Pen & Ink Drawing Tutorial - The "Less is More" Principle Video Lecture

okay so mr. Troy I'm gonna share with
you guys a little principle that I using
I'm drawing and what I keep in mind and
it's I refer to it as the the
less-is-more principle and the main idea
is that when you're drawing with pen and
ink it's easy to over render all right I
think the same thing with pencil as well
but but kind of ink especially because
pen ink is always tricky because it's
it's permanent Yuliya lying down you
can't take it back
so how are some practical ways that I
use this like for example with texture
with texture is perhaps one of the most
important areas that I use it so for
example you can have a circle like that
right around shape
pingzhi a circle right now that same
circle if I were to you know do
something like this for example see just
by doing this I'm suggesting the texture
in some sense without even filling this
in so in the same cases like when I'm
drawing like a you know say a tree for
example and I would do some stuff like
this
see my by doing this
yeah what I'm saying is just by making
the contour like this I'm already
suggesting a lot about the texture of
the thing so instead of going in and
filling this in all you have to do is
perhaps just make some simple things
like this and within the body of that
shape and that will take care of you
know creating enough sense of texture
throughout the whole thing so this is
what I mean I say by suggesting so
you're just giving a little information
to imply something and not necessarily
state the thing explicitly and the same
thing even with this little the trunk of
the tree here you see right now there's
nothing here that's suggesting texture
but if I were to go in and perhaps do
some things like this you know that
alone helps to create a sense of a
protection of the thing especially if I
were to modify the the contour of it a
little bit you see and that alone helps
to suggest some type of a texture right
in the same sense going back to this
shape if I wanted to reinforce the sense
of texture of this thing I would just
simply go in and maybe do a little bit
of this in some areas and that's it
seeing that that's enough to create a
sense of texture without doing that much
and this is very important I mean I'm
using very simple examples here but it's
very important to grasp this concept
because it's very important to UM to
learn to let the eyes work and this is
where you you let that you give
something to the imagination of the
viewer right you don't always say
everything you you suggested and the
imagination will fill in the rest right
it makes up joint sometimes a lot more
interesting it's like for example you
know if you're drawing the contour
somebody's head you don't completely
close it you leave it open so give them
give it a little bit the room for the
mind to wander although that any wonder
what will what is filling in that space
or what should have been there and stuff
like that all right so we're using the
same concept of suggesting okay even
with something like this even this one
you see it's pretty open right now
there's nothing really going on here now
if I were to you know just suggest the
texture of this thing I could do a
number of fun
different things but I'm just gonna do a
kind of a basket weave texture
see so all the groups of lines are
contrary and see my doing that
I'm already suggesting what's gonna
happen for the rest of it and all I have
to do pretty much is something like this
in some areas and that takes care of it
and that's it
you know I won't really need to do
anything more see you may even do less
than that so the point I'm making is in
some some cases you're gonna find that
it's even more effective to not even
cross hatch you may just use some hatch
lines and that would be enough so for
example see like this little um shape
I'm drawing here you know and I want to
say for example shade something like
this to the to convey the shape more
accurately you know you may just need to
just put in some strokes like that so in
other words I'm pretending the light
source is coming from this direction
right
and that's it that's it so I mean simple
as more because just by doing this I'm
already telling you enough about the
shape of this form I don't necessarily
need to go in here and in here you know
doing any additional work it may be
enough just to do that to convey that
the shape of the thing all right
I mean of course you can over develop
this you can go in and create crosshatch
lines on and so forth but a lot of times
simple simpler is best you know in the
same way you can have a shape that's
like you know I'm just gonna create
something you can have a shape like
that's like this I'm sure right this is
going right and then you know it may
just be necessary for you to just do
like this and that's it actually I'm not
even gonna try to overdo this and that's
the thing with pen and ink you know you
can over render the thing and this may
just be enough to convey the shape and
that's it you know unless you're going
into like distinguished local value
where you're saying this part is darker
than this part and so on but that that
may be all you need to convey the the
space like it's I think the main
principle are aiming towards its
efficiency so in other words you're
trying to get the most results out by
putting the least amount of work in and
that's not everything in the universe
operates the least of month the earth is
actually is fair because of efficiency
all right is the most energy-saving
shape for space for a form to existent
in space same thing with all the plants
it's just very efficient to have this
