The pen drawings tag on my personal blog has a range of old experiments in sketching and drawing with pens. The purpose through the years has been to boost my confidence in drawing, to simply have the courage to put down the lines without worrying too long about getting it right.

My urge to draw, froma very young age, has tended toward drawing fuman figures, not always well, but I’ve kept at it in fits and bursts. Before I start a new and hopefully more comprehensive journey in that direction, here on this site, I thought it was appropriate to recap some of the better and most recent figurative pen sketches I’ve put up elsewhere.

Above is that selection. The first sketch was done with a gel pen. The second drawing of a soldier was started in gel pen but the pen ran out and I decided to switch to my old school fountian pen wth blue ink. You can see the two distinct shades of blue in that drawing. All the drawings that followed used the fountain pen and were great practice in loosening my hand and exploring this very hatched shading method, which I’ve alwasy wanted to get better at.

Even after a few years, with all their flaws, these I am quite happy with, and I hope they will serve as a fitting starting marker for all the experiments to come here. I hope to draw more, draw better and learn, rather than stumble through. May the journey be as pleasant for you as it will be for me.