Engraving Style Illustration Made Easy with Pen and Ink

If you love that woodblock engraving style of drawing, then in these lessons, I break down the techniques into a few steps.

Starting with examples of masterpieces that made that style so memorable, followed by practice exercises, and then we’ll work on a Cat & Chicken project together step-by-step.

There’s very little drawing in the lessons; the focus is all on pen and ink.

What You’ll Learn

Engraving is a printmaking process where instruments are used to carve an illustration onto wood or a steel plate; the ink is then transferred into the grooves and onto paper.

You’ll learn more about the key characteristics of that style. You’ll then practice exercises that break down each characteristic into a technique that mimics the effects of engraving.

You’ll be able to apply these techniques directly to ink an illustration. Your exercise sheet will become a guideline to help you build the final project in progressive stages.

Why Take This Course

I created this Cat & Chicken design for us because it seems like a lot of details, but it’s really just a bunch of lines that thin and swell in a specific way. So, it’s easier than it looks once you understand the concept of that inking style.

You’ll get fresh ideas on the type of exercises that help you develop hand control. With better hand control, you’ll gain confidence with your inking tools.

The principles of this engraving style technique can be applied to other illustration styles, and the skills learned can be carried forward to your other art projects.

Who This Course is For

I’ve rated this course as intermediate, but if you can draw a line and another line next to it, you can absolutely do all of the lessons and complete the project. I encourage all levels to give it a go.

I’ll go through the materials you’ll need.

There’s no requirement to have any drawing skills in the lessons; simply download my line drawing as a template to trace for our final project.

Materials/Resources

We’ll be drawing using an HB pencil and inking with a set of fine liner pens on inking paper.

You’ll see in the Intro Lesson there’s a PDF – that has the:

• List of supplies

• Cat & Chicken drawing (template)

• Progress shots

• Links to other resources

For the project, you’ll ink the provided Cat & Chicken pencil drawing template.

The artwork template can be printed on regular letter-size paper. You’ll then trace the drawing onto an 8x10 sheet of inking paper.

You’re also welcome to create your own design in any size using any medium, incorporating the techniques practiced in the lessons.