Franklin Booth (1874-1948) American artist of detailed pen-and-ink illustrations with the appearance of wood engravings. He created this style when he was young, self-teaching from illustrated magazine art, not realizing they were engravings. Pen and Ink 1909_05_Scribner's magazine ___ Franklin Booth additional information and images: Excellent bio with images: www.bpib.com/booth.htm The Franklin Booth Project: outsidelogic.com/franklinbooth/ Franklin Book | Comic Book Stories: comicsbookstories.blogspot.com/2009/12/franklin-booth-187... comicsbookstories.blogspot.com/2011/07/franklin-booth-187...

Observations and thoughts about the fine art of painting

Here are 12 top tips & tricks on how to use micron pens to help get your creative juices flowing!

As you might've realized from our publications on the Facebook group 'What in the $20 wish tattoo machine is this?' or the 'That's It, I'm Inkshaming' group, sadly, subpar tattoos are pretty common. Which makes the good ones even more admirable.

Serbian artist Endre Penovác renders fluffy felines with stark black watercolors and ink. Penovác heavily dilutes the pigments with water creating small rivers and splotches that perfectly mimic the texture of fur. You can see more of these on his website and over on Miss Moss. Update: Penovác has prints and originals available through Saatchi Art. More

TweetBorn in Sydney, Australia, Nanami Cowdroy creates pen and ink art works that combine her Japanese and European heritage with a modern sensibility. Her signature detailed style reflects a refined monochrome palette with her name 'Nanami' (meaning 'Seven Seas' in Japanese ) stamped in red. Fluid line-work, watery creatures and Goldfish are some of her favourite subjects, and distinctive forms which are featured in her artworks. These delicate and bold images seem timeless and modern, and they are all beautifully rendered. Cable Cranes by Nanami Cowdroy Royal Flush by Nanami Cowdroy Tori Trigger by Nanami Cowdroy Smoked by Nanami Cowdroy Overflow by Nanami Cowdroy Tampopo by Nanami Cowdroy Suspended Animation 01 by Nanami Cowdroy Inksects by Nanami Cowdroy Ink Tears by Nanami Cowdroy Ink Pond by Nanami Cowdroy Kintoto Blot by Nanami Cowdroy Imagination Cultivation by Nanami Cowdroy Tsuru by Nanami Cowdroy Flower Shower by Nanami Cowdroy Blow Fish by Nanami Cowdroy Tweet Share this: Share Facebook Related

Lithuanian artist Vytas Neviera challenged himself to draw one image per day for the entire year. The aim is to improve his drawing skills and explore the unique style of linear drawings. Vytas is mostly inspired by nature and people, but he also studies the works of older masters, traditional Japanese and Chinese ink artworks or theories of geometry.

Not all artists have the good fortune of pursuing their art full-time. Taiwan-based artist Rola Chang, aka Jungshan, moonlights as a freelance illustrator

Hatching (making parallel marks) and crosshatching (making parallel marks overlapped with parallel marks) are some of the most valuable tools for adding value, contour, movement, energy, and texture to a …

The personal work of illustrator Simon Prades implements both ink and watercolors, using text and negative space to create engrossing drawings. Even with the artist’s sparser works, the tangible elements of each piece are packed with detail. By the day, the artist works as an illustrator for publications like The New York Times, Esquire, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Rolling Stone, Wired, and others.

Here are 12 top tips & tricks on how to use micron pens to help get your creative juices flowing!

Discover the finest artists from animation, games, illustration, and comics…

Learn how to combine watercolour and ink to create beautiful mixed media artwork by understanding the secrets of line and wash paintings.

