Assignment: create a grayscale illustration, and share it with the class!

During this class, you will have the opportunity to get to know different tools for traditional ink drawing and painting techniques, and create a project - an illustration of your own, applying the principles of using light and shadow in visual art.

The class consists of theory, getting to know your tools, and creating the project.

1. Theory

How to look for inspiration in black and white/monochrome art? Analyze a few examples you like, asking yourself the following questions:

Is the lighting natural, or artificial?
Is it soft/diffused, or sharp/high contrast?
What is the most highlighted part of the image, and what can be the purpose?
What is the darkest part of the image, and of what purpose?
Is the contrast high or low, what is the tonal value?
What is the detail the artist wanted to be the center of the viewers attention, and what method did they use to achieve the effect?

Make sure you get inspired from multiple sources, to avoid ending up copying someone else’s distinctive style.

2. Tools

Get to know your traditional tools by testing them freely on a big sheet of paper. Play around with lines, shapes, and paint with ink washes. You can combine your tools, to test how it’s suitable for you to use them. The goal is to get comfortable with these tools for the final project. You can use any material of your preference, I will list what I used for my project

Tools I used

Fabriano Accademia 200 gsm paper
Tombow Fudenosuke brush pen set
Deleter Black Ink No 4
Winsor & Newton 951 black indian ink
Sakura Pigma Micron pens
Brause & Co №515 Iserlohn crow quill nib
Leonardt 40 Calligraphy shorthand nib
various soft brushes
metal palette
masking tape
water jar

3. The Project

Create an illustration where lighting plays a great role. The illustration should consist of at least one character, and a minimal environment of the character.

Follow these tips to figure out your piece before starting to work on it:

Pick a character, it can be based on you.
Pick a location for your character, best to pick something you know well
Think of the light conditions. Is the scene outdoors, or indoors? What time does it take place? What is your main light source? Is there a secondary light source?
Think about the colors (in this case, tone values) of the characters and objects placed in your composition
Think about the objects / space you want to include. Consider using for reference photos if you need a bit of help.

Create your piece as we go along with the lessons, and make sure share your project. I’d love to see what you create, and give feedback or tips, if you need!

If you have any feedback on my class, I’m happy to discuss it with you.

You can find Barbara online on Instagram, Behance, and her Studio’s website.

Joseph Martin

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