How to Illustrate with India Ink: 5 Free Tutorials

Learn easy ink warm-up exercises, how to add textures to your Sumi-e art, and more with these step-by-step tutorials

India ink (also called Chinese ink) has been an integral component of art forms like calligraphy and illustration in China, Japan, and Korea for centuries.

The oldest evidence to date was found on bones used for the divinatory arts thousands of years ago. According to historians, it was customary to paint on animal bones and then throw them into a fire, interpreting the future through their cracks patterns. Even back then, the components of India ink were the same as they are today: water mixed with soot from different resinous woods.

Read on to learn more about this art form's rich history and discover pro tips to improve your ink illustration skills—whatever your level.

From the bureaucratic world to the arts

You might be wondering how India ink began being used for writing and artistic expression? It could be said, that in part, we owe that to China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang. After bringing several kingdoms under his rule, he set out to unify them through a very powerful tool: the unified Chinese alphabet.

The use of a pictogram writing system was not only a means for subjugating the population but also served as a way for Qin Shi Huang's hundreds of mandarins (court officials) to organize the territories under his rule. And the element used to produce these thousands of bureaucratic documents was India ink.

Over the years, the mandarins began to cultivate the arts and literature. This resulted in the first landscapes painted with India ink. The technique perfectly captured the deep blacks and absolute whites that characterize black ink painting, like Chinese brush painting or sumi-e: monochromatic representations of mountains, rivers, clouds, and hazy horizons, as well as the complete absence of people.

Now that you know a little more about its history, dive into the following five tutorials packed with tips for India ink illustration.

To access the full tutorial posts, click on the red header.

Japanese Calligraphy Tutorial: 4 Basic Lines for Beginners

Whether it's calligraphy or illustration, when it comes to getting started with India ink one thing you need to familiarize yourself with is brush control.

In this beginner's tutorial, artist and calligrapher Rie Takeda (@rietakeda) teaches you how to practice simple yet beautiful lines to improve your technique. Sharing exercises to create four basic shodō (Japanese calligraphy) lines, you'll quickly see how changing the angle of your brush tip or applying a different pressure creates different effects.

Illustration Tutorial: How to Create a Gradient With India Ink

Unlike watercolor, India ink produces a powerful pigment impression as soon as the brush bristles touch the paper's surface. So, to achieve your desired saturation and create nuances that give more depth to your work, you'll need to learn to measure the right amount of ink for your brushstrokes.

Here to help you master this process, Mexican graphic designer and artist Hilda Palafox (@poni) teaches you how to create a monochromatic range of ten gradients, from absolute black to the palest gray. This exercise will enable you to make your reference tools for future illustration projects using India ink.

Illustration Tutorial: How to Illustrate a Character with Ink

Chilean artist Alejandra Acosta's (@alejandraacosta) style can be defined as diverse and experimental. With over fifteen years' experience as an illustrator, her works have featured in books published by prestigious publishers such as Planeta, Random House, and Sexto Piso.

In all her collaborative projects, Alejandra uses a mix of traditional techniques to create fascinating worlds and characters as captivating as the letters that accompany them. One of the techniques she uses to do this is ink printing.

Here, she shares tips on how to use India ink for your character illustrations by getting creative with rollers, brushes, and oil pastels, among other materials to create unexpected artworks. No matter how many times you reproduce them on the page, you'll always make something different.

Illustration Tutorial: 5 Basic Tips on How to Shade with Ink

Inking and shading are fundamental elements in the process of designing a comic. Shading gives depth to your drawings by making something flat, three-dimensional.

An expert at inking comics, award-winning artist Sergio Bleda's (@sergibleda) illustrations are characterized by dramatic and impactful shading—which he teaches you how to create in this tutorial.

Sergio will share some great tricks to give your characters volume and three-dimensionality using shadows. First, you'll ink your pencil drawings to define the silhouette more clearly, and then determine the light sources and direction.

Illustration Tutorial: Ink Strokes And The Sumi-e Technique

Do you know why landscapes created with the Sumi-e technique do not resemble any real-world natural scenery? In large part, this is because India ink is a watery element that flows freely on paper, producing unique results and textures. This characteristic allows Sumi-e artists to create entirely imaginary landscapes on the fly as they glide their brush.

In this tutorial, artist Mika Takahashi (@takamiks) draws on that quality to teach you how to use India ink as a medium for creative exploration.

You will learn how to generate hypnotic India ink stains using brushes, gauze, and even pieces of plastic bag. Mika also recommends you digitize your final work to keep a record of your exercises and how you achieved each of the results. The main takeaway? Don't restrict yourself and get creative!

The goal of these tutorials is for you to let your creativity flow like India ink running freely on the page! If you want to find more free tips and exercises like these, check out the creativity tutorials section on our blog.

English version by @acesarato.

You may also like:

- 5 Interesting Facts About India Ink
- 5 Online Courses for Learning How to Illustrate with India Ink
- What is Shodō, the Art of Japanese Calligraphy?
- India Ink Illustration with Japanese Influence, a course by Mika Takahashi