Pen and ink resources 🖋️

Books

2026-05-23T09:01:00+01:00

A list of books on pen and ink drawing, in ascending order of first publication date. "[FREE]" links are to free full-text versions, mostly provided by the Internet Archive.

⭐ indicates a frequently recommended book (subjectively assessed).

The art of drawing with the pen, and limming in water colours, Henry Peacham the Younger, 1607 [FREE]
The Graphic Arts: a Treatise on the Varieties of Drawing, Painting, and Engraving in Comparison With Each Other and With Nature, Philip Gilbert Hamerton, 1882 [FREE]
Theory and Practice of Pen-Drawing, M. B. O. Fowler, Philip Gilbert Hamerton, 1882 [FREE]
Some examples of pen drawing, Joseph F. Clare, 1885 [FREE]
Pen Drawing and Pen Draughtsmen, Joseph Pennell, 1889 [FREE]
English pen artists of to-day: examples of their work / with some criticisms and appreciations, Charles G. Harper, 1892 [FREE]
Pen Pictures and How to Draw Them, Eric Meade, 1895 [FREE]
With Brush and Pen, James Hall, 1897 [FREE]
Modern Pen Drawings – European and American, Charles Holme, 1901 [FREE]
Pen and Ink Drawing: A Series of Drawings Showing Its Perfect Adaptability to the Modern Processes of Reproduction, George Hartnell Bartlett, 1903
The Art of Pen-and-Ink Drawing: Having Especial Reference to Book Illustration, Henry Robert Robertson, 1903
Rendering in Pen and Ink: Instruction Paper, David A. Gregg, 1906 [FREE]
The Pen Art Portfolio, Zaner-Bloser Co., 1910 [FREE]
With Pen and Ink, James Hall, 1913 [FREE]
How To Draw In Pen And Ink, Harry Furniss, 1914
Architectural Rendering in Pen and Ink, Frank Allison Hays, 1915 [FREE]
More about how to draw in pen and ink, Harry Furniss, 1915
Sketching Without a Master, J. Hullah Brown, 1920 [FREE]
Pen Drawing and Pen Draughtsmen, Joseph Pennell, 1920 [FREE]
Elements of Pen-and-Ink Rendering, International Textbook Company, 1921 [FREE]
Pen drawing: An Illustrated Treatise, Charles D. Maginnis, 1921 [FREE]
Drawings in pen & pencil from Dürer's day to ours, with notes and appreciations, George Sheringham, 1922 [FREE]
The Art and Technique of Pen Drawing, G. Montague Ellwood, 1927 [FREE]
Practical Pen Drawing, Edwin George Lutz, 1928
⭐ Drawing with Pen and Ink, Arthur L. Guptill, Susan E. Meyer, 1930 [FREE]
Later published as Rendering in Pen and Ink
How To Draw in Pen and Ink, Jasper Salwey, 1931
Sketching in Pen & Ink, Donald Maxwell, 1932
Later published as Landscape Sketching in Pen and Ink
The ABC of Pen and Ink Rendering, John Austen, 1937
The art of the pen, Ernest Aris, 1948
Landscape Drawing in Pen and Ink, J. Geoffrey Garratt, 1950
Pen and Ink Drawing, Frank "Acanthus" Hoar, 1955
Pen and Ink Drawing: Art and Technique, Frederic Taubes, 1956 [FREE]
⭐ Ink Drawing Techniques, Henry C. Pitz, 1957
Sketching is fun with pencil and pen, Alois Fabry, 1958 [FREE]
Sketching with the felt-tip pen, Henry C. Pitz, 1959
How to draw with pen & brush; a book for beginners, Arthur Zaidenberg, 1965 [FREE]
Creative Ink Drawing, Paul Hogarth, 1968 [FREE]
Elementary Pen-and-Ink Drawing, Cecil G. Trew, 1969
Drawing with Ink: History and Modern Techniques, Norman Laliberté, Alex Mogelon, 1971 [FREE]
