The Technical Pen

by Gary Simmons

Here, for the first time, is a book devoted to a medium that has gained increasing popularity among artists who work in pen and ink. Originally designed for architects and engineers, the technical pen moves smoothly and easily over the paper's surface and offers a precise and predictable line quality that can't be matched by any other type of pen, permitting both loose, gestural sketching and tighter, more deliberate renderings that make it an ideal tool for fine artists, illustrators, and graphic artists alike.



Simmons then shows how to put the pen strokes to work through step-by-step demonstrations that illustrate the ins and outs of good, solid image construction, from initial pencil sketch through final inking. He explains how to build form, tone, texture, and "color" in drawings, and how to make sure that the pen strokes do what you really want them to do—a major concern in pen-and-ink rendering. For instance, perhaps you've added a layer of hatched lines over a bird's feathers to create a shadow effect, only to discover that you've suddenly obscured their texture, or maybe one area of your drawing has become too dark. Gary Simmons addresses these and other common problems of mastering the medium and tells how to avoid or solve them.



A special, ground-breaking section explores working with the new acrylic-based color inks, including advice on basic color theory, ink selection, color mixing and layering, and how to build an image in color step by step.



Gary Simmons, who has been teaching pen-and-ink techniques for some thirty years, covers every aspect of working with the technical pen, beginning with a thorough explanation of its anatomy, operation, and care and including troubleshooting tips as well as advice on choosing appropriate nib widths, inks, and drawing surfaces. He shows in detail how to achieve the wide variety of strokes and stroke patterns the technical pen makes possible—continuous parallel line, crosshatching, stippling, and more—and explores, with copious illustration, the different effects each of these can create alone and in combination.

Genres: Art, Reference

144 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1992

Reviews

[Michael Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 Stars: Simmons’s “The Technical Pen” is all about pen and ink drawing with a Koh-I-Nor Rapidograph technical pen. This pen provides a constant width — I.e., no flex — line as narrow as 0.1 mm wide. The author covers a wide range of drawing techniques, such as gestural versus realistic drawing, area-filling patterns, such as hashing, use of color in a drawing, and provides sufficient examples to make it plain to the reader what he is talking about. Though a bit dated in a few irrelevant places, the information is complete, well presented, and interesting. I really recommend this book.

[Stiobhard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just got this in the mail as a belated Christmas present. It was a recalled book from the Wolverhampton University Art and Law library so it wasn't in the best condition. but i was able to get all the stickers off the cover and it is the original Watson Guptill edition which is the important thing. The more recent printing that Barnes and Noble sells is really bootleggy looking and badly printed... this one the typesetting is first rate and the the illustrations are clear. There are admittedly a few images that have halftone screens that make the images a bit blurry but in general the artwork looks good. I am sorry to make such an issue of this but it really is frustrating to try to read the other edition or draw from it and reading blurry lettering just gives me a headache. Watson and Guptill are professional enough in their design to publish a good looking and readable art book. I have read this book before (from the local library) so I already knew the content was good. I think I read it when it first came out in 1992. At the time I was skeptical about its emphasis on rapidograph pens but nowadays I do find myself using them for most of my work so that is why the recent history. And while the textures are very specific in this book to those pens I think the basic principles cool apply to other types of inking pens. The Joseph Guillot nibs or whatever you like. But the intention is for koh-i-noor products and you will get the most from this book using those. But I wanted to have a physical copy with well printed illustrations to include among the illustration books on my bookshelf. This is a good resource to have.

[Gypsy Novela · Rating 5 out of 5]

great step by step of conducting intricate drawings with a pen.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must have book if you like drawing in pen and ink!