Tip: Shading to make your ink sketches zing

Last weekend I wrote about making straight lines in an urban sketch. With good reason, since, in my opinion, if you can make a straight line, and you can make a curved line, then you can make a sketch.

Okay, it sounds simple when I say it like that, but I can’t stress to you enough that the more you practice looking, measuring distances with your eye and translating these distances onto the piece of paper in front of you, then the easier and more natural it becomes.

So once you’ve got the lines, what’s important then? This brings me to shading.

Now, the fact is that not every sketch you’ll make needs a huge amount of shading. For example, this sketch I made in Kaunas:

Which does have a minimal amount of shading, and this sketch I made in the Tramvaj Café in Wenceslaus Square in Prague:

Both of them have very small amounts of shading, because I didn’t feel at that time that I made them, that either sketch needed any more.

On the whole, though, you’ll want to use a greater or lesser amount of shading in many of your sketches. Done effectively, shading gives tone, and makes your sketches appear more three dimensional, allowing them to zing off the page. For example:

This was a sketch I made quite recently. I think that the different amounts of shading on this sketch give a real sense of the building’s proportions, and help place it within time and space. 

Shading with a sketching pen, my preferred medium, is trickier than shading with, for example, an HB pencil. As an example I’m going to share three sketches with you, of the same subject – one which is a simple line drawing without shading, one sketched and shaded with an HB pencil, and the other sketched and shaded with a sketching pen. The object is a bust of Julius Caesar. 

To make life easier for the purposes of this demonstration, I worked from a photograph, although normally I far prefer to sketch from life. Here’s the photograph: -

Here’s the simple line sketch without shading. I had to take a photo as it simply wouldn’t scan:-

Actually this looks alright like this. It’s not a perfect likeness, but for a 7 minute sketch, it really isn’t bad at all. There will be times when you decide that you don’t want or need to do any shading. This time, however, even though I like the sketch as it is, I think I can definitely improve it by applying shading. I photocopied the line sketch, and then I shaded the original in pencil, and the other in pen.  

Now here’s the same sketch, shaded in HB pencil:-

My scanner does not pick up graphite pencil marks particularly well. Still, even bearing that in mind you can still see that there are areas of darker and lighter shading on this sketch. Just by pressing your pencil a little harder you can get darker marks, and a little less hard you can get fainter marks. Using either a finger, or a paper butt, you can blend areas of different shading together so you get a smoother transition from one to another. You can see how the shading marks have added texture to what was quite a flat sketch to begin with.

Finally the sketch using the ink sketching pen.

Now, there is nothing wrong with only sketching in pencil, especially if you think that it shows your work to its best advantage. However there are reasons why some sketchers prefer to work in pen – and I’m one of them. For one thing ink pen scans a lot better than graphite pencil, and so it’s easier to exhibit ink sketches online. Also, I really like the graphic art quality you can get with an ink sketch.

Now, I wouldn’t claim that this quick sketch I made using my pen is one of the best things I’ve ever done, but it does show some of the things you can do to achieve different tones of shading. You have to think of shading in a different way when you’re using pen. Whether you press more softly or harder won’t have the same effect that it would with a graphite pencil, so you have to use lines and ink in a different way to create variation.

There are four main types of shading I used on this, but within each of those it is possible to achieve subtle differences of tone.

The area between the eye on the right and the eyebrow has been completely shaded in. More very dark areas of shade like this will create contrast, and give your sketch a striking, graphic quality, however the more of this one tone of shade you use, the less realistic your sketch may turn out.

For areas of light shade, I use hatching. This basically means a series of (relatively) straight lines, all slanting in the same direction, making the shape that you want the shade or shadow to be. The wider apart you make each stroke, the lighter the patch of shade will be, so you can see that the shade on the chest of the statue has lines much further apart than the lines on the face.

To achieve a tone of shade which is lighter than total shade, but darker than the hatched areas, I use cross hatching. Basically this means using hatching lines in the way I described in the last paragraph, then applying another set of lines, this time in the opposite direction, to the area I want to be darker. You can see this effect on the lips of the statue, and also beneath the chin on the right.

