About the Book
The ultimate technique-led guide to the graphic, expressive art of pen and ink: perfect for artists and illustrators!
Colombian-born architect and artist David Morales provides easy-to-follow advice and inspiring instruction in this indispensable guide to pen and ink:
Discover how to hold your pen to create different types of line;
Add a range of key strokes, from hatching and stippling to scribbling;
Understand value, tone and contrast like never before;
Learn to critically observe and successfully compose your subjects, from still lifes and buildings to people;
Learn through doing, with a variety of exercises ranging from 15 minutes to 2 hours long.
Whether you're just starting out in this bold, exciting medium, or you're already an intermediate artist, illustrator or designer, this book contains pearls of wisdom that will teach and inspire you - and even experienced artists will appreciate David’s 'asides' on common mistakes and how to avoid them.
The book also contains David's handy prompts for starting your own drawings; insider tips; dozens of techniques, each explained with simple illustrations; exercises to improve your skills; and, finally, three different categories of templates to copy or take inspiration from: nature, still life or urban.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
Meet David Morales
Supplies
Techniques:
Holding your pen
Types of lines
Outlines
Strokes
Tones
Values
Textures
Adding colour
Combining techniques
Getting Ready for Action:
Keep it simple
How to observe
Composition
The world around us
Let’s Draw:
Prompts
15-minute drawings
30-minute drawings
1-hour drawings
2-hour drawings
Templates
Nature templates
Still life templates
Urban templates
Index and Credits
About the Author :
David Morales is a Colombian architect and sketchbook artist based in Barcelona, passionate about capturing the beauty of everyday life. He documents his surroundings in sketchbooks, using them as inseparable objects for his work and travels. Since 2018 he has been working on a project called 'One Day One Drawing', chronicling his life in daily drawings and sharing them with his thousands of Instagram followers. Check out his remarkable art on Instagram @dava22.
Review :
The ultimate technique-led guide to the graphic, expressive art of pen and ink: perfect for artists and illustrators! Columbian-born architect and artist, David Morales provides easy-to-follow advice and inspiring instruction in this indispensable guide to pen and ink. Discover how to hold your pen to create different types of line, add a range of key strokes, from hatching and stippling to scribbling, understand value, tone and contrast like never before - and so much more.
Whether you're just starting out in this bold, exciting medium, or you're already an intermediate artist, illustrator or designer, this book contains pearls of wisdom that will teach and inspire you - and even experienced artists will appreciate David's 'asides' on common mistakes and how to avoid them.
This is a book whose title means exactly what it says. It is not a guide to pen and ink drawing, nor is it subject-based. It is all about technique – stippling, cross-hatching, tick-hatching, shading.
This is an interesting approach and, somehow oddly, one I haven’t seen a lot of before. You’d think it was obvious, and technique-based books have appeared before (not just on drawing), but they’re usually subject led – do this using that, rather than try this and here’s a random example.
It is also not to say that David ignores the practical, creative side of things. The second half of the book, while sticking to the main theme, includes a series of exercises where everything you’ve learnt previously is applied in real life. He includes buildings, still life objects, figures, portraits, vegetation and animals as well as introducing composition, perspective and proportion. If the first half was learning the scales, this is creating the fugue.
David’s style is, I think, what you expect pen and ink drawing to look like and this is a thoroughly useful book that will help you get the most from not just your materials, but your ideas.
Artist and architect Morales H. shares with readers his personal growth as an artist, showing how a dedication to daily drawing practice led to his mastery of the pen-and-ink medium. Having found that a pen and notebook were the most convenient tools to carry while completing architectural drawings in his native Colombia, the author shares his drawings—intricately detailed portraits, buildings, and natural subjects—that illustrate how different pens, pressures, and shading techniques achieve variations of depth and texture without the use of color. Providing information about different types of pens, paper, and inks, Morales H. doesn’t insist upon the use of any specific tools but helpfully shows how different line and hatching methods look when created with a variety of pens and pressure. Example exercises refer back to the sections of the book explaining how to use techniques like cross-hatching, contour hatching, and stippling, to create shading effects. The book also provides readers with subject prompts and drawing exercises to be completed within various time limits.
VERDICT: With its comprehensive examples of hatching techniques and excellent advice, artists of all levels will find something useful in this book.
I am loving Pen and Ink Drawing Techniques by David Morales H. Not only does it have a lot of techniques to learn, but also some exercises for practicing! I need a lot of practice, but it's so fun to learn!
David is a master at cross-hatching. There's another level of depth that is achieved through this level of linework. In this book, he has everything from your supplies, even drawing the supplies, every single one to the pens and the brushes, the paper. You can also learn perspective. Towards the end of the book, he's giving you exercises from 15, 30, 60, 90 and 120 minute exercises. So even a self-portrait exercise, facial expression. Definitely check this book out if you're looking to advance your sketching skills. Sketching is achieved through repetition. David has been sketching every single day, he did one drawing a day challenge since 2018, and you can see how far it's taken him. Thank you David for sharing your skills, your knowledge, and your depth and understanding of line work. You're a true example of what it is to be persistent in the story of developing the character in your line work.
What we love about this inspiring book is the comprehensive amount of content. This book as absolutely packed with really helpful advice and examples. Whether you are just taking your first steps into exploring the art of drawing or you are very experienced, you will find something of very real value inside the covers.
As David mentions in his Introduction, ‘This book not only seeks to teach you the basic tools of ink drawing, but also to inspire you to explore, to create, and to find your own voice in this fascinating artistic universe.’ The content covers everything from tools and techniques, how to hold your pen, different types of lines, strokes, tones, textures, adding colour, and how to combine the techniques.
Once your creative juices are flowing, David then prepares you to start your creative journey by encouraging you to observe, how to create compositions and where to look for inspiration. In his Let’s Draw section, there are wonderfully practical examples of short-timed and longer exercises, followed by templates from nature and still life and urban examples
As part of a journey into discovering the art of pen and ink drawing this book is a most wonderful companion! Highly Recommended!
