This post will walk you through the stages of drawing with a pen using the crosshatching technique effectively.
Stage 1:
This stage is where you use basic shapes to determine your subject (what you're drawing). You start off with faint lines, relating each line to the other till a geometric look alike shape of your subject surfaces on paper. Don't worry about the lines, they won't be noticed when you start applying more strokes.
Those lines are called 'construction lines' - it is mostly used by freehanded artists.
Stage 2:
Lightly define the edges of your subject and locate the dark areas. This stage is known as the block-in stage, a stage where you check if your subject is correctly placed on the paper and that the proportions and distances are accurate.
Stage 3:
After you have located the dark areas, start building it with light strokes. Do not go so dark upfront in the dark areas because they appear dark, it will only hinder you from working on it since the dark areas comprises of different shades too. And with strokes, it is best perceived when you start building with tiny strokes 😆
Stage 4:
Start building the halftone tone from the dark. Stroke till the light area. Stroking from the dark to the halftone then to the light makes the work to blend well without segregation.
Stage 5:
Unify all strokes on the subject. Work on hard and soft edges where necessary.
Now I am done drawing my subject but I have a little dent outside the cheek bone where I adjusted my drawing to fit in proportionally.
What then should I do??
...BACKGROUND!
Stage 6:
Bring in a background to cover up the little errors outside your subject. The background is a vital part of your drawing. Play with the background to suit your subject. Observe the hard and soft edges and light sources while adding a background.
Congrats you made it to the end of this tutorial. You can freely go and start-up some pen drawing using the crosshatching technique.
Kindly drop your reactions and comments ❤️❤️