Start Fountain Pen Sketching, in 15 Minutes?

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This might sound like an exaggerative title, but I really do believe that you can get started fountain pen sketching in just 15 minutes.  It’s one of the most fun and accessible ways to sketch, and in this post (and the accompanying video) I’m going to explain how and give you a couple of easy projects to try!

 Which pen?

For sketching, the LAMY safari is a long-standing favourite pen – it’s relatively cheap, well balanced and well made. I prefer the extra fine or fine nib. And the ink cartridges that come with it work well for soluble ink sketching (see the projects below).

Find my pens linked here.

Of course, you can go with more premium pens – I love my Platinum 3776, with it’s ultra extra fine nib which is also very flexible and capable of producing a wide range of marks. But it was only after many years of sketching that I ventured into this.

Which paper?

Well, the sketchbook I'm using today is an own brand, A5, recycled sketchbook with normal paper... nothing fancy. So I suggest that almost any paper is worth trying!

Which ink?

If you want to progress to adding watercolours, then you’ll need waterproof ink. There are a couple I recommend, and you can find them listed on my ‘pens and inks’ pages HERE.

However, if you are not fussed by adding colours, literally any ink will do. Just use basic cartridges to start.

Explore your pen 

Fountain pens are amazing and versatile – they are individual too. A new pen will create slightly different marks, have a different feel, and be unpredictable in exciting (and infuriating) new ways.

Spend a couple of your 15 minutes seeing what marks you can make with the pen, maybe progress to sketching something sat in front of you too.

A project to build your confidence

We are going to sketch two things together - a lovely house, and a gorgeous landscape - both in the Cotswolds. And both perhaps intimidating, but I'll show you how to break it down and make it really easy!

Here are your references...

And now lets get sketching...

Step One - Start with shapes

The first step of ink sketching is simply to find your shapes – don’t worry about being clever, just find simple shapes in your scene. It won’t look like much yet, but this is the foundations of pretty much any art.

The key is the keep the lines light and gentle, this means any mistakes are easy to notice and correct later.

If you aren’t confident with this step, then you might find my totally free course helpful – we cover shapes and other ink art concepts in 10 short, accessible lessons. Find it HERE.

Step Two - Bold Lines and Textures

Next we add a little certainty to our lines – or rather, to the lines that are working. And we can also add textures, remember when I said ‘explore your pen’? Well this is the time to put that exploration to use.

Notice my scribbles in the trees, hatching for shadows, flicks for grass in the landscape. These are all such simple touches, it just takes a little confidence.

Step 3 - Adding tone; With water

Now comes the fun part, a little water using a cheap brush (mine is a waterbrush) actives the ink and creates and immediate sense of mood.

Be gentle with the water and the brush, we don’t want to totally destroy our lines here, just subtly and softly move them. 

Step 4 - Bold Contrast and Magic Touches

Finally, we can actually use of brush on our pen to create little ink splatters for textures, and then also pick ink up from the pen and use it to ‘paint’ with to darken some of the shadows.

And like that, your first ink sketch is done – you’ve conquered shapes, textures, light and dark, and expressivity, all in a few simple steps.