Pen and Ink Drawing Templates

Practice is key to improving in any endeavour, and especially so when learning to draw. With this in mind, I have provided extensive set of FREE pen and ink drawing templates below that can be downloaded as a single PDF file and used to practice drawing.  Each template is sized 7 by 5 inch with one per page in PDF. You can find further pen and ink drawing templates in pen and ink drawing tutorials and easy pen and ink drawings page.

Click here to download the finished drawings as a PDF file that you can use for reference.

Following 8 pen and ink drawing templates are included.

Following are the kind of strokes used in these drawing templates and suggestions around their usage. More details can be found in my pen and ink drawing tutorials.

Grass:

Short slightly curved stubbles are best for depicting grass. You don’t need to cover the entire ground, but mere suggestion of some is enough. Also keep following points in mind:

1. Draw the distant grass smaller (short strokes) than the one closer (perspective effect)
2. Make some areas darker than others (more lines together). This adds interest. Also use slightly different angles at different places.
3. Make the base of trees darker.
4. Avoid uniformity. Keep you hand moving to add some element of randomness.

Study the close ups below and finished drawings above for better understanding.

Ground:

To add interest, it is often desirable to add slight unevenness in the near and distant ground. To do this, use curved parallel lines where the curve of lines denote the shape of the ground. Cover the ground with grass as usual. Leave white space in between. Following close up shows how it is done.

Path:

Addition of a path always adds interest in a landscape. Cover the path with parallel lines (from edges to some distance in) to bring it out. Leave white space in between as it leads viewer’s eyes. Make the edges slightly darker by adding some more lines. Study the following close up.

Tree Trunk:

Tree trunk can be depicted by using curved parallel lines going across. One end of the trunk should be darker than the other to reflect shadow. This can be done by adding more short parallel lines at that end. Also slight small vertical marks can be added to indicate rough bark texture. Following close up shows this approach:

Another approach is to use lines going along the tree. Here again, one end should be darker than the other. Also lines should not be perfectly parallel, but create interesting pattern of dark and light in between to make it interesting and give depth to the depiction of trunk. Study the close up below and practice. It is important to keep your hand loose and enjoy the process to avoid ‘evenness’ in your strokes.

Pine Foliage:

Short stroke that you used for grass works well for depicting needle foliage of coniferous trees. Keep following important points in mind:

1. On the right side, draw the short strokes with curve and direction to the right and vice verse on the other side.
2. Make the foliage darker in the centre and lighter in the outer edges as it thins out. Also in the same ‘branch’, make the bottom darker than the top as the bottom receives less light. This adds to the depth perception.
3. It is very important to maintain some variation in blackness or ‘tone’ in depicting foliage. This usually comes with practice.

There are many ways of depicting coniferous trees and close up below shows some of the ways.

Distant Foliage:

Following are 2 simple ways of showing distant trees as shown in first 2 close ups below. In both cases following points should be noted:

1. Bottom, which receives less light from Sun, should be darker.
2. The size should become smaller with distance due to perspective as shown in close up 3.
3. In first approach, the top should indicate the top of a tree. The shape shows in close up 4 works for this purpose
4. The height of vertical lines depicting tress should be uneven to make it believable and add interest (close up 2).

Mountains:

In a simplified mountain, there are primarily vertical planes and horizontal planes. Keep following important points in mind:

1. Vertical Planes are much darker than the horizontal planes as they don’t face sun. You can even leave horizontal plane white or add slight shading (Close up 1).
2. Vertical plane must come to an end as a point. Shade vertical plane with vertical parallel lines starting from the end of the mountain and ending in a point (close up 1).
3. For a plane at an angle, use parallel lines at that angle to shade it. The more that plane is vertical, the darker it will be. (Close up 2)
4. To indicate a plane (exposed surface) in the body of mountain (away from the edges), do the following:
   1. Draw a line that indicates the shape of the plane
   2. Draw parallel lines at an angle which corresponds to the angle of the plane
   3. The parallel lines should progressively become smaller towards the end. Study the close ups below.

This should get you started drawing with pen and ink. Most importantly, have fun and don’t be afraid to experiment with different marks and tones. The goal is to have fun and spend  time in creative pursuits.  Do feel free to reach out to me if you need any assistance or further guidance.

Please note that all my drawings and templates are my copyright and are solely provided for your own personal use. Any kind of commercial use, including redistribution for sale or inclusion in any other website is Strictly Forbidden. Pl. contact me if you wish to use them for any educational and commercial use.

I will be regularly adding new templates and tutorials. If you would like to be notified of any new addition, pl. send me your email address in the form below. I would also like to hear from you regarding your finished work based on these templates and would try to display them on this site.

Have fun,

Rahul Jain