Pen & Ink Techniques

by Frank J. Lohan

A guide to the tools and techniques of pen-and-ink art presents exercises for beginners that deal with texture, light, and shade and includes appropriate subject matter for intermediate and advanced artists

Genres: Art, Drawing, Nonfiction, Reference

96 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1978

Reviews

[Parka · Rating 4 out of 5]

(More pictures at parkablogs.com)

This is a simple and straightforward book for anyone who wants to learn drawing with pen and ink. Half of the book is in tutorial style with techniques that are easy to follow. It covers the usual types of line hatching and more importantly how to make your illustration more picturesque.

The other half of the book is sort of a gallery but rather limited in variety. Still there are plenty of accompanying tips.

This book covers mainly drawing architectural stuff, animals, boats, the usual topics cover by pen and ink. The coverage on portrait drawing is limited at best, and the result doesn't seem too good either.

It's a quick start guide recommended for beginners.

[Audrey Sauble · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really thorough exploration of pen techniques with several dozen examples/practice pieces. I didn’t complete all the examples, but did most of the ones from Part 1 and felt like that was a good workout. I also used fine point felt tips instead of the dip pens recommended in the book—it would be fun to revisit this at some point and try out some pieces with other tools.

[Chuck Ford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good addition to your library!

This is an inspiring work that has very thoughtful exercises that take you step by step through the process. They are simple fun exercises that will certainly challenge you and help you develop.

[Crystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty thorough look at how to draw with pen and ink, with step-by-step directions for recreating provided practice sketches and lots of examples of the author's work, including some of the same image done different ways. Along with standard instructional info (creating textures, depth, contrast, dealing with specific subjects like faces, water, fur, etc.), the book touches on a few interesting ideas, like simulating woodcuts with scratchboard, making brush sketches, and drawing with twigs and other nonstandard tools. The author's pen sketching style isn't really one I want to emulate for the most part, but it's interesting to see his specific method.

[EKS · Rating 3 out of 5]

Straight forward step-wise demonstrations of traditional pen and ink techniques for illustrating natural and man-made subjects. Good at helping a beginner get started. Book assumes some prior skill with drawing. The illustration style used through out does not appeal to me but some pen & ink beginners may find this book more approachable than starting off with Arthur Guptill's Rendering in Pen and Ink.

[Criss · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best book I found for learning to draw in pen & ink. It's full of tutorials and you will get a quick result using the technique described. I especially love the technique of texturing and shading.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned so much technique from this book - anyone who wants to sketch in ink should go through the exercises. Wherever your artistic experience is so far, this book will take it further.