Pen and Ink – SketchWild

Great Pen And Ink Artists, Part 3: Edwin Austin Abbey

American artist and illustrator Edwin Austin Abbey was among the most respected, liked and admired artists of his day both by his colleagues and the public. He’s been a particular favorite of mine for many years. Abbey was equally excellent in pen and ink, drawing in dry media and oil painting. Although born in the […]

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A Bibliography of Pen & Ink Books for Artists

“White Rhino” by Susan Fox, 2018 PEN AND INK (Modern and in print): Rendering in Pen and Ink by Arthur T. Guptill; Watson-Guptill Publications, 1976, from the original 1930 editionPen and Ink Drawing by Aphonso Dunn; Three Minds Press, Woodland Park, New Jersey, 2015Pen and Ink Techniques by Frank Lohan; Dover Books, 2009; reprint of […]

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Pen and Ink Art for a Great Project…Coloring Nature

Last year, from an art friend and colleague, I learned about, and volunteered to create, art for a new coloring book project called Coloring Nature. Having taken up pen and ink drawing again a couple of years ago this was perfect! Most of the artists are actual scientific illustrators, but I have enough of a […]

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The Best Vintage Dip Pen Nibs for Artists

A couple of years a ago I got interested in drawing with dip pen nibs again, specifically the vintage versions. There’s a few of the same ones that are still in production today and I’m sure they’re fine, but the original pre-WW2 nibs were largely hand-produced by women (and that will be a fascinating story […]

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Getting Started- First Exercises

You’ve got some nibs, a holder, a bottle of ink and some good quality, fairly smooth paper. Now what? The first thing to do is to familiarize yourself with those tools. A great way to do that is to try out the exercises as shown in this post. I’ve not been able to find out […]

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What’s Your Line? Line Quality In Pen & Ink Drawing (Traditional)

Back in the late 19th into almost the middle of the 20th century a dip pen and ink on paper was the standard media for black and white illustration. Every magazine at the time depended on the skill of those artists to bring alive various articles and also many advertisments. Companies needed them for illustrating […]

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Great Pen And Ink Artists, Part 2: William Heath Robinson

William Heath Robinson was one of the most popular and beloved illustrator/artists of late 19th and early 20th century England. He was also a master of pen and ink. He first became known as a book illustrator and I’m posting examples of that from a two-volume set of “The Works of Rabalais” from my own […]

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Testing, Testing…Tiny Nibs

Steel pen nibs were made in a seemingly endless array of sizes and designs for over 100 years. There are a very limited number still being made today. All of them are based on the necessary shape of a barrel that was curved, plain at one end to fit into the holder and the slit […]

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Ink Tests for Water Resistence

A week or so ago I experimented with a variety of inks on the sketchbook and drawing papers I like best to find out how water resistant they are on each one. What I want to do is go out into the field with my dip pens and watercolors, draw something in ink and then […]

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A Fun Pen & Ink Job From The 90’s

I’ve done pen and ink work for a LONG time, since the mid-1970s. Back then I used Speedball and then Brause steel nibs for lettering, along with turkey quills for medieval and celtic illumination. For commercial work it was Rapidiograph technical pens or bust. I recently unearthed a folder with tearsheets of drawings I did […]