In this lesson I’ll be showing you how to make an ink wash sketch of a pumpkin (perfect for this time of year!).
Materials:
- Pencil
- Eraser
- Watercolour paper
- Indian ink
- Several small watercolour brushes
- Water pot
- Paper towel for cleaning
Process:
- Start with a very simple pencil sketch as a guide for your ink painting.
- Find the overall proportions and the shadow shapes (the parts of the object that don’t receive direct light).
- You don’t need to fill this in – as soon as the line sketch is finished you can start painting!
- Use ink diluted with water to make the tone lighter and wash this middle tone over the shadow of the pumpkin.
- The use less diluted ink to lay in the darker tones (background, ground shadow etc.).
- You can also do other washes of midtones (such as the ground plane in light).
- Then you can keep developing the form by applying gradually washes of darker tones over the halftones.
- Try to keep some of the pumpkin completely light (these are the highlights).
