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Stippling: Pen and Ink Dots and Crosshatch

Stippling is an ink drawing technique where you apply various tones and textures with small dots. You can adjust the depth of tone and the roughness of texture by varying the density and distribution of the dots. Like cross hatching, stippling can take on many forms. It can be done free handed or mechanically on your computer. Using carefully or loosely arranged dots of even or uneven densities and distribution. Any small marks, not just dots are good to achieve the stippling effect.

Cross hatching is another pen and ink skill this is often combined with stippling to create depth in the artwork. These are two traditional techniques that have been used by artists for centuries. As strange as it sounds stippling all comes down to specific dot placement. This may seem confusing since it looks so random. When doing a pen and ink drawing I always begin with a light sketch in pencil. I make sure it is perfect and then I transfer the main outlines to an inking surface using graphite transfer paper. I usually use hot press water color paper when doing an ink drawing. It has a smooth durable surface. This paper is good cause it can withstand many lines and ink dots in a small amount of space. Make sure to keep your paper protected, smooth and undamaged. This could effect the way your ink lays on the paper. Now if you are a beginner, regular pens are OK, but you will find as you progress that you may prefer a more technical pen. Then don't blot like a regular pen, or catch the paper, creating possible smudges. Ink does not erase so something like that can force you to start over. Not fun. Pigma Micron pens are good to use, they are inexpensive and widely available.

As far as actual technique goes, I make the ink lines in combination. The first technique is called cross-hatching: small groups of parallel lines are drawn at angles to each other, and are drawn on top of each other, so that shading results. The more lines placed in one area, the darker the shading. I use this technique quite a lot; I find that it is fairly easy to control the buildup of lines, and therefore the amount of shading. Another technique is called "stipple". Tiny dots of ink are used to indicated texture and/or shading. Stipple is an extremely time-consuming technique, since each dot must be carefully placed to avoid the appearance of "pattern" where there may be none. With pen and ink, building from light to shadow is key. You can add color afterward. Accomplishing that with lines only is a unique challenge. One other thing I'll mention is this: there are no outlines in nature. Realism in pen and ink (and in any other medium) depends on approximating as closely as possible what is actually seen, and not what you think is there. But, this is the ultimate charm of pen and ink and why it hold such fascination for me: images can be made to look "real" through the use of texture and careful shading, yet still retain a certain unrealness by virtue of the fact that the image is made up of nothing but lines. As you can see to the right it also may help to section off your original picture. Since you are working with dots and not objects, you can now use your eye to go space by space collecting all the information of one before moving to the next. It makes it just a little easier, to keep you from getting overwhelmed by the mass large picture. You can practice this technique just by drawing and shading simple shapes. Notice how and where the light bounces of the objects you are drawing. Have fun with it.

Acrylics: Selecting Your Colors

Being that acrylics are relatively new, the color manufactures have been able to use the best new pigments. Lightfastness is important (a pigments ability to withstand fading). Good lightfast colors include Quinacridone violets and reds; Phthalo blues and greens; Cadmium reds and yellows and also Azo Yellow. There are also white metallic colors available. To understand how colors work together to create different effects, you should be aware of the basic color theory. You three primary colours are red, yellow, and blue. These can be set up with related colours in between thus setting up your colour wheel, adding your secondary colours, violet, orange, and green to conclude it.

This colour wheel shows the three primary and three secondary colours. The secondary colours are easily obtained by mixing the two primary colours that are on either side of it. I have also added some colours in between to show a more gradual shift from one color to the next. I have added a bit of white paint to my colors to make them opaque. The colours I used here are naturally a little transparent. With these fairly pure paint colours you can mix almost any hue.

Experiment at first with a limited palette. This will give you a more individual experience of mixing colour and tone with just a few basic colours. Maybe start by picking just three primary colours and white to add value. Make sure to remember that every colour you add to a painting is going to effect any other colour on that page. Mostly those touching it and right next to it. It is best to use complementary colours to interact with each other when ever possible. It helps to produce a bright contrast and overall balance. Complimentary colours are those that appear across from each other on the color wheel. Green and red, yellow and purple, orange and blue. Aim for balance when trying this, if a painting is predominantly blue, only a few touches of orange are needed to intensify the blue.

Adjacent colors are also those colours right next to each other. When painting a flower red you can use the cooler and warmer shades of that red to add your highlights and shadows. It will give you a more gradual transition then adding black or white. You can use the adjacent colour violet for the deeper shadows and so on.

Check out my painting of the archer to see how I experimented with the colours on the wheel. This is a good exercise to help you with your understanding of colour. Just continue painting the same picture over and over using different contrast of the colour wheel. Also be sure to do one in full colour. You can paint something more simple, like a flower. Here is what I did: For six of the squares I took all of the main colours of the wheel and used that colour with only black and white to create the shading and tones. Square one is just red black and white. Then I took the 3 primary colours and used there contrasting colours to create the same image, remember only these two colours. Like in square 2 there is only orange and blue, no black or white was added for shading. You will find these to be a little more difficult to master. Don't worry, as you can see mine are far from perfect. For the middle one in the bottom row I used full colour. Practice this a couple of times. You will find that they get better and better as you further understand the colours you are using.