Pen and Ink Drawing: A Simple Guide

I have recently retired and needed something to do with my free time, so I took up photography and adult coloring books. I had wanted to learn to draw for a long time, but there was nothing that I could find for a truly beginner, I did a lot of research on YouTube on learning how to draw and came across Mr. Dunn's channel. After watching more videos than I probably should have at one sitting, I purchased Pen & Ink Drawing, A Simple Guide.. I have had this book for about 2 weeks now and feel I can give an honest and thorough review.Pen & Ink Drawing - The bookThis 165 page book is easy to understand with clear explanations and examples that you are encouraged to do yourself. The chapters covered are supplies, strokes, shading,simulating texture, sketch booking, stages of a finished drawing, and secret of line balance. Each chapter goes into specific detail and is well organized. There is an extensive chapter on shading which, to me, is the most important chapter in the book, because without shading, your drawings will not look realistic, There are a lot of drawing books on the market, but they are filled with pictures and examples that you can copy. Mr. Dunn has taken that to another level explaining the "why" behind each stroke, simple forms, etc., which is what sold me (I'm the type of person that needs to know why I'm doing something and the reason behind it - maybe a little OCD going on). For example In the chapter, "Lines of Balance," he explains what the line of balance is and examples of how to draw animals, portraits, nature, hair, the human figure, discusses rhythm and a lot of other things you would never think about that goes into drawing. Throughout the book he gives a "why" to whatever he is doing. You can tell Mr. Dunn put a lot of effort into his book, not only showing you, but explaining the "why" behind it.- very well done!To supplement this book, I would highly recommend you watch his YouTube videos where he covers some things in the book in more detail and you can also draw along with him as he takes you step by step, There is a video that tells you about basic lines (which I would have like to have seen a brief chapter in the book about). Watching his videos is like sitting in an art class with an instructor who knows what he is doing and what he is talking about. In the videos he goes into great detail about simple forms, how to pay attention to structure and proportions and too many others to list here. In addition,he has video series on landscapes, etc. - just too many to mention - Just check them out and have your pen ready to take notes. You won't be disappointed!The most important thing that stuck with me while watching the videos is to not just look but observe as well. When you observe, you can see simple forms (cubes, cylinders, spheres, triangles) in everything you look at. You have to adjust your thinking and think about everything before you put your pen to paper. (this too is covered in the videos), so now I literally don't look at things the same :)What I would change - The order of some of the chapters. After the supplies chapter and before the stroke chapter, I would have included a small section from the Youtube video, the 7 basic lines of drawing. I thought this was really important to explain vertical, horizontal, parallel and perpendicular lines. Another thing, which is totally personal preference, I would have put a table of contents in the front rather than an index in the back, or maybe both (I was looking for a table of contents). Other than these, two issues, there is absolutely nothing I would change.Conclusion - This book is for the beginner as well as the seasoned artist. I had no experience in drawing and wanted to learn and now I feel very confident that I can do this (though haven't started using a pen yet, but I'm working on it). My sketch book is full of practice pages and everyday I look forward to and am excited to work on something..One thing I would recommend is to make a chart of the basic type of strokes (page 24 so you can have it handy when you ink your masterpiece.The key to a fantastic ink drawing, sketching or anything is practice, practice, and practice some more. Everyday I get better and better, but most of all, with my photography and now my pen and ink drawings, I am having fun!!Thank you, Mr. Dunn, for your generosity in sharing your knowledge. I look forward to whatever you have in store next!On a side note, I also purchased "How to Sketch: A Beginner's Guide to Sketching Techniques" by Liron Yanconsky.

TLDR; Great book. inspirational. Authors has good instructional attitude. Clear and concise. This work is well put together. It has nice illustrations. Teaches pen and ink technique, not the whole theory of how to draw well. What it is, is a book about pen and ink. What it is not is a basic text on drawing in general.I really enjoyed this book. There are a few reasons that I appreciated it as well as I did: first, the author's attitude is great, his approach to instruction is easy going and inspirational, and while he stresses the value of certain practices he is never dogmatic about them. Second, this book is concise on verbiage and yet conveys well the concepts it seeks to communicate... I really appreciate it when extraneous material is left out of published work. Thirdly the format and layout are really well done, it's always nice to see something which is has been thought through. Fourth, I enjoy the artwork in the demonstrations, of which there are many. It may not be a wise trait but I have to admit that if I dislike the art within an instructional art book, then I probably won't buy it or read it. Lastly it teaches it's own subject and does not seek to teach you how to draw, but the particulars of pen and ink.This book covers really all of the fundamentals of pen and ink, even some not-so-fundamentals, and clearly illustrates how to apply this medium to works of art. It does not go into all techniques that can be used, but covers probably the most important ones. It also doesn't go very thoroughly into any one topic, but gives you most relevant facts and then encourages you to try them out for yourself. It does not cover in any great detail the intricacies of any one method of applying ink (ball-point, dip pen, fountain pen, brushes, etc.) but briefly hits all of the main ones, so that the reader understands what they are and that they can be applied to making art in pen and ink styles.I actually really like the fact that so little time is given to such usual art book topics as perspective, light and shadow, composition, anatomy, etc. but if what you need is a basic art book, then you won't find what you're after in this work. Some time is spent with drawing fundamentals but it is far from complete, and the emphasis is on doing it in ink, not the general theory. And I actually prefer that, since those topics are explained really well in other books and this i a book about pen and ink, not the subject of drawing. That said there is rather a lot that you can take from this book and apply to other media.Finally. I did get this book partially to support the author. His youtude channel ([...]) was a big reason I got started in pen and ink drawing.

I am an art student who sucks at line work so I bought this book to try to improve. I love Alfonsos way of teaching. I enjoy his YouTube videos as well. The instructions are clear and concise and easy to follow. I got the workbook also so I am able to read a section them practice what I learned. My line work has definitely improved since I started using this book. I highly recommend it for anyone looking to improve fine motor control or drawing skills.