How to Draw a Wooden Structure with Pen and Ink

Adding a wooden structure like a barn can greatly enhance the feeling of a scene. Here I will discuss techniques for drawing a generic wooden structure. These can be used to draw barns, wooden cabin, outhouses, or other wooden structure.

1. 1. Here is the outline of a typical wooden house. To draw houses properly, you need to have some knowledge of perspective. The lines indicating distinct wooden slats are indicated as well. Note that ruler is not used as ruler straightness will make it unbelievable.

2. Parallel line shading along the long side of wood is done initially. Don’t attempt to draw single line across the wood slat if you can’t manage it. Instead do the length you can manage. If you do it in multiple steps, there will be slight darkness at areas where the sets overlap. This is fine as that darkness would imply wood texture.

3. Darken the edges. Again make sure not to make it uniform. Vary the thickness slightly along the length to add interest.

4. In a structure outside, certain parts are in shade compared to other parts. Top of the roof is usually lightest as it is facing Sun. Areas under an overhang are darker. Inside seen through door and windows is also usually darker. Draw additional parallel lines in these areas to darken them slightly.

5. Finally, add some marks to ‘age’ the wood. This will depend on your interest. To make the structure look dilapidated, use more dark strokes to indicate rotten wood.

6. Finish the structure by adding other elements of nature around it.

Templates:

Click here to download PDF with templates to practice. This completes the tutorial. Practice often and have fun.

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Rahul

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