Trying the Glen Vilppu pen and ink technique

[Impressions du Bord du Monde]

Hi there !

I’ve been trying the technique shown by Glen Vilppu on the youtube channel, but having no water-soluble pen, I used another. These are my sketches for one of the timed sessions proposed by NMA. I really struggle with the unforgiveness of pen thin line, this moment of truth. I’m much more used to charcoal rough mass drawing, or very bold conté pencils.

2 minutes sketches, 5 minutes and the last is 10 mins (YES, I know, i fucked up the end of the leg and the foot by trying it to fast… but you cant erase a pen sketch !).

[Laura Ramsden]

Nice! There are many more videos of Glenn demonstrating this technique in the Renaissance figure drawing class. I would say, don’t forget to work through all of the steps starting with the gesture (or as Glenn says, “feel the flow”), drawing over the form (using sphere, cylinder, and box), then containing the form. I think with the pen technique this is even more import to try not to copy the outside contour, because as you said there is no option to erase.

Note on materials, if you can manage to get a water soluble ink that might help, because you can first draw the gesture and forms, move to the wash (which “erases” some of the construction lines), then move back to the pen to add in the darker values.

Hope this is slightly helpful!

[Eden]

The great thing about pen is it is quite freeing — in these practice gesture drawings, you don’t have to make a drawing that looks good so that gives you the freedom to draw what you feel rather than what you see. It seems you are still working on the outside of the form, doing contour drawings. Gesture is within the form. Draw inside the body and focus on the movement rather than the outline.

[Author]

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