Pen & Ink... On The Go

Former editor of artists & illustrators magazine and urban sketcher James Hobbs shows you how to use pen and ink on the move

- James Hobbs

Part of the allure of working with pen and ink is just how wonderfully simple it can be. If you are heading out to work on location, the equipment you take with you doesn’t need to weigh you down or break the bank: at its simplest, it need be no more than a sketchbook and a fineliner pen; just that is enough for a lifetime’s work. And yet you can take it much further, into coloured inks, liquid inks, fountain pens, thick markers, brush pens, twigs or bamboo pens. Inks dry quickly, and generally stay fixed. This may seem a disadvantage, but it is a boon if you’re on the move, and it leads you to be bold and take chances in the way you work. I would encourage people to skip any preliminary pencil marks. Head straight into a scene with ink and trust yourself. The results will have more energy because of it, even if things don’t always succeed.

These exercises include the gradual layering of ink washes, a composition constructed with simple monochrome lines, and quick pen studies of the rapidly changing landscape as seen from a train. Give them a go if you are travelling with pen and ink.

LAYERED WASHES

An advantage of working with waterproof ink is the way in which it can, when used in a diluted form, be gradually built up in layers with glazing-style technique. Ink’s permanence can seem a drawback, but the approach adopted in this exercise uses it to positive effect.

Materials:

Winsor & Newton black Indian ink, Winsor & Newton Apple Green ink, Pentel Aquash Waterbrush and A5 Schoellershammer No.10 200gsm paper.