Pen and wash
The technique of 'pen and wash' is a really useful and well tried method of sketching with watercolours. It is really very simple - just draw your subject using a waterproof pen, and then when the ink is dry, paint over it with watercolours. You can use any colour ink you like, although black is usually the most convenient. The type of pen can also be up to you, but I use fine liners.
With pen and wash, you have the ability to capture fine details, shadows and darker areas, and also textures.
Fine details
I sketched the interior of this old pub in Sussex while sipping a pint of beer and waiting for lunch! See how the pen has been used so simply to convey the dimples in the back of the leather chair, and even to produce the floorboards with just a few strokes.
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Shading and shadows
The shadows were created here by just shading in a series of parallel lines with the pen. See too how I used similar lines to produce the wooden shutters.
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Textures
It was easy to form the rough cobbled walls in these houses with a few swirls, scribbles and circles of the pen. These walls then contrast nicely with the simple lines used for the tiles in the roofs, and the dark areas of the windows. The bushes are depicted using another scribbling effect.
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