The Pen and Wash (or Line and Wash) technique has been used for centuries. From ancient Greek pen drawings with washes of coloured dyes on papyrus, to 13 century China where artists applied transparent ink washes in various levels of dilution to create delicate atmospheric effects. Gaining popularity in Europe during the Renaissance period of the 15th century, the technique was often used for preparatory sketches and cartoons. It continues to be a popular technique used by illustrators, graphic designers and fashion designers.
This is one of my favourite techniques and when I am asked what medium or technique I prefer, I will say pen and wash. I regularly use this technique in my sketchbook, planning the composition of a bigger piece, just doodling ideas, or out and about with a permanent pen and a traveling watercolour pan set. Using the right pen and ink is important when adding wet colour over a pen drawing. The ink needs to not move or bleed into the colour, so a permanent, waterproof pen is needed for this technique.
Choosing a pen that is available in a variety of nib sizes like the Sakura Pigma Micron or Faber-Castell Pitt pens are best, as these are easy to carry around with your sketchbook. If you are working in a studio then it is fun to use a dip pen, but make sure that the ink you are using will dry down to a waterproof finish.
Choosing the right surface is as important as selecting the right pen and ink, as it significantly affects the finish and success of the pen and wash technique. Watercolour paper is particularly well-suited for this, with various textures to consider based on your materials: Rough and NOT (Cold Pressed) watercolour paper provide a textured surface that I prefer, while Hot Pressed paper offers a smoother texture, similar to cartridge paper, which allows for other watercolour techniques. When using cartridge paper, I opt for a heavy-weight to minimise buckling when adding the wet mediums. The choice of surface is largely determined by the colour medium, although the pen is versatile across various papers. I frequently use Bockingford NOT (Cold Pressed) watercolour paper because its textured surface handles both pen and watercolour washes exceptionally well.
In this article I will demonstrate the two main ways in which I use the pen and wash technique, using the same image of Blackberries, the same materials, colours and paper.
Pen and wash, as the title suggests, is adding pen onto the surface first, then adding washes of colour. The drawing can be loose, quick and sketchy, or take a little more time with finer details. This is an easy technique to use while out and about, and it allows you to try out different drawing styles. I will often try different styles of drawing such as:
| Continuous Line Method | Sketch Method | More detailed drawing |
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| The first method you can try is a continuous line drawing without taking the pen off the paper. This is fun although it can seem difficult at first, but when you get into the flow of seeing the contours and shape it become a spontaneous and interesting way of drawing an image. | The second method you can use is a sketchier method. Create a sketchy broken line using the pen to create shorter lines and skip across the surface of the paper for extra texture and detail. | A more detailed drawing using the pen and varying the width of the line to add more details, tones and shading. |
I like to go straight in with a fine permanent pen first without a preliminary pencil drawing. It can be scary going straight in with the pen as you have to live with the lines you make but I feel this is actually more freeing as you can work quickly and capture the essence of the subject or scene. Once the drawing has been created on the surface you need to allow the ink to dry and cure, which takes are few minutes, to avoid the ink bleeding with the watercolour.
Because the line drawing has done a lot of the work you can have fun adding the colour. The colour is added to enhance the line drawing and can be used not only to add colour but add to the emotion of the piece and you can paint OUTSIDE the lines! I will use a limited palette of just a few colours to add the washes which helps to keep the painting fresh. Colour washes can be very loose to add texture, accents and atmosphere; or more controlled to enhance the features of the drawing.
You do have to be careful with the washes as sometimes more opaque, or darker, stronger colours can overpower the pen lines.
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There are no set rules about whether you add the pen first then the colour, or the colour and use the pen over the dry painting. It is totally up to you. As mentioned previously I tend to use the pen first and add the colour over the pen drawing. But there are times that the colour painting is enhanced with a pen, whether it is just a few marks to help define the shapes, or a full line drawing over the applied colour.
For this method, the watercolour is applied first and then the pen is used to bring out all the shapes and areas which need enhancing. Starting with a light pencil drawing before adding the watercolour painting as a guide, letting the painting fully dry and then go in with the pen. I find that am a little looser with the lines when moving the pen across the surface, adding texture and details by varying the direction of the pen. You can create a solid, continuous or broken line depending on your preference. Side by side there is actually little difference between the paintings when they are finished on this occasion, as I used the same techniques just reversed.
Using the pen over a painting is very useful as a rescue technique. Not every painting goes well, and it can be frustrating spending time on a piece and ending up with a painting you are not fully happy with; either through over working the layers, trying something that did not work successfully, or just the tricky nature of watercolour. Normally, I just put these types of paintings to one side and review them at a later date, but it is easy to use a pen over the painting to re-invent it, add missing details, or just to have fun with lines and create a more abstract piece.
Here I have wet the surface first and dropped in colour which has spread, creating a softer, less defined colour wash. I was not happy with this outcome, so I painted over it, and as a result I had overworked the berry shapes making them look too flat – the addition of pen helps to rediscover the shapes by adding definition to the edges.
With both methods you can go back into the paintings with the pen or with more colour, adding more details and varying the lines, or highlighting areas which may have become a little lost with the colour. The washes can be tight and controlled or they can be loose, with splashes of colour or wet into wet colour.
I hope this has inspired you to have a go at and try out this technique, and we look forward to seeing your pen and wash pieces.