Queensland, Australia-based artist Loui Jover creates striking artworks by using pen and dripping ink on pages of vintage books. While many of his pieces

Pen and Ink are the perfect partners for quick and easy mark making - especially as they are affordable and easy to transport. But working in a permanent

Artist Nicolas Delort lives and works in the suburbs of Paris where he creates evocative and imposing illustrations using ink and scratchboard. Each piece represents a moment from an unknown narrative leaving me filled with questions in the same way Chris van Allsburg’s The Mysteries of Harris Burdick leaves you curious of the circumstances behind each image. Delort is officially represented by Shannon Associates where you can see much more of his work and hopefully hire him to illustrate a graphic novel that I will wait in line to purchase. More

Artist Nicolas Delort lives and works in the suburbs of Paris where he creates evocative and imposing illustrations using ink and scratchboard. Each piece represents a moment from an unknown narrative leaving me filled with questions in the same way Chris van Allsburg’s The Mysteries of Harris Burdick leaves you curious of the circumstances behind each image. Delort is officially represented by Shannon Associates where you can see much more of his work and hopefully hire him to illustrate a graphic novel that I will wait in line to purchase. More

The technique of the pen is vastly different from that of any other tool the artists use, and the work done with a pen is consequently very unique. By nature it is a much harsher and a less flexible instrument than either the pencil or the brush, even though pens have come a long way. A pen drawing has a distinct individuality, no matter what kind of a technique is used, fundamentally because of the manner of getting the various tones and shadows, which is different from that in the other mediums generally used.

An artist with a very strong and individual style. Erfan Hasankhani is an Iranian Artist that describes himself as Sketcher & Photographer. His drawings caught my eye, because the are so very different from the approach that most other artists take, when depicting a building. Structures from all over the world, get this fantastic treatment, that can be seen better, if you press the image to enlarge it. Parts of the building are left uncolored and unfinished, whilst the other parts are covered in this colored fuzz that extends across the facade. Have a look at them and see what you think. St Albans. Press the Image to Enlarge it. Saint Patrick'S Church. Press the Image to Enlarge it. St. Charles Karlskirche. Press the Image to Enlarge it. Cathedral Santa Maria Del Fiore. Press the Image to Enlarge it. Chinese Architecture 1. Press the Image to Enlarge it. Chinese Architecture 2. Press the Image to Enlarge it. Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. Press the Image to Enlarge it. Borgund Stave Church. Press the Image to Enlarge it. Basilique du Sacre Coeur. Press the Image to Enlarge it. Uspenski Cathedral. Press the Image to Enlarge it. "My last work of the summer." Press the Image to Enlarge it. Drawing vs House. Press the Image to Enlarge it.

