Print from Drawing Book

About this work

This black-and-white print shows a pair of rough, textured hands holding a feather and a quill. The fingers are thick and detailed, with shadows making them look three-dimensional. In the background, a small bird and some leaves are sketched in quickly, while a tiny box sits on the table. The artist used tiny lines crisscrossed over each other to create shading—this is called cross-hatching. It gives the hands a sense of weight and depth, even though there’s no color. Next, check out technique: engraving, cross-hatching to see how artists like this one built shadows with just lines.