shape all right
some for example same um I know it seems
like I'm contradicting myself based on
the other tutorials that I've given but
it's not necessarily that I'm trying to
have you those were done for that
principle of showing you how to shape a
technique this is more just showing a
general overarching principle to keep in
mind when you draw with anything so for
example I have a sphere here as I had
mentioned the first thing you do is to
separate here as if light and shadow
right first thing you want to do is
separate the ears of lighting shot
in itself is suggesting something right
and then I may just simply do this and
that alone she is shading this rounded
shape I mean I necessarily need to go in
with any more lines okay if I want I'm a
crosshatch a little bit like so going
the other direction and that's it see
that alone creates a sense of volume and
light and shadow conveys the shape the
three-dimensional shape and it gives a
sense of space right because we know
that for example if a shadow reformed it
would be here see and that also can be
pretty simple straight lines
just like that and you're done right and
I said if you want to darken this you
can crosshatch your lines or you could
layer the lines in the same direction
and that's that's pretty much it in the
same way with a cylinder and and I'm
drawing these basic shapes because again
everything the drawer can be simplified
to be visualized in these basic forms as
ferrous cylinder and a cube I'm gonna
join next so again I'm separating areas
of light from shadow and then this is in
the shadow area and that's it
and it's done all right that's just the
basic framework and it's important to be
able to have this down a very knowing
how to be very simple with what you
convey so that means if you should go
over this it's deliberate and you're
doing it for a specific reason okay you
may want to reinforce the shadow area or
you know whatever else that may be an
aesthetic reason you know you're doing
it because it looks better to you but
the point is understand basic framework
does that funda lies everything else
right so you know just remember that
simple is is always more simple is
always best you and say I have a shape
like this
you know and it may just be enough to
just to like this
this is something I always shared
students and they always greatly
appreciate it because in their minds
they have this insurmountable task that
they have ahead of them when it comes to
shame you know so it's they overwhelm
themselves by how much they think is
expected to render something it's really
not and I could just do something like
this that alone says something about the
shape alright this is long just doing
these simple lines I just did implies
that this is a convex shape right here
and here it's kind of concave and then
convex just by doing simple broke these
lines and I would advise you master them
or perhaps one of the most useful lines
you use and pendant groups of lines or
types of lines and it's just doing like
that this is the shape and con convex
concave or convex concave however you
want to look at it but being able to use
broken lines to create that same thing
you find you'll find that there is an
infinite range of uses for this simple
type of for the list of a group of
broken lines just like that you'll use
it a lot saying if I had a shape like
like this believe me if these this this
is a very simple principle and it will
help you a lot just doing something like
this
you just doing something like that alone
that helps to convey the shape of this
form very easily all right I'll say for
example you were drawing um a rock or
something all right something like this
see that shape has no basis but as I
said remember it well basis in terms of
three dimensionality remember I'd
mentioned about you know I always use a
cube as the basis for drawing rocks now
something like this if I had a pencil
maybe I could outline the the the
different planes that I'm imagining for
this but just going back to that self
whole you know and complex prints looks
like I could use lines like this
you can see just by simply doing that I
can create a sense of volume without
drawing any you know a whole bunch of
cross hatching lines and all that stuff
like and that's and that's the thing I
want you to get cross hatching is
important our very useful however more
importantly it's learning how to say a
lot with little so they're cases where
you won't need to cross hatch all right
even with with um
even with suggesting dark and light
sides for example I'm not gonna cross
ash but I'll tell you let you be able to
see what side of this is the darker one
you know and you can just use tight
lines here and here you just use the
lines that are more spaced out you can
see and that is enough to communicate
that all right so the point is you know
it's just learning how to say a lot with
little as a very important principle
with drawing pen and ink because you can
easily over render your drawings to the
point where it becomes so messy and you
feel you've ruined the drawing so it's
important to try to say it's like the
big picture you're focusing on trying to
save a little well a lot with a very
level and then see if it's necessary to
see you know to say anymore or suggest
anymore so you can have a shape like
this like an egg or whatever and you may
have lines like this for example to
suggest a shadow area or whatnot and the
rest you may just want to use tuples
and that may be it you know as I said
it's not necessary to say a lot or to do
a lot to say it like all right that's I
think that's the main point you don't
have to do a lot to say a lot