“The best architects have been artists first.” There are times in your life when the artistic and the personal seem to intersect in one person. Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue is that intersection for me. His drawings were “love at first sight” for me although they were intimidating. Youth tends to search for roll models, putting much importance in superficial similarities, and I am no Goodhue. But there were parallels between our lives which made me feel closer to Goodhue than to any other architect I studied. Goodhue was a Connecticut Yankee, although he had nothing in common with Mark Twain’s character in King Arthur’s Court. His family roots were deep in 17th century New England, as are mine. He had a Revolutionary War hero in the family; ditto there. And, he was a self taught artist who also loved history. How could I not love the guy. However, unlike myself, Goodhue was poor, not formally educated, and grew up in a quaint Connecticut town a century before I was born. He began drawing regularly at the age of ten, and by the age of 15 had developed a talent for drawing any sort of building with charming ease. Being poor, he apprenticed himself to a New York City architect as an office boy, but he quickly advanced on the strength of his drawing. At age 18 his rendering of a House and Lodge on the coast of Oregon (above) was published by Building magazine. An amazing rise, and a totally different path than I followed. I should also add that Goodhue was a genius, which I am not. At the age of 22 (1891) Goodhue won a competition for the design of the Cathedral of St. Matthew in Dallas, Texas (above), and became a partner with the firm of Cram & Wentworth in Boston. In a sense his career was settled, but in other ways he was the most unsettled of young men. He hungered for recognition, being outside the circle of Beaux Arts graduates and gentlemen architects. His childhood poverty drove him to produce designs and drawings at a prodigious rate. He was a functional manic personality, going from gregarious elation to focused depression, while spinning off images which dazzled his co-workers and clients. That makes him sound like a candidate for the loony bin, but he also had a steely self discipline and an absolute belief in his abilities. And people came to love him in spite of his sharpness and occasional severity. His genius was obvious, and people accommodated his occasional quirks. The previous two images are of All Saint’s Church in Brookline Massachusetts, one of the first projects that he worked on as a partner (the partnership soon became Cram, Goodhue and Ferguson, and would be his base for the next 23 years). His confidence, seen in the sure handling of the church’s complex form, is already evident. Goodhue’s early professional years (1894 to 1902) had the usual “bread and butter” architectural work, but also involved site sketching (above). In the end however, his professional career was originally defined by the delightful imaginary places he dreamed up and illustrated. The “sinuous streets” of “Traumburg” in Bohemia was first. “In its humble way Traumburg is a very complete example of the Mediaeval German spirit. By this admission I hope to disarm criticism of my poor attempt to describe it. Let it also be admitted, and at once, that in Germany there does not, and never did, exist an architectural monument of the first class, - not even Cologne Cathedral. But there is a certain quality, it seems to me, in German work that should possess greater interest, and for more people, than it apparently does. I mean that quality that has given us the Teutonic Marschen – both for children and for grown-ups – of which the chief component may, for lack of a better term, be entitled the macabre.” The “ancient” church of St. Kavin’s is an amazing conception that would fit nicely in one of the Tolkien movies by Peter Jackson. The detail above shows the mastery of illusion that Goodhue had reached at age 27. Note also the beautiful vignette composition making the church and landscape describe an elegant arc. Another, more “touristic” view of the town. Note the stork on the chimney. “Traumburg, A small but very ancient town, about twenty miles from the seacoast. Chief place in the county of the same name lying between Grunefwald and Ruritania.” St. Kavin’s from the cloister-garth. “The Church is of little interest to the ordinary tourist because of its lack of unity, and is but rarely visited, owing to the fact that no railway passes within a number of miles.” The fantasy for 1897 was “Villa Fosca and its Garden”, which had “hitherto escaped the observation of serious writers” Again, the dream was developed both generally and in detail, with an inimitable sense of place. “Along the southern face of the simpler pergola which encloses the kitchen gardens, and descending by slow degrees to the bay, is a ramp, crossed at intervals by winding pathways, all of which converge after long and intentionally mazy wanderings, at the Tenietto di Venere, which, like the billiard hall, is another triumph of the baroque.” Goodhue has a way with veiled sarcasm. Finally, in 1899 he invented the Italian hill town of “Monteventoso”. In his words: “It is but a poor place, this Monteventoso, and scarce worth discovering.” “…despite the announcement, made by the proprietor of the ‘Albergo Della Ruota’, that in Monteventoso were to be found ‘notable’ buildings, the author must beg leave to deny any complicity in the statement.” “As elsewhere, all the life and most of the interest of the town centre about the piazza, in spite of the fact that the principal structure, the church of St. Catherine, is perched on the hillside some little distance above.” Goodhue goes on with 15 pages of delightful sketches and travel writing (with local gossip and traditional stories thrown in for good measure). His explorations were sometimes more prosaic in nature. For instance, above are two iconic “country churches” he produced in the same time period as his exotic travel sketches. But even here is found whimsy; the tombstone reads, “B. G. G. deit MDCCCXCIX.” Goodhue’s last imaginary journey was to Shiraz, Persia, where he set his story “Of Persian Gardens”. “…but the poetry is here, and the mystery, and above all else, the art – an art and craft of garden making no less perfect than that of Italy, but set in the midst of surroundings as different as east is from west.” The pencil sketch above entitled “A Castle in the forest of Arden” seems imaginary, but is related to a proposed house for E.H. Harriman, in Arden, NY. And so, Goodhue continues his habit of mixing the imaginary ideal with the paid commission. It is also a clue to his rendering process: a well developed pencil drawing followed by a freehand ink tracing. I would love to hear of other clues to his approach to drawing. Proposal for a church in Cleveland, Ohio La Santisima Trinidad pro-cathedral in Havana. Todos Santos, Guantanamo, Cuba. The poster being viewed says, “Cran runs with bulls”. Goodhue apparently had a dry sense of humor, as well as the admirable discipline to leave paper blank and incomplete. Proposed Episcopal Cathedral, Havana. Proposed church in Winchester, Massachusetts. The gravestone reads; “This Stone marks the resting