wait for the ink to dry and gently remove the pencil marks that we no longer need. Sign your artwork at the bottom corner here where there's space. Then we can add dynamic, irregular length curve strokes using no pressure on the pen, giving a bit of movement to the clouds. We did say darker for the moody sky. For this texture, bring the marks closer together without changing the weight. Keep them all the same line weight as the marks in the clouds. Closer marks builds the tone more evenly. Changing the plane angles of the marks, creates movement and texture in the sky without being overly distracting. Well, darker the corners the hoo, using thicker marks there, framing the composition. Okay, we're on the home stretch. The last tricky thing is making sure we nail the tone for the field. We're aiming for a level like 2.5. Use squiggly, broken horizontal strokes, keeping a halo of negative space near the character. The strokes gradually start to spread further apart as we travel closer to the forefront. This creates perspective on the picture plane. The last steps are the case shadows and then addressing any areas that need smoother transitions of tone or more contrast for clarity. First pass for the case shadows using a diagonal stroke. Then a second pass, layering shorter, bolder strokes. Now I'm switching to the bigger nimbF solid blacks where shadows would be deeper. Those subtle touches of solid black really add volume. But, too much of a good thing can be bad. Here, I went a smidge overly dark on the boots, and that's a mistake I could fix by darkening the pants for a less abrupt contrast there, but I will leave it as is on my project. Maybe don't go as dark as I did on your boots if you're doing the same project as I am. Okay, we're all done here. 12. Conclusion: You're welcome to do as many projects as you like. You don't have to nail it. If you made an attempt on any of the exercises, mini projects, I would love to see them. Now that you know more about the combinations of supplies for inking with dip pens and how to troubleshoot with your nibs, if they're not working properly, I hope that you'll continue to build your skills rendering with pen and ink. Continue to practice how to control the pressure on your nib to create realistic illusions and experiment with different mark-making techniques to create different effects in a convincing way. Remember to plan ahead how to organize the placement of your subject and arrangement of values. So that your composition is engaging and inspiring to others. If you enjoyed this class, please take a moment to leave a review. I really appreciate your time and suggestions for more tips on Penn and ink, check out my YouTube channel and the other classes here. I wish you all the best with your projects.