Ink wash

Ink wash (or wash drawing) is an artistic technique in which a fine, translucent layer of diluted ink, bistre, or watercolor is spread with a brush over a broad surface, leaving individual brushstrokes invisible in the finished work.

Technique

Washes are typically combined with pen or pencil lines that provide outline and definition, with the wash layer adding color, depth, and volume. The technique emerged in 15th-century Italy among artists including Sandro Botticelli and Leonardo da Vinci, and became especially popular with 18th- and 19th-century topographical painters and illustrators, who built up compositions through successive transparent layers.

Use in cartooning

Ink wash shading has been widely used by caricaturists and editorial cartoonists, including Thomas Nast, to add tonal depth to pen-and-ink illustrations.

See also

• Cross-hatching
• Caricature