Recently I’ve focused a lot on the drawing aspect in my sketches, letting watercolor take a break or only adding a little bit of it.
I find I enjoy and get lost in the drawing process a lot more than when I’m painting. I think it has to do with the drying time of the paint, it just takes me out of the flow. This effect is less prominent when I’m painting in the field, so maybe I should just do all my painting outside in the summer. I don’t do enough of that anyway.
As I’ve explored drawing more, I’ve been looking at ways to create fun sketches with pencil only, or ink only, by looking at the different marks and textures I can get out of my pens. This is also a great way to get to know a tool, and to warm up when you start drawing.
My current drawing tools
I’m very happy with my small selection of mechanical pencils – they are just reliable workhorses. I don’t have to sharpen them, they always give nice thin lines. I often bring two with different lead sizes: 0.5 and 0.7 mm.
I currently use my Kaweco Sport fountain pens the most, they’re dependable, never dry out, give wonderful lines, plus they’re very cute! I’d love to have even more fountain pens for more line variety (don’t we all). Fountain pens because I love the marks they make, they are quite handy for field sketching, and they can be refilled.
Other tools I’m bringing
- I’ve also added a white Posca acrylic marker to my setup for quick corrections (PC-1MR). Unbeatable opacity.
- A Faber Castell Graphite Aquarelle 2B for experiments. This is a watersoluble graphite pencil, it smudges less than a regular pencil, and I like being able to add variety with just a bit of water. I might get a softer one.
- a few brushes for the pencil above or in case I want to unpack my watercolors. I really like the Raphael Softaqua brushes at the moment.
- a soft eraser like the Tombow Mono dust catch
Thoughts about this process
- Depending on the lead, pencil can smudge a bit in sketchbooks. So you either have to protect the page with a piece of extra paper (which I often forget), add watercolor to fix the graphite, or add ink on top and erase.
- I find I don’t mind that extra step, and by inking over pencil I can redefine or restate some of what I’ve explored in the first step. I’m loving this part of the process a lot, especially since I’ve polished my drawing techniques – having really solid drawing skills makes this so much more enjoyable. It’s the base for everything else.
- In my ink drawings, I try to find a balance between clear lines and texture. So far I haven’t really explored sketches with lots of shading or hatching, somehow showing values doesn’t interest me as much. But who knows, maybe that will change at some point.
- I usually use very fine nibs (EF or F) – I prefer very thin outlines when I add watercolor to a sketch, it creates very sharp linework. However, when the lines carry the entire sketch, it can be nice to have a bit of variation. More prominent lines in the foreground, and subtler ones in the background for example, or a broader tip to quickly fill an area with ink for shading. So maybe I’ll invest in a fountain pen with an M nib next. I’m obsessed with the small Kaweco Sport pens, they perform best for me.
What kind of nibs do you like, what fountain pens do you use for sketching?
Exploring textures
Figuring out how to show a variety of textures is another aspect I love about drawing – it’s interesting to find visual short-cuts for the different materials out there – stone, wood, bark, leaves in all shapes and forms, they can all be shown in slightly different squiggly lines. Over time, you can build a collection of textures that will be your own – this is a large part of your drawing style, the distinct way in which your hand creates marks. This is one of the exercises I love most in my drawing courses.
And just a gentle reminder, if you want to learn more about drawing techniques and all the different concepts that make up a good sketch, you can join me in my course Sketching Fundamentals, my foundational drawing course that covers all of this and more. Right now I’m offering the course with assignments and personal feedback.
If you want to learn how to draw from the start, this is the right course for you. There will be an entire assignment about textures and mark-making, and of course many more exercises that cover all the basics.
I am becoming a big fan of the water-soluble graphite pencils – especially for capturing trees in full summer foliage. An HB option is great for a paler ‘distant’ view (Derwent are good), while General’s ‘Sketch & Wash’ #588 is good for very dark tones (a very little water goes a long way with the latter!). Once the water is added (and dried) the sketches don’t seem to smudge much.
Thank you Tess, I also have a Derwent pencil here and will experiment. I found the waxy texture a bit weird to draw with at first, but I’m warming up to those water-graphite pencils.
Hi Julia, I always enjoy your posts, but this one was especially interesting to me. I also find myself getting lost in the drawing aspect, which is great. I love the concept of just using a little color, but every time I try that I get carried away with the paint. I have experimented with fountain pens and will look into the Kaweco. However, I have a question about the paint colors you used on the greens with your leaves, which are exquisite. We can’t avoid greens when we paint in nature, and your choices were very appealing to me. I assume you mixed those colors. I can’t seem to interpret the German — can you let me know what colors you used to mix those greens? Thanks so much, Julie
Hi Julie, great to hear you too enjoy the process of drawing so much. My written annotations are just about the weather (very hot but already cold in the mornings), and about mosquitos! :)
About the colors, I often start with Winsor Sap Green and then add yellow or cobalt or ultramarine blue to modify it to appear warmer or cooler. You can do this with any combination of yellow and blue, and of course you can mix greens from scratch. I find the Sap Green + yellow/blue is a good compromise to save time on this.
I do have sap green and ultramarine blue, but they are two colors I rarely use, and I can’t say why. Thanks for these tips. –Julie
I also love doing ink sketches every once in a while. I started with a new Lamy fountain pen when I started nature journaling last year, but like you I found it does dry out quickly. Now I use a Kaweco and really love it. However, I still have a really old Lamy fountain pen from my school days which is about 25 years old now. And oddly enough it doesn‘t dry out, not even with waterproof ink, which is nice as I now can have two different nib sizes. I really like your sketch of the leaves with only a bit of colour!
That sounds nice indeed. I wonder if they changed something about the Lamy fountain pens. Now why didn’t I keep my old pen from school?
Julia, this was a particularly wonderful blog for me – thank you! This process is similar to mine: ink + some watercolor. Sometimes water soluble graphite (which I LOVE for quick tree trunk color/value!).
I use a Lamy Safari, EF or F nib, Platinum Carbon ink. My lines seem to be much thicker than the F nib in your sketches. I’m wondering if it’s ink, or if it’s pen, or if it’s technique. The “Nib Nook” fountain pen widths comparison at Goulet Pens show the Kaweco steel F and Lamy steel F about the same width. Sounds like I need to experiment more, and maybe pick up another pen to try :-)
I really like your description of textures, and how we can all create our own “collection” to indicate different surfaces. I’d never thought of it this way, and it opens lots of creative doors for me. Thank you!
It could also be the paper or maybe the pressure, ink lines can vary a lot. And if you’ve used the nib for a while it will also become broader over time. But I agree, it’s always a good idea to pick up a new pen. :-)
I really like my TWSBI Eco fountain pen with a EF nib–it’s a piston filler and has a huge ink barrel so you don’t have to mess with ink converters or refill it very often.
Yes I’ve also come to like my TWSBI Eco quite a lot, it definitely can hold a lot of ink!