place of B.G.G’s pen”. St. John’s Church, West Hartford, Connecticut. First Presbyterian Church of Rockaway, New York. Proposed Chapel at St. John’s School, Manlius, New York. There is a pattern in the preceding images, no? Goodhue liked the aesthetic possibilities of church architecture, and his partner, Ralph Adams Cram, was enamored by Anglo-Catholic liturgy and the architecture associated with it. Add in some high social connections and you have a serious and growing practice. Proposed Memorial Arch at the United States Military Academy, West Point. This, and the chapel following, were a part of an on-going relation with the Academy. The Chapel at US Military Academy West Point; showing that he could compose and render in pencil as brilliantly as he did in ink. The chapel was built, and is worth a visit. The above three images are wonderful sketches. They are of a project (St. Thomas College, Washington, DC) which I have not been able to locate in the 1983 list of his projects. They are included in the 1914 book, but don’t show up anywhere else. If anybody knows where this place is, I’d love to hear from you. Perhaps Goodhue’s most famous project was St. Thomas’s Church in New York City. This pencil sketch of an early scheme shows a work in progress; the finished church is on Fifth Avenue, and is one of the better examples of a formal appearing church in a tight urban fabric. By 1910 the practice had expanded beyond the east coast, with several commissions in California. Here is a pencil rendering of a cathedral and hospital in Los Angeles. Here, an illustration of a different proposal for a cathedral in Los Angeles. And here, buildings for an international exhibition in San Diego. These buildings are also extant and are part of Balboa Park in the city. Goodhue did a number of jobs in Minnesota (my home state). Above is a delightfully domestic house built on the shores of Lake Superior. One big project that, sadly, was never built was the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Baltimore. Luckily, we have these three pencil renderings (below) of the proposal. The conception is more traditional than Goodhue normally liked, but they are all iconic images, and can teach an illustrator a lot about composition and value. Besides churches and cathedrals, Goodhue was quite popular as a country house designer. Like Edwin Lutyens, his English contemporary, he was traditional but quirky. The images below might seem over done with ornament, but for his time Goodhue was restrained in his use of ornament, and would progressively simplify as a project moved toward construction. The Parish House, Saint Peter’s, Morristown, New Jersey. A half timbered cottage for a Ladies Home Journal article. A house near Greenwich, Connecticut. Proposals for a house at Briarcliff, New York. Bertram Goodhue house, Montecito, California. Anyone who has worked in an architectural office knows how much time a principal spends in meetings, travel and socializing. As Goodhue became famous he was inundated with clients, and the time available for design and especially drawing became more limited. By 1914 he left Cram and Ferguson and started his own office in New York City, which placed more pressure on him, but also gave all the fame and fortune to him alone. From now on rendering was often done by others in the office, or farmed out to specialists such as Hugh Ferriss and Birch Burdette Long. As his practice became nationwide, he found that “travel” involved long trips by train to California, Florida or Montreal, and jaunts by ship to Hawaii or Cuba; severely limiting his time in the office. These three renderings of the Nebraska State Capitol building illustrate Goodhue’s later years. The design is ground breaking in its simplified expression of forms, and its limited and orderly use of ornament. None of the renderings however, are by Goodhue himself, but rather are by the anonymous office worker, a professional renderer (Birch Burdette Long), and a talented in-house artist/architect (James Perry Wilson). One of the best renderings by Hugh Ferriss is the Convocation Tower designed by Goodhue as a portfolio example of his ability to design tall buildings. And, yes, I’ll have to do a full post on Ferriss some time. Although it is another project rendered by others, the Kansas City War Memorial (above) is too good to not include here. Goodhue did not win the competition, but in the presentation drawings (actually watercolor wash drawings done by his office in the Beaux Art tradition) you get a clear idea of the direction his design ideas were going. He had always been a romantic, but had also seen the need for the architect to balance mass forms with ornament, classical order with natural dynamism, and abstraction with narrative. Saint Bartholomew’s Church in New York is another of the New York City churches he is famous for. This rendering is by James Perry Wilson, from Goodhue’s office. The sketch above is the last known drawing by Goodhue. It was done while returning home from the west coast on the Union Pacific Railroad. It is entitled; “View of the (poorer) business quarter of the city of Sarras”. He died unexpectedly 10 days later of a heart attack in New York City; he was only 55 years old. The sketch proves that he retained his visual creativity and romantic spirit to the end. The title suggests that the early poverty that drove him his whole life was still an undercurrent pushing him beyond his physical limits. “The sense of romance possessed him.” -Ralph Adams Cram Goodhue’s life was a balance between tradition and freedom. This was a reflection of the age, and others were exploring the same dichotomy, and questioning the status quo of the Beaux Art and eclecticism. Unfortunately, his career was cut short, so we don’t know what he would have made of the European modernism of the 30’s and 40’s. Anyway, we’ll never know… The Great Depression and World War 2 came along and undermined the already shaky ideals of Western Civilization. The result has been an exciting, chaotic roller coaster ride that we can’t seem to leave behind. Note: In case you want to learn more about Goodhue, the best book about his life and career is Richard Oliver’s Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue (1983). Most of the drawings and renderings in this post are from a large format book published by The Architectural Book Publishing Company of New York in 1914, entitled, A Book of Architectural and Decorative Drawings by Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue. Other images are from Drafting Room Practice by Eugene Clute(1928). Many of the later renderings in Goodhue’s office seem to have come from the hand of James Perry Wilson (noted in the post), a Columbia architecture graduate, who was also, like Goodhue, a talented artist. An interesting site on his life is here. Inspiration - Jean-LeonGerome Inspiration- The Dreams of Lebbius Woods Inspiration- Sargent & Structures Inspiration- Louis Sullivan & Ornamentation Inspiration- Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue Inspiration- Winslow Homer Inspiration- Dore & value studies Inspiration- Hugh Ferriss Inspiration- Waterhouse & Color Inspiration- Bierstadt & Atmosphere Inspiration- John C. Wenrich Inspiration - Cyril Farey

