• 80 ideas

Pen Drawing Ideas Sorted by Hatching, Stippling and Line

Three subjects in ink per press, each with the mark to shade it with and the minutes to allow.

Pen Drawing Ideas Sorted by Hatching, Stippling and Line

Show all 80
  1. Doorway of a ruined stone cottageCross-hatching, 40 minutes. The opening is the darkest thing on the page: four layers, the last two diagonal.
  2. Value scale: five boxes, 0 to 4 layersCross-hatching, 10 minutes. Bare, one layer, a second at 90 degrees, then two diagonals. Keep it as a bookmark.
  3. Tree trunk with one branch forking offContoured hatching, 20 minutes. Lines wrap the trunk, then swing round the branch. The change of direction is the fork.

Next step More buildings and flat planesGo darker with charcoal

All 80 ideas

Linear hatching 16

  • Bottles on a windowsill against the light Linear hatching, 25 minutes. Hatch each bottle all over at one slant and leave a thin bare strip as the highlight.
  • Church tower built of squared stone Linear hatching, 30 minutes. Hatch each shadowed block on its own, so the mortar joints show up as bare gaps.
  • Flight of stone steps climbing away Linear hatching, 15 minutes. Risers hatched, treads bare. A dozen steps read clearly from just two tones.
  • Folded paper aeroplane on a desk Linear hatching, 5 minutes. Three planes, three tones: bare, wide lines, close lines. Hatching in five minutes.
  • Lighthouse on a flat horizon Linear hatching, 20 minutes. Upright lines down the shadow side, spaced wider and wider toward the light.
  • Old barn with a sagging roof line Linear hatching, 30 minutes. Hatch along the boards, never across them. Pack the lines closer under the eaves.
  • Open cardboard box with its flaps up Linear hatching, 10 minutes. Each flap is a plane with its own direction. The inside walls get the closest lines.
  • Open door spilling light into a dark room Linear hatching, 20 minutes. Hatch the whole room, closest in the corners. The doorway is the only bare paper.
  • Rain falling at a slant on a street Linear hatching, 10 minutes. Every stroke at the same angle. Break the lines wherever they cross an umbrella.
  • Shadow of a chair across floorboards Linear hatching, 15 minutes. Hatch only the shadow, along the boards. The chair itself stays a plain outline.
  • Shuttered window in a plaster wall Linear hatching, 20 minutes. Each slat is a short stroke with a darker line beneath. Leave the wall almost empty.
  • Stack of three books seen from a corner Linear hatching, 15 minutes. One direction per plane: tops bare, spines vertical, page edges horizontal.
  • Tall buildings seen from street level Linear hatching, 25 minutes. Lines run up the walls toward one vanishing point and crowd together as they rise.
  • Terraced rooftops in low afternoon light Linear hatching, 20 minutes. Hatch only the shadow sides, every line at one slant. Lit walls stay bare paper.
  • Wooden crate stencilled with a made-up label Linear hatching, 15 minutes. Hatch along the planks. Letter the label first and stop every line short of it.
  • Wooden pier running out over still water Linear hatching, 20 minutes. Planks hatched across, water in flat level strokes. The posts repeat as broken lines.

Cross-hatching 16

  • Alley between two tall buildings Cross-hatching, 30 minutes. Both walls are crossed, darker as they go back. The slot of sky between them stays empty.
  • Bark of an old oak, close up Cross-hatching, 30 minutes. First layer follows the ridges. Cross it only in the furrows so the ridges stay light.
  • Bunch of old keys and their shadow Cross-hatching, 20 minutes. Cross-hatch the cast shadow, not the keys. Metal reads bright against a dark ground.
  • Cast-iron kettle on a stove Cross-hatching, 30 minutes. Three layers all over and a fourth in shadow. One bare streak down the side is the shine.
  • Crow perched on a fence post Cross-hatching, 25 minutes. A black bird is three crossed layers with a bare glint on the beak and another in the eye.
  • Crumpled paper bag, a layer count for every facet Cross-hatching, 25 minutes. Give every facet zero, one, two or three layers. Decide which before the pen goes down.
  • Doorway of a ruined stone cottage Cross-hatching, 40 minutes. The opening is the darkest thing on the page: four layers, the last two diagonal.
  • Lit window seen from outside at night Cross-hatching, 30 minutes. Cross-hatch the wall four layers deep. The window is untouched paper with a thin frame.
  • Old suitcase with straps and scuffed corners Cross-hatching, 30 minutes. One layer for the lid, two for the front, three under the handle. Scuffs are bare flecks.
  • Pile of firewood with the cut ends showing Cross-hatching, 30 minutes. Cut ends are bare rings. Cross the gaps between the logs until they are nearly black.
  • Portrait lit from one side only Cross-hatching, 40 minutes. The shadow half gets two layers and the eye socket three. The lit half is nearly all paper.
  • Storm cloud over a flat field Cross-hatching, 20 minutes. Cross the cloud base dark. Layers laid at a slight angle to each other start to shimmer.
  • Tree roots gripping a steep bank Cross-hatching, 35 minutes. Roots stay light on top. The hollows under them take layer on layer until they go black.
  • Value scale: five boxes, 0 to 4 layers Cross-hatching, 10 minutes. Bare, one layer, a second at 90 degrees, then two diagonals. Keep it as a bookmark.
  • Worn leather boot with a collapsed ankle Cross-hatching, 35 minutes. Creases take two layers and the inside of the boot three. The toe cap stays nearly bare.
  • Your free hand clenched in a fist Cross-hatching, 25 minutes. Crossed layers go in the gaps between fingers. Knuckles facing the light stay bare.