You can even add another tone of shade between the cross hatching and the completely dark shading, by adding a set of vertical or horizontal lines to the cross hatched areas. You can see the effect of this in the shaded area between nose, left eyebrow, and left eye. As with hatching, you can achieve lighter or darker areas by making spaces between lines tighter or looser.

If you combine these 4 ways of creating areas of shade, then you can create some fairly subtle and appealing effects, and to my mind, these can be as effective as almost anything you can achieve with a graphite pencil. 

Here’s just a couple from my sketchbook which demonstrate what you can do with ink – all based on old photographs, since the vehicles they show aren’t running any more. Look closely and you’ll see areas which I’ve shaded using all of the methods I wrote about above.

One Sketch #32) My Depression Demon

Right, this little chap needs some explanation. Last year in 2017 I was diagnosed with clinical depression. It was a very unhappy time for me, but good medical care, medication and counselling helped me see my way through. However it’s not a condition I was totally cured of. I feel that I have a greater understanding of it, and am better able to deal with it, and that’s a big thing in itself.

Without wishing to bore you with all the gory details, imagine, if you will, a little demon sitting on your shoulder, constantly whispering to you all the worst things that you think about yourself, and doing it in your own voice. Of course I don’t really hear actual voices – this is just a metaphor – but maybe if you’ve never suffered from depression it might give you just a little idea what it can be like.

I’ve never felt quite as bad since I returned to work about a year ago, but I do still have days when I start off feeling really bad, and I say these are the days that the ‘demon’ is whispering particularly loudly. I know that usually if I start off a day feeling really low it does tend to pass by mid-morning, which I believe may be something to do with hormone levels. So I’m coping. Still, today was a bad day, and I started off the day feeling very low and empty, and it didn’t get much better for several hours, which is why I decided to sketch my little demon, if nothing else, as a way of saying – I know what you are, and today you haven’t manage to hurt me, so get stuffed! - One day at a time. Doing it one day at a time has got me almost through a whole year so far.

There is a voice,
That whispers when I'm low
That seeks to drag me further down
I know
That he will go.
My demon of depression.
Chatter on,
Chatter on,
One day you will be gone

One Sketch #31) Three Witches

Yes, there was only time for a very quick sketch yesterday. This was based on a well known oil painting of the three witches from the Scottish Play.

To cut a long story short, I had to quickly go through a synopsis of the play with my Year 9 class, to prepare for watching a broadcast by the RSC on Thursday. My class had done Romeo and Juliet.

Macbeth, when the kingdom he stole
Despite then achieving his goal
He just wasn't happy
His life became crappy,
And died with his head on a pole.

#dannygregory One Sketch 30) 7Up bottle

Last week I signed up for Sketchbook Revival. I've just watched the session with Danny Gregory, where he showed us a few of his sketchbooks, and explained his motivation to begin drawing a few years ago. Inspirational. Towards the end Danny drew his teacup, and invited us to try sketching our own. This is my problem. I don't like tea. I love coffee - but - over the last 10 days or so I've really been struggling with my sleep. For the last two days I've tried to stick to the rule 'no caffeine after 12 noon'. It seems to be working to some extent. Hence my substitution of diet 7 Up for my usual coffee or Pepsi Max. 

Oh Pepsi Max

I think it's time

To forsake you

For lemon lime. 

One Sketch #29) Julius Caesar

I did this because I bought a copy of Tom Holland's "Dynasty" abut the Julio-Claudian dynasty which provided a generation of the first Roman Emperors (although Julius was not, strictly speaking, one of them. Dictator, but not Emperor)

Caesar, a general
Quite automatically
Fell for the charms of the
Queen of the Nile
Caesar, to please her, most
Undemocratically
Took a dictatorship
To make her smile

Caesar, a general
Sources historical
Say that he came to be
Viewed as a God
I will say this, and not
Uncategorical-
Killed by his mates he's now
Under the sod.

Tip: A Straight line can take you a long way sketching a building

I’ll be honest, I’ve thought long and hard before posting anything which might be thought of as a tutorial. I stress now that I have absolutely no qualifications in art, and have not had an art lesson since I was 14 years old, and gave it up as a subject at school. Any skills I have are things I have picked up piecemeal, by trial and error, and without really realising or understanding how.