The Pen & Ink and Cross Hatch Styles of the Early Illustrators, Dick Sutphen, 1976 [FREE]
Pen and Ink Techniques, Frank J. Lohan, 1978 [FREE]
Later published as Pen & Ink Drawing
Draw in brush and ink, Moira Huntly, 1981 [FREE]
Pen & Ink Themes, Frank J. Lohan, 1981 [FREE]
Pen & Ink Sketching Step by Step, Frank J. Lohan, 1983
Drawing in Ink: Drawing for Reproduction, Harry Borgman, 1983 [FREE]
Rendering with Pen and Ink (The Thames & Hudson Manuals), Robert W. Gill, 1984
Drawing in Pen and Ink, Angus Scott, 1985 [FREE]
Drawing with Ink, John Brobbel, 1985
Drawing with Pen & Ink, Carl Glassford, 1985
How to draw in pen and ink, Susan E. Meyer, Martim Avillez, 1985 [FREE]
Drawing and painting with ink, Fritz Henning, 1986
Pen & ink, Don Bolognese, Elaine Raphael, 1986 [FREE]
The Illustrator's Guide to Pen and Pencil Drawing Techniques, Harry Borgman, 1989 [FREE]
The Technical Pen, Gary Simmons, 1992 [FREE]
The Pen and Ink Book: Materials and Techniques for Today's Artist, Joseph A. Smith, 1992
Pen and Ink Techniques, Paulette Fedarb, 1992 [FREE]
⭐ Dynamic Black and White Illustrations, Leslie Cabarga, 1993 [FREE]
Sketching Your Favorite Subjects in Pen & Ink, Claudia Nice, 1993
Pen and Ink Sketching, Peter Cauldwell, 1995
Drawing in Pen and Ink (First Steps), Claudia Nice, 1997
The DC Comics Guide to Inking Comics, Klaus Janson, 2003
The Art of Comic Book Inking, Gary Martin, 2005
Drawing with Pen and Ink (Art Classes), David Porteous-Butler, Steven Annis, 2006
The Urban Sketcher: Techniques for Seeing and Drawing on Location, Marc Taro Holmes, 2014
Treasury of American Pen & Ink Illustration 1881-1938, Fridolf Johnson, 2014
⭐ Pen and Ink Drawing: A Simple Guide, Alphonso Dunn, 2014
Artistry: Pen & Ink: A creative exploration of a time-treasured drawing technique, Desarae Lee, 2016
The art of ballpoint: Experimentation, exploration, and techniques in ink, Matt Rota, 2016 [FREE]
Pen and ink: Contemporary artists, timeless techniques, James Hobbs, 2016
Pen and Ink Drawing Workbook, Alphonso Dunn, 2018
Pen and Ink Drawing Workbooks: Volumes 1-7, Rahul Jain, 2018
You Will Be Able to Draw by the End of this Book: Ink, Jake Spicer, 2019
Pen & Ink Illustration Showcase, Steve Archibald, 2019
Natural History Illustration in Pen and Ink: Combine science with art, and journey through nature, Sarah Morrish, 2021
Crosshatching in Pen & Ink: The Complete Practical Guide, August Lamm, 2022
Exploring Black and White Drawing and Painting Techniques, Victor Escandell, 2022
How to Ink Comics: The Traditional Way, Stan Bendis Kutcher, 2023
How To Ink Comics!: A Complete Guide to Essential Comic Inking Techniques, Mark Robinson, 2023
Pen and Ink Drawing Techniques: Steps, Subjects & Prompts, David Morales H., 2024
The Pen and Ink Drawing Guide: How To Create Intricate Fineline Artworks, Giovana Ghizzi Vescovi, 2024
"Engraving" Style Drawings: Volumes 1 and 2, Tri Le Shiba, 2024
Crosshatching: Pocket Guide, Giovana Ghizzi Vescovi, 2025
The Artist's Guide to Pen and Ink, Tri Le Shiba, 2025
15-Minute Art Pen & Ink: Learn to Draw with Pen and Ink in Six Steps or Less, Anna Tromop, 2025
Pen drawing: An artist’s guide to drawing with ink, John Harrison, 2026