Contoured hatching 16

  • Bent elbow in a shirt sleeve Contoured hatching, 20 minutes. Wrinkles fan out from the bend. Between them, lines circle the arm like bracelets.
  • Coffee mug with its handle toward you Contoured hatching, 10 minutes. Curved strokes that echo the rim. Straight ones would flatten the mug at once.
  • Coil of thick rope on a quayside Contoured hatching, 25 minutes. Short curved strokes across each strand, all tilted one way like a barber's pole.
  • Garden hose coiled on a wall hook Contoured hatching, 20 minutes. Tiny arcs across the tube, all the way round each loop. Slow, and worth it.
  • Garlic bulb with papery skin Contoured hatching, 10 minutes. Long curved strokes from root to tip, swelling out over each clove.
  • Hot-air balloon overhead Contoured hatching, 15 minutes. The seams hand you the contour lines. Add closer ones between them on the shadow side.
  • Mushrooms showing caps and gills Contoured hatching, 25 minutes. Curved strokes over the domed cap. Underneath, fine straight lines fan out as gills.
  • Pear on a plate with its stalk toward you Contoured hatching, 15 minutes. Curve every line round the pear like a rubber band. Closer lines on the shadow side.
  • Pumpkin with deep ribs and a twisted stalk Contoured hatching, 25 minutes. Treat each rib as a small cylinder. Curve the lines from one groove to the next.
  • Sleeping cat curled into a circle Contoured hatching, 25 minutes. Short curved strokes that follow the fur and wrap the body at the same time.
  • Snail shell spiralling inward Contoured hatching, 20 minutes. Strokes cross the spiral at right angles, shorter and shorter toward the middle.
  • Stack of rolled towels on a shelf Contoured hatching, 20 minutes. Each roll gets curves on its side and a spiral on its end. Darkest where rolls touch.
  • Tea towel draped over a chair back Contoured hatching, 30 minutes. Lines run across the folds and bend as they drop into each valley.
  • Three eggs in a shallow bowl Contoured hatching, 20 minutes. The pure test of the mark: curved lines only, and no outline on the lit side.
  • Tree trunk with one branch forking off Contoured hatching, 20 minutes. Lines wrap the trunk, then swing round the branch. The change of direction is the fork.
  • Your ear, drawn from a mirror Contoured hatching, 20 minutes. All curves, no straight lines anywhere. Follow each fold of the rim into the hollow.

Stippling 16

  • Bumblebee on a flower head Stippling, 35 minutes. Fur suits dots. Dense for the dark bands, sparse for the pale ones, none on the wings.
  • Dandelion seed head losing its first seeds Stippling, 20 minutes. Dots thin out toward the rim until the ball fades into the page. The stem is one line.
  • Full moon with its dark seas Stippling, 30 minutes. No outline at all. Dense dots for the seas and a thin scatter to find the edge.
  • Gradient bar from white to black Stippling, 10 minutes. Ten centimetres long. It shows how many dots dark really takes. Hold the pen upright.
  • Ladybird, 3 cm across Stippling, 10 minutes. Small enough to finish. Solid spots, dotted shading round the dome, one bare glint.
  • Misty hills in three layers Stippling, 30 minutes. Nearest hill dense, farthest barely there. Dots make fog that lines never manage.
  • Moth at rest with its wings flat Stippling, 35 minutes. Build the wing pattern from dot density alone. Outline nothing but the antennae.
  • One pebble and its shadow Stippling, 10 minutes. The smallest complete study: one form, one cast shadow, one highlight left bare.
  • Orange with pitted peel Stippling, 20 minutes. The dots do the peel and the shading at once. Leave one bare patch as the highlight.
  • Sand dune with a sharp crest Stippling, 25 minutes. One side of the crest is dense, the other bare. The edge between them is the whole drawing.
  • Slice of bread with an open crumb Stippling, 25 minutes. Holes stay bare. Crowd the dots round the lower edge of each hole, and along the crust.
  • Speckled egg in a nest Stippling, 20 minutes. Bold dots for the speckles, tiny ones for the shading. The nest is a few fast lines.
  • Stag beetle seen from above Stippling, 40 minutes. Pack dots along the seam and edges of the wing cases. The shine is a lane with none.
  • Strawberry with every seed in place Stippling, 25 minutes. Ring each seed with a few dots and leave the seed bare. Crowd the shadow side.
  • Toad sitting on a flat stone Stippling, 40 minutes. Warts are bare bumps, each with a crescent of dots under it. Toad and stone share a texture.
  • Weathered stone head from a garden wall Stippling, 45 minutes. Stone wants dots: soft edges and a pitted surface. Build up the eye sockets and the chin.

