Pen And Ink Drawing Workbooks

[rahul_jain]

Hi,

I am pleased to announce completely free workbooks for learning to draw simple landscapes in pen and ink. If you have ever wanted to learn how using simple pen strokes you can bring a landscape to life, then try them out. I have 2 initial volumes as following and would love to get any feedback on them in terms of their usability and content.

 

You can get the workbooks at pendrawings.me/workbooks

 

Pen and Ink Drawing Workbook vol 1: Draw Tree trunks and Wooden Posts

 

This workbook with help you to be able to draw a landscape like the following in no time.

 

Pen and Ink Drawing Workbook vol 1: Draw Trees and Bushes

This workbook with help you to be able to draw a landscape like the following with fully illustrated concepts and guided exercises

 

Get them now and happy drawing,

 

Rahul

 

www.pendrawings.me/getstarted

[displacermoose]

Thanks for this, Rahul. I've been wanting to learn to draw for quite some time (inspired by all the fantastic art I see here!) and this gives me a place to start.

[Maurizio]

This is really wonderful. Thank you for sharing you’re work.

[holgalee]

Thank you for your generous sharing, Rahul.

[holgalee]

Thank you for your generous sharing, Rahul.

[Maurizio]

Rahul -

 

I have downloaded your workbooks and plan to spend a good part of my Saturday afternoon enjoying working with them. I am a fledgling drawer and am enjoying getting back into something I last did as a schoolboy when one didn’t worry whether ones drawings were good or not. Your material has come to me at just the right time.

 

Since this is a fountain pen community please share with us the pens, inks and papers you use.

 

Here’s what I’m playing with.

 

On the high end I’m using a Pilot Elite fountain pen. Although it’s not a full-sized pen, when posted it is close. The pen has a nice fine point 14k gold nib which draws an approximately .5mm line. I know that because the line it writes is comparable to the .5 Platinum Preppy I have.

 

I have a Pilot Ecrino medium point (sister to the Pilot Lucina) which I have had for about 18 years; though it’s a medium nib and puts down a somewhat thicker line, it is a smooth and consistent writer and works quite well for drawing exercises and practice; being a Japanese medium it’s still a thinner line than a Western medium.

 

I’m also using 2 Platinum Preppys, a .5mm and a .3 mm fitted with Platinum converters which cost about as much as the pens themselves.

 

I know many artists have praised the glories of the Platinum Desk Pen because it is inexpensive and apparently a great line maker but I have yet to try that. What I have just ordered and am waiting for in the mail is a Rotring Art Pen with an extra fine nib. I have 2 Rotrings I use for calligraphy practice and they write nicely so I’m looking forward to trying the Rotring with the regular (non-chisel point) nib.

 

For inks I’m using Sailor Jentle Black, Sailor Kiwa-Guru, Noodlers Black and Old Manhattan Black, and Aurora Black. I’m also using Private Reserve Choclate. I’ve developed the practice of adulterating all of my inks with glycerin and Liquitex Flow Aide to make them wetter and flow better. This works well for sketching practice.

 

For papers I’ve got too many sketchbooks and pads to list here. I have found that I like Clairefontaine because it’s got that extra coating of sizing which makes the fine point nibs glide nicely over it. I wish I could find a source for unlined Clairefontaine paper or a sketchbook made from unlined Clairefontaine paper. If anyone reading knows about that please post here.

[rahul_jain]

Thanks Sarah, Maurizio and holgalee for your kind words. Holding a fountain pen and drawing simple landscapes using simple pen strokes is a very rewarding and relaxing experience and this is something I want everybody to discover and hence time and effort I have put behind extensive tutorials, videos and now workbooks on my website. Hopefully others will join me in this pursuit;)

 

@Maurizio,

let me first start by saying that to get started, you don't need anything fancier than a good quality get ball point pen. Let the aim of getting a 'good drawing pen' not prevent you from getting started. Once you begin your journey, you can of course experiment with different pens, but make sure you start first.

 

I have a video over view of pens for drawing on my YouTube channel here This might help you get an overview of choices.

 

Personally, wrt fountain pens, I use Pilot Falcon FP with fine tip as I find that it has quite a bit of flex. It is bit expensive and on the cheaper side, I think the best choice for a beginner, by far, is Pilot Metropolitan FP. Classic design, very reasonable price and great lines for drawing. Platinum desk pen with carbon ink and so is the desk pen from Pilot. There are many good choices from other brands I can recommend as well, but quite frankly, any good quilaity FP you have can be use to get starting.

Regarding ink, I use Noodler's black ink and find it sufficient. Regarding paper, get one with sufficient thickness so that it won't bleed. When buying sketch/drawing pads, get ones for 'multi media' , especially if you plan to use FP. With gel pens, most any paper will be sufficient, but with wet FP lines, a thicker paper will work better. Don't use cold press paper for water colour as its texture is not amenable for fountain pens, but any smooth Bristol paper would work.

 

Hope this helps. Do let me know if you have specific questions/comments.

 

Thanks

Rahul

[northstar]

You have done a great work, all the best.

 

Ernest Hemingway

[Wolverine1]

Thankas for posting this, Rahul. I have also subscribed to your YouTube channel. Thank you.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Art note books, the couple I tried in my paper search, feather a lot. I was looking for writing not drawing. But being a paper 'noobie' was willing to try anything.

[rahul_jain]

Thanks northstar, wolverine1 and Bo Bo Olson for the feedback. Appreciated. Also, nice work northstar:)

 

If any of you had a chance to look at the workbooks, I would appreciate any feedback in terms of their suitability for learning to draw with pen. Would it be useful to make more such workbooks focusing on other elements like water, mountains etc.

 

Also I wanted to point couple of things.

 

1. Drawing faces and human forms is very unforgiving in that it even slight error in ratios of different parts is easily caught as our eyes are very perceptive to human forms. Landscapes and natural elements are quite forgiving in that sense in that there is no 'standard' shape of a tree. As long as certain very simple things are followed (like tapering of a trunk), landscapes are a great way get started with drawing. I cover things to watch out for in the workbooks but it is lot simpler to attempt them than human forms.

 

2. Learning to drawing with pen, I feel, is better than starting with pencil as it takes away the constant 'draw-erase-draw' cycle that many beginners get trapped in and which leads to frustration. After a line is put, there is no turning back and it encourages good observation and a certain flow to the practice of drawing. With pen, there is also focus on certain 'strokes' to bring out the texture, as opposed to more use of 'shading' with pencil and for a beginner, once a stroke is understood, it encourages quick experimentation and enjoyment of the process.

 

Happy drawing,

 

Rahul

www.pendrawings.me/getstarted