However, just in the last week I have had two different local businesses commission me to make sketches for their material. I’ve also had a couple of people ask how they can improve their own sketching skills. In order to come up with a reasonable answer, I’ve had to really think about what it is that I actually do when I go sketching. And one thing I keep coming back to, which other people harp on about, is the ability to make relatively straight lines.

Here’s the sketch I made earlier today.

Normally, I would prefer to sketch from life, on the spot. However I thought that it would be easier to write this post if I had a photograph of the scene to show you. Here it is.

Now, for me the key element of the sketch was the sculpture in the centre. In fact when I started I hadn’t yet decided whether I was just going to sketch the sculpture on its own, or include any background.

Anything you sketch is going to involve making lines, and probably a lot of these will be quite straight lines. The sides of the main column were the first lines I wanted to make. Now, a lot of my process of drawing an accurate line is done with my eyes. I look at what I’m trying to represent with a line closely before putting pen to paper. The first line I wanted to start with was the left hand side of the column. Looking carefully, you can see that it is a diagonal, since the column tapers slightly upwards. Rather than making the line in one go. I put a small dot on the page where I intended to start the top of the line, and then another, slightly closer to the left hand edge of the page, as far down as the point where the side joins the base. I always use my own judgement on this. Yes, working with a photo I could have measured it. For that matter, I might have used a protractor to get the angle of taper accurate. But I’m not trying to make a photograph. Eye reckoning is usually good enough, and your ability to do this improves with practice.

You can just about see the two dots I started with in this picture. The next thing to do is to join the two dots with a straight line. Now, here’s a useful tip. When you’re making a straight diagonal or horizontal line, then turn your sketchbook around so that the two dots line up, and you have a straight line to draw. It’s much easier to keep your pen or pencil going in a straight line if you’re pulling it directly down towards yourself. This is what I was doing in the second picture. You can see that I’ve slightly swivelled the paper, and as a result it was so much easier to get a reasonably straight line. To make the other side of the column, then, I made another two dots. This time I had my first line to act as a rough guide , and again, I used eye judgement to work out how far apart the top of the column should be. The fact that the column is vertically symmetrical helped me to judge where to put the bottom spot. This time I swivelled the page in the opposite direction from before in order to give me the easiest straight line to draw.

The next step was making a few more straight lines, but this time the diagonal horizontals to make the top and bottoms of the columns. Perspective wise, you have to remember that the diagonals are steeper at the sides, and shallower towards the centre.

When you think about perspective as well, here’s a tip for putting in verticals on a tapered octagonal or hexagonal column like this. You’ve got both sides in, so the next line to put in is the centre, which is straight. This just left me with the diagonals, which I made by putting sports on the lines at top and bottom. The diagonal should still be apparent, but clearly shallower than the sides.  

I used the top of the column as a guideline of how to make the horizontals one third and two thirds of the way down the column. As before, I turned the page to ensure that I was always pulling straight downwards.

 Basically, that’s the column. I still had to add the base at the bottom and the lantern at the top, but you can start to see how the sketch began to come together in the pictures below. Having got my straight lines good enough on the column it didn’t take a great deal of shading to make it zing out, and really start to look like the column. Even adding the background, where the roof line and the wall line were curved, the vast majority of lines I was making were curved, and I was using exactly the same techniques to make the straight lines for drain pipes, window frames etc.

Now, if you compare the finished sketch with the photograph, you’ll see that this is by no means a perfect rendition of the column. But it works, and it works because my straight lines a re pretty consistent with each other. And that’s really not so difficult to achieve – as I said, a straight line can actually take you a long way when you’re sketching a building.

One Sketch #28) Sculpture - Swansea, Promenade

This one I made this morning.

It's one of a number of fairly prominent public sculptures which stand on the promenade in Swansea. This one, to my untutored eyes, seems to have been inspired by a lighthouse - the main body of it and the lantern on the top certainly put me in mind of a lighthouse, anyway.

Waves roll in
The tides of time grind and pound,
Lap and caress,
And against their surge
No light may avail.

I'll be saying a bit more about this sketch in my next post. Speaking of which. . .