This drawing of Warney Mill is destined for a book cover. The image is an artists’ impression of how the mill used to look based on old and recent photographs, some floorplans and a lot of sleuthing by the author. My original detailed pencil sketches included the top windows, which wouldn’t have been there, and other details I’d drawn in that weren’t relevant. After making the changes I tested the size of pen nib needed in order for the reduction from A3 to work when printed. I chose a 0.2 Unipin fineline and tentatively put in the details although this felt like quite a thick nib for the amount of detail I needed to add. However it needs to translate well on the print press. I drew the trees and some of the background to give the building some context and edges, darkened up the slate roof areas and added a plethora of dashes and dots to suggest stone walls. At t that point I checked I was on the right lines before darkening everything up as it’s easier to put pen marks in than take them out! By finishing the doorway, adding a suggestion of grass for the foreground and circling some clouds in the sky I could then see how much additional detail I needed to finish off the drawing. I have deliberately kept the building light so needed to darken up the tree and background areas to help it stand out more. I also stippled a number of dots to suggest the path ad add subtle detail where needed.
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