Landscape Sketching in Pen and Ink: With Notes on Architectural Subjects

by Donald Maxwell

Although geared toward professional artists, this accessible approach to landscape sketching will also appeal to amateurs. English artist Donald Maxwell's entertaining and straightforward attitude begins with the "We will draw a brick. Anybody can draw a brick."
Following introductions to perspective, light and shade, and composition, Maxwell proceeds to demonstrate how to direct a picture's focus, and he discusses the challenges of ink as a medium. His observations are complemented and enhanced with illustrative examples of boatyards, bridges, churches, and country farms from throughout Great Britain that date from the early twentieth century. A concluding gallery features a bonus collection of twenty-five images by Frank Brangwyn, Joseph Pennell, Otto Fischer, and other contemporary masters of pen-and-ink landscapes. Specially added for this edition is a new Foreword written by Sonja Rozman and Gašper Habjanič, two landscape architects with a passion for drawing.

Genres: Art, Drawing, Nonfiction

166 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 17, 2019

Reviews

[Kevin de Ataíde]

A very well-written little book, arranged into largely three chapters, addressed one after the other to beginners, intermediates and experts. The best thing about the book, of course, is the large collection of illustrations, which the text serves to describe and comment on. The first chapter demonstrates that the most complicated pieces are built piecemeal from individual elements, which careful-planning makes more a matter of time than extraordinary talent. The second chapter continues the theme of composition and economy of line, while describing the problems that illustrators may have to deal with in the printing establishment, such as the mishandling of their working by excessive reduction for publication. The last chapter is more or less a rubbing of the shoulders with other veterans in the field and the book ends with a gallery of the greats. A four star, I say, for its entertainment value.

[H. Givens]

A pleasant book to read, best if you're already starting to draw in pen and ink. He doesn't give basic instructions, and a lot of his tips are based on the reproduction methods of the day, but he does give clever ways of rendering landscapes and textures, and offers ways of looking at landscapes in order to create an artistic drawing, not just a copy. There's also a section at the end with a gallery of other artists' pen-and-ink illustrations, and I really like being able to compare them and see the effects of an artist's style.

[Sam Woldringh]

A delightful and short read on how to draw landscapes for publications in newspapers and books. It's of course a product of it's time, but it's richly illustrated with gorgeous examples and witty language.