A Sketching Short Cut

Sketching helps me be more aware of not only the natural world, but of the urban scenes that surround me every day.  For some reason, when I sketch something, I am forever bonded to it.  I find that worries drop away as I forget everything but the scene or plant in front of me. Besides the scene itself, years later I can remember the weather, who I was with and my mood in that moment.

Because I love detail and enjoy the act of drawing so much, I easily get carried away then run out of time before I complete a sketch.  Since my sketching time is usually limited, especially while traveling, I am always looking for ways to speed the process up.  Awhile back a friend showed me a technique she was using of putting diluted ink into a water brush for sketching.  I decided to try it out on a trip to San Francisco, sketching the ferry terminal.  I drew the barest skeletal architecture of the tower in pencil then brushed on the diluted ink to create a tonal drawing.  I used another water brush with clear water to soften the larger washes and help them to flow, wet into wet.  I surprised myself at how fast I completed the sketch and was hooked on this new technique.

A quick sketch done lightly with pencil, then tones and shadows applied with diluted ink in a water brush

The sketch below was done on a camping trip, again when I only had a short time to spend on it.  I did the drawing with my Lamy Safari pen with Noodler’s Lexington Gray ink, then used my water brush filled with about 2/3 water and 1/3 Lexington Gray ink for the shadows.  (Tip: first put the ink into the water brush, then add the water.)  The diluted ink-filled water brush shades much faster than cross-hatching and I really like the softness the washes add to the sketch.

Pen and ink with ink wash for shadows

I used my regular Lexington Gray ink plus another waterbrush with Noodler’s Polar Brown in it on this one, with a few dabs of watercolor here and there.

When I saw Lara Call Gastinger‘s pen and ink drawings during her field sketching workshop at the American Society of Botanical Artist’s convention in Pittsburgh last year, I knew I finally found a way to meld urban sketching with field sketching.  Although Lara favors micron pens for her beautiful sketches, I wanted to try my grey ink in the Lamy fountain pen that I’ve used for years. Lara applies small watercolor washes to indicate plant colors in her sketches, which I did as well.  I found my diluted ink water brush worked great as a quick way to add shadows to the watercolor in some areas.  The Bittersweet branch and acorn are done entirely with ink, except for the berries.

Noodler’s Lexington Gray ink in my Lamy Safari extra fine nib pen (with an adapter*) and diluted in the waterbrush. I also like the Graphik pen in graphite colored ink, and of course a pencil is where it all starts!  I usually put down a skeletal pencil drawing first before I jump in with ink. *The adapter can be purchased with the pen and allows you to use ink from a bottle, not just ink cartridges.

This is pen and ink with ink washes, and a little watercolor for the buds and rose hip.  I used both brown and gray ink.  I like the effect of the Graphik pen for the dried plants in the background.

If I feel overwhelmed with sketching a complex subject, I start with a tonal drawing with my inky water brush, because it forces me to look past the detail to see the major shapes. I can add lines later if I think it will enhance the sketch and if time permits. For a line drawing, to cut down on time consuming cross hatching, out comes the water brush for the shadows. So whether lines come first or tones, the diluted ink water brush is a handy sketching tool to speed up the process.

Do you like to sketch? Do you have any tips for speeding up the process?