Contour line only 16

  • Bare winter tree from trunk to twig Contour line, 15 minutes. Every branch is two lines that narrow. Stop each twig before it turns into a hair.
  • Bicycle leaning against a wall Contour line, 20 minutes. Line only, no guide ellipses. Wonky wheels are fine, but every tube must join another.
  • Feather with two splits in the vane Contour line, 10 minutes. One line for the shaft, then the outer edge with its splits. No inner barbs at all.
  • Folded glasses resting on a book Contour line, 10 minutes. The lenses are two tilted ellipses, never circles. The arms cross behind them.
  • Grasshopper in profile on a grass stem Contour line, 15 minutes. The back leg is a tall folded Z, higher than the body. Get that angle and it can jump.
  • Houseplant with every leaf overlapping Contour line, 15 minutes. Front leaves first. Lines for the leaves behind stop dead where they meet one.
  • Kitchen chair from a low angle Contour line, 15 minutes. Legs nearest you are longest. Draw the gaps between the legs as carefully as the legs.
  • Pile of shoes by the front door Contour line, 20 minutes. Overlaps do the work. Finish the nearest shoe, then tuck each of the others behind it.
  • Roofline of chimney pots and aerials Contour line, 10 minutes. A single wandering line along the rooftops, from the left edge of the page to the right.
  • Single old key with an ornate bow Contour line, 10 minutes. One slow pass. Look for the exact rhythm of the notches instead of guessing it.
  • Sleeping dog in five lines or fewer Contour line, 5 minutes. Back, belly, ear, tail, paw. Ink cannot be rubbed out, so plan the five before you start.
  • Someone reading across the room Contour line, 10 minutes. No face. The line hunts for weight: the slumped shoulder, the bent neck, the book.
  • Tangle of charging cables Contour line, 10 minutes. Follow one cable from plug to plug. Break the line each time it passes under another.
  • Teapot drawn twice: one minute, then nine Contour line, 10 minutes. Same pot, same view. Compare the two afterwards and see which line has more life.
  • Your own hand, drawn without looking at the paper Contour line, 5 minutes. Eyes on the hand and never on the paper. It comes out wrong and alive, which is the point.
  • Your shoe, laces and all, in one unbroken line Contour line, 10 minutes. Start at the heel and do not lift. Where the line doubles back on itself, let it.

How it works

Rooftops, a coil of rope, a stag beetle, a shoe: 80 subjects chosen for ink, each matched to the one mark that suits it, whether linear hatching, cross-hatching, contoured hatching, stippling or plain contour line. Every idea gives the minutes to allow. For things to draw with a pen that teach something, pick a mark.

Read the full guide

Sorted by how the mark makes tone

A pen has one tone, black, so grey has to be built. Hatching is closely spaced parallel lines, and more, thicker or closer lines read darker. Linear hatching follows a flat plane, which suits rooftops and stone steps. Contoured hatching curves round the form, which suits a pear or a coil of rope. Cross-hatching stacks layers at an angle for the deep shadow in a doorway. Each of these ink drawing ideas names its mark.

Dots, and line alone

Stippling builds tone from small dots: the denser the dots, the darker the patch. It is slow, and it suits soft or pitted things: a stag beetle, a full moon, a slice of bread. The pen sketch ideas under Contour line only skip shading altogether. An outline that hunts for mass and volume can carry a shoe, a bicycle or someone reading across the room.

  • Turn the paper, not your wrist. Every hand has one angle where parallel lines come out even, so bring each patch round to it.
  • Ink generally cannot be erased. Commit to the line and leave the wobbles in.
  • Draw the five-box value scale first and keep it beside you. It shows how many layers your pen needs for mid grey.

Questions and answers

What pen do I need?

Any pen that makes a steady line. A ballpoint works, though it can blob or skip, so keep scrap paper nearby. A fineliner gives an even line for stippling and cross-hatching. None of these pen art ideas needs more than one pen and plain paper. The mark matters more than the tool.

What is the difference between hatching and cross-hatching?

Hatching is one set of parallel lines. Cross-hatching lays a second set over the first at an angle, most simply at 90 degrees, and further layers can run diagonally. Each layer darkens the patch. Let two layers cross at only a slight angle and a shimmer appears, which is handy for a storm cloud.

What can a beginner finish in five minutes?

Three easy pen drawing ideas take five minutes each. A blind contour of your own hand, eyes never on the paper. A folded paper aeroplane in three hatched tones. A sleeping dog in five lines or fewer. Sixteen more sit under the Quick group, at ten minutes each. For more outline-only subjects, see line art ideas.

More tools

Show 7 more

Browse Drawing Ideas