Ink may be applied with a pen or a brush to achieve either linear or tonal effects. Inks may be diluted to produce lighter washes. Brighter areas and highlights may also be achieved by scraping ink from the paper.

Pen and ink art is the process of using pens to apply ink to a surface.

It has been popular with artists for many years, originating in ancient cultures. One of the earliest surviving pen and ink drawings is The Abduction of Briseis, drawn by an unknown Greek artist using pen and dye on papyrus around 300 BC.

Later, Leonardo da Vinci popularised the precise effect of pen and ink art in his work Five Grotesque Heads (1494) during the Renaissance era.

Michelangelo, Van Gogh, Rembrandt, and Picasso also used pen and ink to create many of their famous works. The drawing style survived multiple art movements and is still a popular mode of expression today.

Nowadays, most pen and ink drawings use black ink, which allows pen and ink artists to show high contrast. The result is a clear, clean, crisp image with lots of detail.

Pen and ink drawing techniques

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