Why drawing with a pen, improve your line

[lup0z]

Hi to all!
Today I'm gonna introduce a mystic (for me, of course ) topic!
Why drawing with a pen, improve our line?
My teacher told me to do that to clean my line but I wonder why, without any directives, my line should improve?
I'm suppose to be my own teacher with this technique, but I could make it worse than it should be; anyway this technique, magically should improve my line.

The question is: WHY?


Thaaanks!

[Farvus]

- When drawing with pen you can't use use eraser to fix things which forces you to make the first line correct instead of being sloppy
- Steel nib resists when moving in every possible direction. It forces to break down complicated line into series of single clontrolled curves. That's the first step to simplifying form. That is also really good for getting good habit of planning every stroke.
- When drawing with pencil you got different shades of gray which can be confusing. Ink is always black so you have to be more deliberate. Every imperfection is more visible so you can find it more easily.

[karmiclychee]

I also find that the ballpoint I use rolls all over the damn place, which lends itself to less control. Fast gestures look more wild and insane, but when I switch to pencil, I suddenly have a much greater appreciation for how the tip grips the page.

Slower studies are much different, though, especially if you're holding the nib at an extreme angle to the paper (still a ballpoint I'm talking about here) - then its much like as Farvus puts it.

[Asatira]

I tend to use a pen when I want clear lines. I have found it very useful for doing gestures because I know that I cannot erase it once it's down, and because it has practically no gradation like you get with a pencil, the mark is much crisper. For me, it largely boils down to not being able to erase it that my marks tend to be more confident. I picture how I want to translate the object before me to the paper in the fewest lines possible, rather than trying to sketch it in as I would with a pencil.

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It is also a teaching tool, as it shows the whole process of arriving at your drawing, including all your construction, attempts and mistakes.

[Xeon_OND]

Since this is a topic about pens and ink, I figure it might be good to ask this question here.

I've been using those ballpoint pens and ink pens (like ballpoint pens but their tip is finer and the ink is kinda more liquid and watery). It seems that after a while (about 7 hours worth of using it), the pen's tip starts to leak and the entire tip is covered with the ink. Anyone encountered this before?

I wonder if it's because the pens are cheap or am I handling it the wrong way. I use the pen for gesture drawing.

[karmiclychee]

Since this is a topic about pens and ink, I figure it might be good to ask this question here.

I've been using those ballpoint pens and ink pens (like ballpoint pens but their tip is finer and the ink is kinda more liquid and watery). It seems that after a while (about 7 hours worth of using it), the pen's tip starts to leak and the entire tip is covered with the ink. Anyone encountered this before?

I wonder if it's because the pens are cheap or am I handling it the wrong way. I use the pen for gesture drawing.

Nope, it's cheap. That's a ballpoint for you. The excess ink scrapes off on the edge of the opening at the bottom of the pen when you make a stroke. Do this long enough and you'll complete cover the bottom. Just have a tissue handy to clean off the point every so often and you won't blot your drawings.

I've found that liquid ink pens don't get messy so often, but tend to bleed into my paper because of the quality of the ink. The more gooey ink doesn't bleed, but blots more on the nib.

When I lived in China, I found that the Chinese are much more serious about what they write with and there were scores of different kinds of pens everywhere - cheap fountain pens! Cheap .3mm ballpoints! Oh, it was heaven! I was going to buy tons of them before I returned to the States, but I didn't have enough room in my bags

[RyerOrdStar]

Nope, it's cheap. That's a ballpoint for you. The excess ink scrapes off on the edge of the opening at the bottom of the pen when you make a stroke. Do this long enough and you'll complete cover the bottom. Just have a tissue handy to clean off the point every so often and you won't blot your drawings.

I've found that liquid ink pens don't get messy so often, but tend to bleed into my paper because of the quality of the ink. The more gooey ink doesn't bleed, but blots more on the nib.

When I lived in China, I found that the Chinese are much more serious about what they write with and there were scores of different kinds of pens everywhere - cheap fountain pens! Cheap .3mm ballpoints! Oh, it was heaven! I was going to buy tons of them before I returned to the States, but I didn't have enough room in my bags

Hey! He's either talking about liquid ink pens or rollerball pens, not ballpoint pens. Those ones are much easier to gum up and their ink sucks more too. Ballpoint pens will last much longer and excess ink can be scraped off the sides on a piece of paper. In fact cheaper ballpoint pens usually last longer than more expensive liquid ink pens (for ex those james jean pens gum up super fast and blotch).

[karmiclychee]

*looks at RyerOrd's blog*

...this woman knows what she's talking about.

[OmenSpirits]

Hush!

Don't start a ballpoint pen thread...or HE'LL come, like The candy man said three times into a mirror.

$10 bucks on anyone remembers that guy.

[Cory Hinman]

yeesh, I remember that guy...

[Asatira]

I sorta do. No. Wait. Yeah, now I do...

[TheGreekDollmaker]

Really using a pen (as i do because i cannot bring anything more complex than that because i would have to hog around 2 bags full of things) is more about perfectionism.

Getting it done the first time around if you know what i mean.It requires skill, which really i would reccomend doing with a pencil since youl achieve it much much faster.

I have wasted countless hours (and still do) using pens.Than i pick up a pencil i cannot get out of the mindset of using a pen as a result i make everything rugged and forced as if im putting too much things into the drawings.

Its still fun through.

[Angel Intheuk]

*looks at RyerOrd's blog*

...this woman knows what she's talking about.

Wow, amazing work RyerOrd.

I realised that even though I like to draw caricatures I wasn't very good at just getting down simple shapes and lines as I like to get in there and do detail and shading. It also helps no end in your confidence levels and I find I translate that to my pencil drawings and they look alot better for it.

I've started using copic brush pens which are really cool and getting a Kuretake brush fountain pen for my birthday, can't wait!