Pen & Ink Drawing Tutorials - Shading tips when drawing with pen and ink

okay so I'm going to do tutorial and
showing you guys some of the basic
techniques to use in pen and ink shading
okay now an important thing to know
about shading and pen ink is that I have
some drawing demos on here where I don't
really use I didn't do much preliminary
drawing in pencil but generally whenever
I'm doing is serious drawing in pen and
ink I would do a preliminary drawing in
pencil not completely but I would
definitely set up certain guidelines you
know to follow with my ink before I go
in especially especially in establishing
proportions okay I know that's something
I didn't do in a lot of the pen and ink
demos that I did but that's what I would
do
I'm also able to do a lot of the
drawings and without the preliminary
sketch because I've been doing drawing
drawings with ink for a long time so
it's not that I just magically you know
know how to do it it's just that I have
done it so much that I can sense
proportion pretty well without using
pencil but I would advise especially if
you're beginning to draw pen you should
okay now there's certain basic strokes
or mark-making to master before you
start you know going into some serious
shading for example of course there's
the classic hatching right so when
you're doing hatching lines say for
example okay let's set up a little thing
here alright and the first types of
lines you can use are like you know just
vertical lines just like so alright
and then as you make this darker you
would layer this with another layer of
hatching you can for example go
diagonally you can use lines like these
and the length is up to you but
understand that you would create a
different texture with different lengths
by varying the length and lines you use
okay
so gonna make this darker then I'll use
another layer for example I go over like
so
see so I'm using three different layers
I'm using first the vertical lines then
I'm using the diagonal lines going you
know right to left then I'm using the
other diagonal lines going left to right
or going from upper right down to lower
left and then from upper left to lower
right and then you can use horizontal
lines all right so you make it you're
creating four different layers of lines
and that gives you four different
density in terms of how dark the the
area would be and also in terms of
creating just different layers of value
now there's one important thing in
addition to using these different lines
I'm going to show you they're different
variables you can control so so like for
example I could use vertical lines like
I did with like so but understand that
you can also just use vertical lines and
create a variation and value just using
this just one set of hatching lines so
for example I could make the lines
pretty close like so see that I'm not
crossing am I using any cross hatching
I'm not using any other line just one
type of line and then I can space it out
I can vary the spacing see that so I
still created a gradation value going
that way just using only one lines and
that's an another thing and it's
important to keep in mind so I can do
the same thing with you know these
diagonal lines I can make them really
close and then space them out as I go
across so the point is if you want to
create say for example gradation and
value going from one way to the other
you can do it with one type of line like
just this or this or this or this or you
can use only one or you can use them in
combination you can use you can use up
depending on the purpose you know it's
using and the type of texture you want
to create you can use you know just
vertical lines with horizontal lines and
sometimes that can be enough or you can
use vertical lines with diagonal lines
or one set of diagonal lines you can use
it with two sets of diagonal lines and
that can be enough for you all right now
those are the basic types of lines to
use and to master before you really try
to do you know a bunch of different
stuff not that you actually you have to
master these but I would advise that you
pretty you know get a good handle and
how to use these lines now in addition
to that you can also for example if
you're doing let's say a round shape
like say for example you're drawing
let's say I'm drawing the VI or
something like that right and I'm gonna
draw this the iris here now remember
also you can also you know just use a
solid black so you can just shade just
like you were using a pencil and until
you get you know a even tone of black
just like that or you can use cross
hatching and keep patching over and over
and over until you get that density but
the thing is you know you will still
have specks of white in there which
gives it a little you know the
impression that you still have some
light coming from that shadow instead of
using a solid black alright so like if I
were using say for example this is an
iris for the eye right I would sketch in
two areas I was this is the pupil then
I'd have them say the highlight you know
the highlight generally crosses over
with the pupil and the iris and all
right the part that's outside and a
black that's inside so you could you
definitely know that this would be pitch
black all right
and then you could just lay the value in
just to you know just to show the
indication of the the value difference
between these two areas and then you
could you see there are two ways you
could do this you could just shade in
well not necessarily two ways but these
are two ways you could do it or you can
also let the lines follow the lines of
the iris just like they are so it's
almost like they're radiating from the
from the pupil like so see that and then
you can grow in and start cross hatching
another cool thing is now whenever
you're like shading a rounded form it's
important that you you let them say for
example this is a going to make this a
tube right or like a cylinder form like
that right see I use the vertical and
horizontal and whatnot lines here now
it's important that you also use curved
lines and I'm using curved lines but I'm
thinking in the same way like here so
even if I were and I'm following the
contour you always think about the
contour or this so like whenever you're
doing curved forms two main things you
