Marah Maitale Art

Videos · Sketchbook Drawings

Rembrandt Self Portrait, a Pen and Ink Study

7 min · real-time drawing, no talking · watch on YouTube

A study of a Rembrandt self portrait on the first page of my new sketchbook: a pencil sketch of the wide-eyed face, cap and curly hair, a warm sepia background, then everything inked with Pigma Micron fineliners and crosshatching like an old etching. No talking, just the drawing process with calm music.

Pen and ink study of a Rembrandt self portrait with a cap, curly hair and wide eyes, crosshatched on a sepia background in a sketchbook
Rembrandt Self Portrait, a Pen and Ink Study — Marah Maitale Art

A master study after one of Rembrandt's early self portraits: a young man in a cap with a mass of curly hair, a small mustache and wide, startled eyes. It fills the first page of a new A5 sketchbook with cream paper.

The face starts as a light pencil sketch, and the eyes, nose and mouth are shaded first so the expression is right. Then the page gets a warm sepia background, and everything is inked with Pigma Micron fineliners: the eyes, the mustache and lips, and at last the cap and the curls, built up with layers of crosshatching the way Rembrandt worked in his etchings.

There is no voice-over, only the drawing process and calm music, so it works as relaxing pen and ink practice to draw along with. More portraits: a man with curly hair in pencil, a young man with wavy hair, another pen drawing, an oil lantern in ballpoint pen, or browse all sketchbook drawings.

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