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Pen and Ink Drawing

 

An Expressive Pen Drawing - 2

Applying an Ink Wash - Step 1

Build Up Tones with an Ink Wash - Step 1

An ink wash is a transparent mixture of ink and water applied with a brush to create tone. You can mix washes of different shades by varying the ratio of ink and water. A light wash is a very transparent mixture with only a few drops of ink added to water. This is suitable for lighter areas of tone. A heavy wash is a darker mixture with a greater concentration of ink and is used for deeper tones.

Applying a wash is a more liberating and expressive technique than cross hatching and stippling for building up tones in an ink drawing. Several washes were used to build up the tone in our study of Lindisfarne Priory.

To begin with, a light wash was unevenly applied to the sky and foreground to suggest variations in the light. It is always advisable to start with a light wash which is easy to darken if applied too lightly. On the other hand, a heavy wash is almost impossible to lighten if applied too darkly.

 

Applying an Ink Wash - Step 2

Build Up Tones with an Ink Wash - Step 2

In this next stage, the same light wash was applied to the shaded sections of the architecture to establish the tonal composition of the drawing. Note how the brightest areas of tone that are picking up direct sunlight were left as unpainted white paper.

 

Applying an Ink Wash - Step 3

Build Up Tones with an Ink Wash - Step 3

At this stage, a heavier wash was applied over the darker areas to create a more dramatic contrast of tones. In certain sections, this wash was applied twice to establish pockets of deeper shade.

 

Pen, Ink and Wash Drawing of Lindisfarne Priory

Build Up Tones with an Ink Wash - Step 4

View our pen, ink and wash drawing in its actual size

Finally, a very dark wash was selectively applied to the darkest areas of the drawing in order to increase the dramatic range of tones and fine tune the the tonal balance of the work.

 

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