Leisure Painter — June 2017

http://www.painters-online.co.uk JUNE 2017 51

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made by Noodlers and one of my

favourites is the colour, kiowa pecan; it

comes in a large 3oz bottle and goes a

long way. When wetted this ink creates

nice sepia washes and will work with

the Rotring art pen. I refill the cartridges

with a syringe. Not only can a good line

drawing be created, but also by using

a water-filled brush pen, shadows and

other tones are quickly created. The

demonstration over the page was

completed using these materials.

Next month we will look at how

ink-drawing techniques can be adapted

to combine with other media. LP

Mill Street, St Osyth, FW Acrylic Ink on 180gsm cartridge paper, 8x11in. (20.5x28cm)

t

tThornham, Faber-Castell Pitt Artist pen on Bristol plate surface, 10x15in. (25.5x38cm)

later. With practice the amount of pencil

employed can be reduced until you are

able to begin drawing confidently

without any pencil pre-work.

The view of Thornham(below right)

was completed entirely with a Faber-

Castell Pitt Artist pen (size F). To achieve

depth, the line thickness varies

throughout the drawing, from very thin

lines for the distant trees to areas where

I reinforced the line on the near wall.

It’s often difficult to know how much

detail to add. I try not to draw every

brick and tile, but instead hint at more

detail in the nearer buildings. As the

structures recede down the street, roof

tiles can be represented with just a few

parallel lines descending from ridge tiles

to the gutters. If the rooftops were slate,

I may draw just a couple of lines parallel

to the ridge tiles.

I represent shade by drawing a series

of fine parallel lines, the closer the lines

are together, the darker the tone. For the

shadows, it’s easier to draw a pencil line

where the shadow ends and draw up to

it. I don’t often use cross-hatching unless

I want to achieve a very dark part of the

drawing.

Brickwork detail is often just a hint,

as drawing entire courses of bricks can

look overworked and wrong. For the

chimneys in this scene, just a few bricks

were added to describe the construction.

The quoins on the corners of the

buildings were quite distinctive so I

placed these then added a few dots and

circles to denote the flint walls. For the

trees on the right, I added the main

structure then developed them further by

adding branches and twigs. I drew the

bush that lies halfway down the street

by applying lots of dots onto the paper

to denote foliage.

Water-soluble inks

To add an extra dimension, water-soluble

inks can be used. I often combine these

with a cartridge steel nib pen, such as

a Rotring SF art pen. Care must be taken

not to use a waterproof ink in these

instruments as they will quickly block

up and become unusable.

There are a number of water-soluble

inks available, usually classed as writing

or calligraphy inks. I like using the inks

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