Mini Lesson: How To Render Facial Features In Pen And Ink

[@vonkarbel]

Thanks a ton for your generosity in posting such a high level content for free. I have watched very many of your videos. And each one gives me a feeling that I get when I hear a musical symphony conducted by a maestro of the calibre of von karajan. The development of drawing is just like a musical masterpiece. For me tge similarity goes even deeper. In music, after listening to it for decades, I think I have developed a musical year to some extent (identify notes in simple slow passages) but thinking of producing them is just beyond me. When you draw, similarly, each stroke looks so easy locally but then the end result is mesmerizing and simply beyond me. Hopefully I will be able to assimilate a lot from your videos. Thanks once again!

[@mkompan]

My pleasure, and thank you for the compliments. Classical music is my second passion, and in my youth I played the piano and considered becoming a composer. I realized I could not pursue art and music with equal seriousness and chose art, since that’s where my talent was stronger. Cross-hatching, to my mind, has a correlation with counterpoint, with each layer of hatch representing a voice working both independently and as part of a whole.

[@MarcsYoutube]

Great video! Both drawings look fine to me. The first has a more illustrative, comic book style appearance, whereas the second appears more like a traditional pen-and-ink drawing. Both capture an idealized, abstracted reality.

[@mkompan]

Thank you! Issues of style/intent do come in to play here. I think the key is to understand how to draw convincing form, and to understand what happens when those rules are "violated." This makes stylistic choices feel more intentional.

[@AdamPopowski]

Love this new format. Great content.

[@mkompan]

Glad you like it! More short lessons to come.

[@barbarawilliams7012]

It’s 60+ years since I last used a fountain pen (the only acceptable writing implement in school back then), now I am excited to get to know it’s value in my artistic endeavours. I love wildlife, especially birds, and am looking to instill more life into my subjects. Is there an order to your videos whereby I can practice and improve my technique? A series of lessons (with practice exercises) would be wonderful as you have such a clear, user friendly teaching style.

[@mkompan]

Thank you for the kind words! I do have ordered video for my beginning drawing students. You can find them in a playlist called "20A basics." But my videos for the general public are far less systematic, based on whatever I'm interested in covering at the moment. I suppose I'll do some more structured videos at some point, but I don't want this channel to start feeling too much like work.

[@ScottJonesNY]

Wonderful instruction, Marc! Is that an overfeed Swan pen you're using? It looks modern for some reason. Also, I was hoping to see you at the California Pen Show back in February. I would have eagerly attended a class if you where to teach at one of these shows.

[@mkompan]

Thank you Scott! My work/parenting responsibilities prevented me from going to the Pen Show, but I hope to attend in the future. I wish I could get my hands on a Swan with an adjustable overfeed, since I love drawing with vintage pens. I’m using a Pilot Justus here, a pen that has quickly become one of my favorites.

[@booshkoosh7994]

Thanks for another video! Each pen and ink lesson is original.

[@mkompan]

You’re welcome!

[@rebeccalilienfeld4519]

Great lesson - very helpful! I’ve been making both of these mistakes. Off to try this on my next drawing.

[@mkompan]

Thanks! Glad this was helpful.

[@Longgerlongsing]

Thank you sir for making this wonderful video.

[@mkompan]

You’re welcome!

[@nadiam312]

LOOOOOVE your work and tutorials. I saw you had some coming up workshops but unfortunately I am traveling and couldn’t attend. Is there away to purchase recorded workshops? Thank you again for this amazing KZbin channel. It is one of my favorites

[@mkompan]

Thank you! I’ll have to make some downloadable content available.

[@LA-mg7rv]

I'm just leaving you a comment because you deserve it. Great content.

[@mkompan]

Well, thank you!

[@TRStream]

great demo! Thank you

[@mkompan]

My pleasure!