Art Post Set 14 – Sketches with Ink or Colour

1. Today, I (Ted) will be explaining how to draw three things, an animal, plant and landscape using both watercolours and ink (seperately, obviously). First, what is the difference? When you want to add contrast to a monochromatic image, inks are used because they are just black and grey. However, inks are beneficial because there are multiple various monochromatic tones that can be achieved using just ink and water, therefore they are good for adding shadows. Conflictingly, watercolours or pigments can add depth and beauty to a sketch, as well as realism, if the cplours are added in correct proportion to each other.

1) Horse:

To draw the sketch of the horse, first start by drawing circles to represent the horses general body structure and joints. Use faint pencil lines, and measure the proportions of the horse before starting. Add in the curves of its body, and the smaller details like it’s facial features.

Ink: Wash over the shadowed areas with watered down ink, then add darker tones at the edges where necessary, and use jet black ink to add a few strokes to the mane and tail and darken the pupils of the eyes.

Colour: Wash over the entire body in a light brown, then add darker browns and light oranges to the shadows and highlights. Using black to bring out the details, and white of necessary to highlight the eyes slightly.

2) Pepper:

To start of roughly place the shadows and highlights with a faint pencil, and draw a rough outline. Start adding slight tones with a pencil, and add seeds. Use dark ink for the darker red, green or yellow shades near the edges, and slightly lighter tones for the shadows. Use cross hatching (a technique used to create depth) to emphasis the edges of the shadows.

Ink: use a dark black to go over more detailed cross hatching, and a general wash of light grey over the whole piece. Add darker tones to the shadows. To creating a bleeding effect, wash over and area with water then use jet black to draw lines on it. You can experiment with this on a separate piece of paper. Tip: don’t use this effect near the edges.

Colour: use light red, yellow or green for the wash over the whole piece, the add the bleeding effect to darker versions of these colours for the shadows. Tip: Leave some white patches for a more realistic effect.

Landscape: To sketch a landscape, start by roughly positioning each of the features of the landscape such as trees mountains or rivers. Then, draw the approximate shapes of each feature. Start adding darker lines to match the exact shape. Finally, add detail to the landscape such as ripples in water or rocks on a mountain.

Ink: Start with an outline in jet black ink. This is especially useful if the sun is visible in the landscape behind the features because it gives the illusion of shadow. Then add in shadows around the features or near the edges, keeping in mind where the sun is in the landscape. If you want wash over the landscape features with a light grey, and leave white patches for highlights.

Colour: For colour, start with a black outline, then slowly add darker versions of the colours around the edges, and use softer colours into the middle. Leave white patches where the sun shines on the feature.

I hope you enjoyed this Art Post! Happy New Year everyone!!!