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Sketching in Line and Wash - Demonstration |
This Line and Wash demonstration for beginners was first published in Leisure Painter magazine.
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AIM OF THE PAINTING It is important to do plenty of sketching when learning to draw and paint. My aim in this demonstration is to help you to develop the necessary sketching skills and to show how line and wash can create exciting sketches. MATERIALS USED Watercolur paper : Bockingford Not surface 140 lb. 6"x 8". Brushes : Rounds 4, 8,10. Paints : Winsor and Newton Artists or Cotman watercolours in French ultramarine, light red and cadmium yellow. Drawing pen : Edding Profipen or Staedtler Pigment Liner black 0.3 or similar (must be permanent and lightfast). Plus : drawing board, palette, tape, tissue, water container, 2B pencil and a good quality eraser. KEY POINTS Composition. Notice how the barn is placed slightly off centre to the left and the horizon is low on the paper. White paper has been left around the sketch to produce an interesting effect. The light is coming from the right, make sure it is consistant. Only three colours have been used. TECHNIQUES USED Hatching is a way of indicating tones. You will see that I have drawn the hatching diagonally from right to left, but it is equally effective drawn from left to right. Do plenty of sketching with the pen before starting on the project. Colour mixing. Before starting the sketch, experiment with mixing the three watercolur paints in pairs to create the colours and tones described in the stages. This will give you confidence when you come to paint the sketch. The washes. Try to very direct with the washes. Mix the colours, brush them onto the watercolour paper and then leave them without further brushing or dabbing with tissue. Your sketch will then remain clean and fresh. Wet-into-wet. The sky is painted wet-into-wet which, as the name suggests, means watercolour is painted into a wet surface to produce soft, blended effects. |
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Step 2: When you are satisfied with the pencil drawing, sketch over it loosely with the pen. Do not draw a hard line around the shapes - draw a loose broken line. (If you are confident, go in with the pen without the pencil drawing). Step 3: With hatching, indicate the shadow areas of the barn and bushes. Use a slightly lighter hatching for the distant trees to show recession. Hatch in the darks of the doorway and windows and indicate a few slates and bricks. Erase any pencil marks still showing. |
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Step 5: With a light mix of cadmium yellow and blue, paint the middle distant field and the foreground, again using the No.10 brush. Step 6: Paint the front of the barn where it catches the light with light red mixed with a touch of blue. Then, with a darker mix of the same colours, paint the roof of the barn, using a No.8 brush. Vary the mixes to add interest. |
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Step 7 : Paint the ends of the barn in shadow with a mix of red and blue and then, with a full strengh mix of the same colours, brush in the darks of the doorway and windows, using Nos. 8 and 4 brushes. Step 8 : Mix a light blue green (blue and yellow) for the distant trees. Mix the same colours, but stronger with more yellow, for the foregroung bushes. Use a No. 8 brush. Step 9 : With a No.10 brush, paint the foreground shadow
with a stronger mix of blue and yellow. |
If you have enjoyed having a go at this pen and wash watercolour, please let me know how you have done.
The paints used were Winsor and Newton artists quality watercolours
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