

Sketching with a pen can also be fun, as it forces you to commit to your lines and makes your sketches more spontaneous. You can use any medium to sketch, but pencils are the most popular choice as they allow you to easily erase any mistakes. It is often used as a preliminary step to create a more finished piece of art. Sketching is a drawing style that is usually done quickly, using loose lines. These techniques require only lines to create the appearance of light and shadow. If you want to create more detailed line art, shade it using the hatching or cross hatching techniques.

Line art is a perfect style of art to use with pen and ink. This results in a continuous line drawing that can be quite difficult to achieve. For example, a contour drawing is a simple line drawing, where the artist outlines the contours of a subject, without rendering too many details.Ĭontinuous line drawing is created by drawing the lines of an object without taking your pencil off the paper. There are a number of different types of line art that require different techniques. Artists use line art to create simple images or complex ones, depending on the artist’s skill level. This is where the image is made up of nothing but lines, with no shading or colour. One of the most basic styles of drawing is line art. This gave way to drawing techniques such as hatching and cross hatching being invented, as with an engraving tool, you cannot create a tonal range by applying varying pressure to the tool. Old masters used a variety of drawing tools, such as etching or silverpoint to create their artworks. Artists would carefully plan the composition then they would create focal points with the use of light and positioning. This can be seen in the works of many great masters such as Leonardo da Vinci and Rembrandt. This helps artists create a realistic value range and the highlights pop out from the surface! Classical drawing styles Leonardo da Vinci: Head of a GirlĬlassical drawing styles often aim for the depiction of the form and scenes in an idealised manner, whilst still maintaining a sense of proportion and accuracy. One popular method, which creates really beautiful results is drawing on toned paper, using a white pencil for the highlights. To this day, artists create academic style drawings and learn from academies and ateliers.

Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres was a strong leader of this art movement, who used pen, ink and pencil to create studies before moving onto create oil paintings. Students would draw models and copies of plaster casts. This art style relates to the way in which drawing was taught in 19th century French academies, which has inspired artists worldwide. Academic drawing styles often relate to mastery of technical art skills and sharp observation of life and the physical properties of the material world.