Wikipedia – People

2025-02-15T20:00:00+00:00

A somewhat random list of people related to pen-and-ink drawing, in ascending order of birthdate

Wikipedia – General

2025-02-11T20:30:00+00:00

2025-02-11T15:00:00+00:00

Excerpt from The Elements of Drawing by John Ruskin

2025-02-09T12:01:00+00:00

An excerpt from The Elements of Drawing by John Ruskin, first published in 1857:

When either the material (as the copper or wood) or the time of an artist does not permit him to make a perfect drawing,—that is to say, one in which no lines shall be prominently visible,—and he is reduced to show the black lines, either drawn by the pen, or on the wood, it is better to make these lines help, as far as may be, the expression of texture and form. You will thus find many textures, as of cloth or grass or flesh, and many subtle effects of light, expressed by Leech with zigzag or crossed or curiously broken lines; and you will see that Alfred Rethel and Richter constantly express the direction and rounding of surfaces by the direction of the lines which shade them. All these various means of expression will be useful to you, as far as you can learn them, provided you remember that they are merely a kind of shorthand; telling certain facts not in quite the right way, but in the only possible way under the conditions: and provided in any after use of such means, you never try to show your own dexterity; but only to get as much record of the object as you can in a given time; and that you continually make efforts to go beyond such shorthand, and draw portions of the objects rightly.

And touching this question of direction of lines as indicating that of surface, observe these few points:

If lines are to be distinctly shown, it is better that, so far as they can indicate anything by their direction, they should explain rather than oppose the general character of the object ... And Albert Dürer, whose work was chiefly engraving, sets himself always thus to make his lines as valuable as possible; telling much by them, both of shade and direction of surface: and if you were always to be limited to engraving on copper (and did not want to express effects of mist or darkness, as well as delicate forms), Albert Dürer‘s way of work would be the best example for you. But, inasmuch as the perfect way of drawing is by shade without lines, and the great painters always conceive their subject as complete, even when they are sketching it most rapidly, you will find that, when they are not limited in means, they do not much trust to direction of line, but will often scratch in the shade of a rounded surface with nearly straight lines, that is to say, with the easiest and quickest lines possible to themselves. When the hand is free, the easiest line for it to draw is one inclining from the left upwards to the right, or vice versâ, from the right downwards to the left; and when done very quickly, the line is hooked a little at the end by the effort at return to the next. Hence, you will always find the pencil, chalk, or pen sketch of a very great master full of these kind of lines; and even if he draws carefully, you will find him using simple straight lines from left to right, when an inferior master would have used curved ones ... Even the careful drawings of Leonardo da Vinci are shaded most commonly with straight lines; and you may always assume it as a point increasing the probability of a drawing being by a great master if you find rounded surfaces, such as those of cheeks or lips, shaded with straight lines.

Web collections

2025-02-02T11:00:00+00:00

Instagram

2025-01-09T18:00:00+00:00

Albert Kiefer @housesketcher
Alphonso Dunn @alphonsodunnart
AnnA @anna_artgallery8
Architecture in pen & ink @markpoulierart
August Lamm @augustlamm
Black and White Art @blackworknow
Brian @brejanz
Bulu @bulutxin
David Morales H. @dava22
Ellabel - Artist @ellabel.art
George Philip Dean @shoreditchsketcher
Heather Souliere @heathersouliere
Ioana Pioaru @ioanapioaru
Jennifer Court @jennifercourt_art
Jesse Spencer Smith - Architectural Artist @jessespencersmith
Jimmy Wong @jimmywongstudio
Katherine @akmuluntra
L U I S C O L A N @luiscolanart
Longstride Illustration - Chloe Gendron @longstrideillustration
Luke Adam Hawker @lukeadamhawker
MISTER VI @mister_vi
Martin Lachmair @lachmair.art
Maxwell Tilse @maxwellillustration
Minty Sainsbury @minty_sainsbury
Nikita Busyak @citiesandsketches
Paul Heaston @paulheaston
Paul Meehan @paulmeehanart
Pen & Ink Illustrations @penandink__art
Philip Harris @philipharrisillustration
Reza Mukti @rezamkti
Rohit Saxena (anexastihor) @anexastihor1
Simply Black And White @simplyblack_white
Stephen Travers @stephentraversart
Thinking With Paper @thinkingwithpaper
Tri Le @tri.shiba
Urban & Architecture Art @sketch_collector
Urban Sketchers @urbansketchers
Velat Güneş @sketchwelat
Warren Drawing Trees @warren_drawing_trees
Y U S U F K A Y A @sketchyusuf
Yann Leroy @yann.leroy
liam hipple @liamhippleillustration
메타코드미술학원 | 대표원장 안재현 | Art teacher Ahn Jaehyun @anjjaemi

YouTube channels

2025-01-06T20:00:00+00:00