• Try “portfolio”, “ink”, “branding” or a code like “PRS 101”.

IFA 102Illustration and Fine Arts

Ink and Line

Draw with pens, brushes and nibs: mark-making, line weight, hatching, stippling and washes, then finish and scan black-and-white ink illustrations.

Planned

About this course

Ink rewards decisiveness. This course introduces fineliners, brush pens, dip pens and brushes, builds a vocabulary of marks, and teaches tone through hatching, stippling and washes. You will then plan and ink finished illustrations, decide where to place solid blacks, correct mistakes, and scan line art cleanly for print or screen. Affordable materials are recommended throughout.

Who it’s for: Beginners and illustrators who want confidence with ink. Basic drawing skills help; Seeing and Drawing is a good companion course.

You will be able to

  • Use at least three ink tools to produce a range of controlled marks and line weights.
  • Build tone in ink with hatching, cross-hatching, stippling and washes.
  • Plan a black-and-white composition, including placement of solid blacks.
  • Ink a finished illustration from pencils and correct errors cleanly.
  • Scan and clean up line art for print and screen.

Studio project

A themed series of three finished ink illustrations, each using a different tonal technique, with pencil stages and clean scans.

To complete this course

  • Complete every required lesson.
  • Have the assignment “Ink illustration series” accepted by an instructor.
  • Records of completion are issued only for courses whose content has passed instructor review.

Part of

Syllabus

Working titles: they may change as the course is written.

  1. Module 1: Tools and marks

    Getting to know ink tools and the marks they make.

    1. 1.1Pens, brushes and nibsReading · 30 min
    2. 1.2A mark-making vocabularyExercise · 40 min
    3. 1.3Line weight and expressionExercise · 35 min

  2. Module 2: Building tone in ink

    Creating value without grey pencils.

    1. 2.1Hatching and cross-hatchingExercise · 40 min
    2. 2.2Stippling and textureExercise · 35 min
    3. 2.3Ink washesExercise · 40 min

  3. Module 3: Ink illustration

    From pencils to finished, reproducible ink artwork.

    1. 3.1From pencils to inksReading · 30 min
    2. 3.2Composing in black and white: spotting blacksReading · 30 min
    3. 3.3Corrections, scanning and clean-upStudio · 45 min

Author: Ricketts University curriculum team (draft for founder review) · Not yet reviewed

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