Painting 101 :

Pen, ink and wash drawing

by Tissa Hewawitarane

Pen and ink has always been a favourite of mine. This time-proven art form allows the artist to create bold eye-catching compositions, rich textures and striking value contracts. The dedicated bold lines produced by a fine pen nib, can produce intricately detailed work. There is no set up, clean up or extended drying time to slow you down. So when doing a drawing with pen and ink learn to observe, feel free to experiment different techniques in drawing a human figure or a landscape. And above all, relax and enjoy what you do.

Colour and water

The first technique a beginner needs to know to get started in watercolour is the wash technique. The principle of watercolour painting is simple: all one needs to do is wet the brush with colour and water and spread it over the paper. Before painting with all colours, I recommend you practice the basics of the wash technique with a single colour. Once you understand the possibilities that this technique can offer, it will be much easier to try out more complex procedures. A small amount of paint is placed on the water colour palette.

Water-colour paint from the tube is denser and more concentrated than solid colours, which are wetted and softened by running the brush back and forth across the pan. Once the colour is on the palette, water is added with the brush. Once the colour is on the palette, water is added with the brush. The more water you add, the more transparent the tone then appears.

Applying the colour

Once the colour is on the palette, a little is placed in a compartment. Then a little water is added with brush to lighten the colour. First apply the colour with a moist brush. Next the brush is washed in water and rinsed and the colour is spread a little. A tone is made more transparent by adding water to it. By repeating this procedure, adding more water each time, you can obtain a gradation of the tone. Moistening the paper before you apply colour is the best way to execute gradations, but it is difficult to handle the colour using this technique.

Gradation on wet background

Paint is applied when the gradation begins. Since the paper is wet, the colour will spread much more easily. The more you extend the paint the gradation in this way, the colour seeps into the wet area, since the wet paper allows the paint to spread on its own.

The wash technique is apparently simple, it mainly consists of leading some paint on wet brush and applying it to the paper, ‘stretching’ out by adding ever larger amounts of water to obtain a gradation of the tone from dark to light. As the gradation becomes so light that it can barely be distinguished from the white paper.

The white of the paper

The greater the amount of water added to the paint the lighter and more luminous the resulting colour is. The less water added to the paint, the more opaque it will be. Thus it is easy to see that the colour white does not exist in watercolour. It is represented by the colour of the paper. You will observe the mother and children reproduced in this article are typical example. Notice the figure drawn with a sharp pen nib and ink outline captures the characteristic of the woman. A light wash of burnt sienna is applied to create tonal variety. The emotional impact of the lines and strokes on the painting which are compatible with the mood you want to capture is expressed clearly.

The whole painting is done with few colours. A figure sketch is more dramatic than a still life. It brings into play a higher number of more complicated recourses both for shadows and colour. The whole picture is sketched with rapid strokes. Observe the proportions of the body and how the principal lines relate to each other. I have completed the drawing using two colours.

Drawing and wash

Despite the fact that wash is executed with water colour, it is really a drawing technique. No matter whether you are experienced at drawing or not, you will see how closely wash is linked to drawing. The brush is used to apply lines the same way one forms lines with a pen. Moreover, the gradation technique is similar to stumping or shading or progressing from dark to light using a single colour.

In both cases the artist can achieve a great number of tones. A wash always allows the artist to paint different tones of the same colour, according to the amount of water that is added to the paint on the palette. The wash technique is apparently simple. It mainly consists of leading some paint on wet brush and applying it to the paper stretching it out by adding a large amount of water to obtain gradation of the tone from dark to light. The selection of colour in a painting is dictated by the method the artist works. Colour can be, realistic, adhering to nature as closely as possible, or it can be subjective with artist using colour he feels is right at that time.

The drawing is the foundation of watercolour painting. It is used as a guide as to where to apply the various tones and colours. Therefore, it is essential that the artist draw the lines correctly before starting to paint.

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