(by 3 people)
In pencil you can make mistakes, there is always the eraser. With pen, the lines are sharper, gradients and shading more difficult, and mistakes are harder to cover up. Pen illustrations require a different technique than other media. Whether you're a professional graphic designer or just an amateur illustrator doodling on your notepad, hopefully these tips and techniques will help you to improve your drawings.
Sketching Basics
The best best way to learn to sketch well is by sketching. When learning to sketch a pen is best because you have to commit to the lines you make. Sometimes the initial lines even if they're wrong enhance the final drawing.When finding things to draw, it's best to look at subjects that are moving. This is helpful because it forces you to work quickly. It's a good practice to not rest your hand on the paper and hold the pen slightly farther from the tip than you normally would. This way you can create nice flowing lines that emphasize the movement of your subject.
It's not important to make your sketch look just like the figure. The idea is to get the basic form. Look for the hard outlines and contour lines.
As for the specific pen to use, just play around and see what you like. You could use a technical pen, but a simple ballpoint pen like a bic is also a great tool, that's often overlooked.
Drawing Hair in Pen
When drawing hair in black & white, it's important to not try to draw every strand of hair. That's just impossible. The idea is to show the flow and the movement and the illusion of hair.
The key with drawing hair in pen is the highlights. As you can see especially on the girl on the left, there is a huge space in the middle of her hair that is essentially blank. There is no ink in that area because it is the highlight, and especially on her since she had light colored hair. Our mind tricks us into completing the picture ourselves.
The girl on the right has black hair, but notice that she has highlights too! Look at the hair right above her face, there is a big spot with no ink since that is where the light was hitting.
Depending on your pen, you may or may not be able to vary the width of your stroke. If you can, always fade into a highlight and into the head. That is, end the stroke going towards the head for a more realistic effect.
Sketches courtesy of graphic designer gallery
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Creative Contact Blog
This is a great blog about art and life as an artist. It covers a broad range of topics from collaborative animation to creating your own brand as an artist. I don't only draw; I am also interested in seeing different viewpoints from around the art community, so it's a good read.
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