Pen Techniques

Drawing with pen is one of my favorite mediums to create art with. This type of medium can be intimidating since pen is permanent and once it's on paper you can't erase it. But practice makes perfect, so it is okay to mess up!

There are tons of different techniques you can accomplish with pen, but we're only going to focus on the four main ones that I use when drawing with pen.

1. Hatching

Hatching is the easiest technique to accomplish and is used to add

value in a linear fashion. You can use a ruler to get sharper lines

but freehanded the lines will add more character to your drawing.

The closer the lines are to each other, the darker the value. More

space between the lines will create a lighter value.

2. Cross Hatching

Cross hatching is just like hatching except that the lines cross over each

other. You will create parallel lines going one direction and then do the

same going in the other direction so those lines cross. The more lines

that cross, the darker the value. Less lines creates a lighter value.

3. Stippling

My personal favorite technique, but also the most tedious one. Stippling

includes adding countless dots to create the value of whatever you're

drawing. Just like the other techniques, the higher the concentration of

dots, the darker the value. And the more space between dots will result

in a lighter value. Although this is a time consuming technique, it

allows us as artists to control the value application.

4. Scribbling

Scribbling involves random lines that can be broken up or continuous.

There is no pattern involved in this technique so you can use your

imagination and have complete artisitc freedom with this technique.

Like all of the other techniques, the more scribbling you do, the darker

the value will be. The less scribbles will result in a lighter value.

Now that you have a new found knowledge of pen techniques, here is some inspiration of a drawing I did using pen and the different techniques.