Sketching with Pen and Ink  (Online Class)


As a sketching medium, ink has been used by a variety of cultures, from Ancient Greece and early-modern Europe to Imperial China. Gain proficiency at using this highly portable sketching tool. Over eight weeks, we will address topics such as the use of a variety of ink nibs, the employment of ink over an initial underdrawing in pencil, ink accompanied with white gouache and chalk highlights, ink washes, the use of mid tone and watercolour papers and the pen as a tool to delineate form through a variety of cross-hatching lines.

COURSE OUTLINE
  • Week 1 – Initial pencil drawing with pen and ink: We will examine how to suggest and render form in simple geometric objects, such as spheres, cylinders and cubes. We will then examine some engravings and etchings to see how a variety of lines can be appropriated to suggest form and volume.
  • Week 2 – Pencil drawing with pen and ink: We will look at drawing and rendering objects that are common to the still life genre.
  • Week 3 – Pen and ink drawing with an ink wash: We will learn how to employ an ink wash with the use of a brush as both a complementary and alternative means of suggesting tonality and shadow.
  • Week 4 – Pen and ink on coloured paper with white gouache or/and white chalk highlights: In this class, we will make use of blue-gray paper to suggest a mid tone. A pen and ink drawing will convey both the contours as well as the darkest values. This will be followed by a white gouache wash that will be carefully applied with varying levels of opacity, to suggest the highest values and highlights.
  • Week 5 – Pen and ink studies of trees and shrubs: Looking at artists who have employed pen and ink as a medium for landscape, we will analyse their methods for suggesting the volume of foliage and the form and texture of tree trunks and branches.
  • Week 6 – Pen and ink studies of a landscape vista: Pen and ink is a very useful medium for capturing the broad essence of any natural or manmade landscape setting. In this class we will examine how artists have employed reductive methods to broadly depict the landscape.
  • Week 7 - Drawing the life model in pen and ink: In this class we will combine an initial pencil drawing with conceiving the human figure in terms of basic geometric shapes.
  • Week 8 - Drawing the life model in pen and ink: In this class we will examine details of the human figure in relation to the rendering of form with  directional and cross-hatched shading.


PLANNED LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of this course, students should be able to:
  1. Gain an ability to draw with a variety of different sized pen nibs.
  2. Make use of a variety of papers for ink washes and tonal variation.
  3. Perceive form, volume and tone as abstracted with line, wash and coloured paper.
  4. Understand how artists of the past have employed pen and ink to suggest form, volume, texture, light and shade.
  5. Be able to appropriate pen and ink drawing techniques to depict objects within the living environment.


MATERIALS LIST
  • A4 sketch pad
  • One sheet of blue-grey paper
  • Walnut, Chinese or Indian ink
  • 2H pencil
  • Kneadable eraser
  • Stanley knife
  • Speedball or other brand of lettering & drawing round pen nib B Style B-5 ½ (and two other nibs of slightly smaller and larger sizes)
  • Speedball or other nib holder
  • Watercolour brush
  • One sheet of watercolour paper
  • Tube of white gouache or/and white chalk pencil
  • Jar / container for water


When:
Saturday 25 July - 12 Sept 2020
1.30 PM - 4.30 PM

Where:
This is a WEA Sydney course to be delivered online.