Fineliner Ink Abstract Drawings

The technique of the pen is vastly different from that of any other tool the artists use, and the work done with a pen is consequently very unique. By nature it is a much harsher and a less flexible instrument than either the pencil or the brush, even though pens have come a long way. A pen drawing has a distinct individuality, no matter what kind of a technique is used, fundamentally because of the manner of getting the various tones and shadows, which is different from that in the other mediums generally used.

Beautiful expressions centred around the eyes. The works of Author and Artist Alphonso Dunn. Not only does he create art, but has written a book to pass on the wisdom and experiences he has accumulated. Below is a mixture of ink drawings and colors. Some of them are finished, some are WIPs and the rest, minimalist. This third category might look at first glance, like an unfinished drawing, when it's in fact a completed one. As I mentioned at the top, the focus is placed on the eyes. With the other features of the face, playing a supporting actor's role. Many emotions illustrated by clear and meaningful expressions. When we see expressions in people, many of us have a mental and physical response to it. The mental one is more difficult to see, as you have to experience it personally. The physical one can be tested. Have someone else look at these pictures. Don't tell them why and don't stare at them. Notice their expression change, as they go through the images. See if it works... Ps. I gave the images some titles. A happy surprise. Press the Image to Enlarge it. A look of pity. Press the Image to Enlarge it. A moment of anger. Press the Image to Enlarge it. A firm warning. Press the Image to Enlarge it. A scare. Press the Image to Enlarge it. Assessing the situation. Press the Image to Enlarge it. The classic eye rolling. Press the Image to Enlarge it. Playing careful attention. Press the Image to Enlarge it. Unsure, weighing options. Press the Image to Enlarge it. A side look, not deserving of a full frontal one. Press the Image to Enlarge it.