think about you always think about the
light and shade because remember your
shading this thing to make it look as if
it's rounded so these instead of using
vertical lines as in here because if I
use vertical lines then it kinds of it
kind of flattens it see you see the
difference here looks rounded here it
looks flat this isn't good
okay it's best that you use lines that
follow the contour but I'm still
following this principle as like using
inner lines that cross hatch so by cross
hatching like this then my next set of
lines say for example the shadow the
shadow line is somewhere here then I
would just do either our do lines in
this direction or I could do lines in
this direction all the way it doesn't
matter but the point is you're using
curved lines you don't use the straight
lines flattened curved shapes so use
curved lines with curved shapes and
straight lines would fly
shapes and I'm saying see like here I'm
using that because the iris is pretty
much flat but if I were gonna you know
shade outside the eye like you know
around here then I start using lines
curved lines to you know to give that
eyeball shape just like with the eyelids
I'll use lines like so see that
and then you of course you can vary this
as I said you can make the lines closer
together or you can make them far apart
depending on you know the areas you're
shading and it's good to use all kinds
of varieties to make your drawing more
interesting so don't just use you know
straight lines all the time or lines
that are evenly spaced with the same
amount of spacing like vary the spacing
between the lines you know I'm saying
and vary the types of lines that you use
it makes your drawing just more dynamic
and interesting to look at so like with
this you know I would eventually just
this is my my foundation okay we know
that this is flat so whether it is see
by making that flat I'm saying that this
is a flat surface okay and these are
curved lines that indicate the curvature
of the form now if I were going in to
make you know to say darken devalue then
I could use some straight lines but see
the straight lines are following the
length of the shape okay
these lines are very important and
another thing is as well you have to
learn how to vary the pressure that's
important vary the pressure of the line
so say for example I'm going to draw a
stroke of lines and I'm going to vary
the pressure going across and see the
difference
see that I varied the pressure and how
hard I'm pressing down on the pen so
that also gives you a sense of a very
ating value as well just as I would you
know having lines that are close even if
you have the lines are close in the same
way like so
but you vary the pressure you still get
the feeling that is the value is getting
lighter as it goes across so that's
another thing when you're drawing curved
lines you know curved shapes like this I
would make sure the lines that are
straight would be lighter than the lines
that are you know important for showing
the curvature of the form okay so these
lines would dominate and these lines you
know would recede okay and then I would
just basically this is my my groundwork
and then I would just pretty much you
know start just layering putting more
and more layers over all right until you
know it eventually and see also when you
have a this is also very important say I
have two two of cylinders here all right
so this one is pointing that way and
this one is pointing this way
all right make sure the curved lines you
use that dominate show the direction or
go with the direction so the lines that
would dominate on this cylinder would be
these lines see that and the lines that
would dominate on this would be these
lines see that I wouldn't use these
lines on this because it would
contradict the shape see that it looks
confusing see so that means most of the
lines that are using this would
accentuate its shape and then after that
is just a matter of you know keep you
just keep layering
just keep playing until you know
eventually you get the degree of values
that you want see like with the shadow
the cash shot I would make the line
straight so these would be straight
lines because I'm basically saying that
it's on a flat surface all right so
these lines would be straight so that's
important you know it's important things
to keep in mind when you're you know
shading with pen is to make sure the
lines accentuate the shape of the form
you're drawing and to use variation in
the spacing of the lines the pressure of
the lines and the types of lines you use
and remember also you can always play
with the types of lines use okay so you
don't have to use lines alone like for
example with this I could eventually
just use dots in the light areas because
you're very careful you have to be very
careful about the lines to use in the
light areas so you can use lines like
you could use lines like so that have
hooks this is the classic way of using
crosshatch lines and you could use
scribbles you know let's play with it
especially when you're when you're very
concerned with creating texture like if
I were creating you know branches or
leaves I would just pretty much use you
know little scribbles like so see and
that would create the texture that I
need see and then you get the impression
of trees so that's another thing you
have to think in an abstract sense
sometimes you know when you're trying to
create texture so see that gives the
impression that I'm making you know
leaves or branches here just by using
that so you sometimes you can just use
staples can you just use these dots and
that's enough
and sometimes you can use short lines
you can use a varying degrees of length
of curves see you can use longer curves
can use even longer curves and even
longer curves and you can make these
even
you know shorter so just you know it's
really it's really this from
experimentation like you have to just
you know play with the lines you use and
but think about the structure and the
texture that you need alright you think
about structure think about texture and
think about the shape of the form
alright your lines must give a sense
that it's following the form ok because
they are what's going to dictate you
know how the form actually looks see
that so you know hopefully those you
know pointers were useful