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pen-and-ink

pen-and-ink

1 5.5
A drawing made with pen and ink that shows lines and shading without color
  • noun
  • /pɛn ənd ɪŋk/
translation icon : dibujo a tinta
  • During the workshop, participants learned how to use pen-and-ink techniques to create stunning portraits.
  • pen-and-ink drawing

She's like, he really likes pen and ink art.

Examples

  • She does watercolors, prints, pen-and-ink drawings, and the like.

    Blog text (1)
  • She enjoyed creating pen-and-ink illustrations of wildlife, showcasing the textures and patterns of their fur and feathers.

  • In a number of places, it looks just like a pen and ink drawing.

    Blog text (23)
  • Inside, there is a beautiful pen and ink portrait of Louis.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • "On the cover of the first issue was a pen-and-ink drawing of Joe Cannon."

    Academic text (2010)
  • Many years later, I saw in an exhibition a pen and ink drawing by Francesco Guardi.

    Fiction book (1999)
  • I did a pen-and-ink rendering of the William Livingstone House based on this photograph about a year ago, and only recently discovered the entire collection.

    Blog text (27)
  • Yesterday in his class, during this boring lecture on Attila the Hun or Genghis Khan or somebody, I was working on this drawing for the art contest, a pen and ink portrait of my sister, and I had the shading perfect.

    Fiction book (1996)
  • The pen-and-ink inscription bears the traces of an idiosyncratic hand, rather than the precise, practiced, and predictable outlines of the calligrapher's art.

    Academic text (1995)
  • The artist presented a stunning pen-and-ink drawing that captured the intricate details of the city skyline.

Synonyms

drawing
vspen-and-ink
184 1.0

A picture made by hand with a pen or pencil

focuses on a specific medium that uses drawn lines plus careful shading
sketch
vspen-and-ink
150 2.5

A quick simple drawing used to plan an idea

is more finished and uses deliberate lines and shading rather than quick marks
line drawing
vspen-and-ink
3 3.6

A picture made only with lines that shows the shape of things without color or shading

is done with both fine lines and deliberate shading, not only outlines

Surface Forms

pen-and-ink singular
pen-and-inks plural

Morphology

pen-and-ink = pen + ink (transparent) = pen + and + ink

The hyphenated compound literally names the two materials 'pen' and 'ink', so the meaning is directly inferable from the bases.

Etymology

The word pen-and-ink comes from the simple parts pen ('writing tool') and ink ('liquid for writing'). Imagine an artist putting a pen into ink to draw black lines and shading — that's why pen-and-ink means a picture made with lines but no color.