3 best examples of creating contrast in ink drawings (and how to use them)

Let’s start with the first of our examples of creating contrast in ink drawings – 3 examples that you can see instantly in your own work: dramatic lighting.

Think of a desk lamp shining on a coffee mug at night. The side facing the lamp is bright; the far side falls into shadow. When you translate that into ink, you’re not just copying what you see—you’re simplifying it into light shapes and dark shapes.

Here’s an example of how to practice this:

Sit at a table at night with a single light source (a desk lamp or even your phone flashlight). Place a simple object in front of you: a mug, an apple, or a pair of scissors. Squint your eyes until the details blur and you mainly see light and dark areas. On your paper, outline the object lightly, then fill the darkest areas with solid black ink. Leave the lightest areas as untouched white paper. Use hatching or crosshatching only in the middle tones.

Suddenly, that ordinary mug looks dramatic and three-dimensional.

Professional ink artists use this exact trick all the time—especially comic artists and graphic novel illustrators. If you look at classic black-and-white comics, you’ll notice that entire sections of clothing or background drop into solid black to push the focus toward faces or hands. This is one of the best examples of using light vs dark contrast to control where the viewer looks.

To push this even further:

• Try backlighting: place your object in front of a bright window or lamp so it becomes a dark silhouette against a light background.
• Try side lighting: one half of the object in light, one half in shadow, with a sharp dividing line.

These aren’t just exercises—they’re real examples of how photographers and painters think about lighting too. The same principles show up in studio photography and film lighting, which you can explore in resources from art and design departments at universities such as MIT OpenCourseWare. The medium changes, but the idea of strong light–dark contrast stays the same.

2. Line weight contrast: thick, thin, and everything in between

The second of our examples of creating contrast in ink drawings – 3 examples is all about line weight—how thick or thin your lines are.

If all your lines are the same width, your drawing can feel flat, no matter how good your proportions are. But if you vary line weight, you instantly create depth and emphasis.

Here’s a practical example of using line contrast:

Draw a simple city street: a sidewalk, a row of buildings, maybe a tree. Use a thicker pen (like a brush pen or a 0.8 fineliner) for objects in the foreground: the tree trunk, the nearest building edges, a street sign. Then switch to a finer pen (0.1 or 0.2) for windows, distant buildings, bricks, and background details.

The result: the foreground pops forward; the background quietly recedes. You’ve created depth using nothing but line thickness.

Other examples include:

• Outlining main characters or focal objects with a slightly heavier line, while keeping background figures lighter.
• Using thick, bold lines on the shadow side of an object and thinner lines on the light side.
• Letting some edges disappear completely in the light, while reinforcing others in the dark.

This approach is common in manga and Western comics alike. If you study inked comic pages from professional artists, you’ll see that line weight is rarely random. It’s a deliberate way to build contrast between important and unimportant areas.

To practice this, try a quick series of sketches:

• Draw the same object three times.
• First time: same pen, same line weight everywhere.
• Second time: thicker lines in front, thinner in back.
• Third time: combine line weight with lighting—thicker lines in shadow areas, lighter lines in lit areas.

You’ll feel how much more alive the third version looks. This is one of the best examples of creating contrast in ink drawings without relying on heavy shading.

For more on perception and how we read edges and outlines, you can explore visual perception resources from institutions like Harvard University’s Vision Sciences Lab. Understanding how the eye reads edges can actually make your line work more intentional.

3. Texture vs simplicity: busy detail against quiet space

The third of our examples of creating contrast in ink drawings – 3 examples focuses on texture. This is where ink really shines.

Imagine a drawing of a forest. If you cover every inch with detailed leaves, bark, and grass, the viewer’s eye doesn’t know where to rest. But if you choose one tree or one area to carry most of the texture, and keep the rest more open and simple, you create a powerful contrast between busy and calm.

Here’s a clear example of using texture contrast:

Sketch a person wearing a patterned jacket standing in front of a plain wall. Instead of drawing every brick and every wrinkle, choose your focus. You might:

• Render the jacket with rich crosshatching and detailed pattern.
• Keep the face and hands lightly shaded, mostly clean.
• Suggest the wall with just a few lines or a faint shadow.

Now compare that to a version where you detail everything equally. The first version almost always feels stronger, because the viewer knows exactly where to look.

Other real examples of texture contrast:

• A stormy, heavily shaded sky above a calm, white ocean horizon.
• Dense hatching in the shadows under a bridge, with the sunlit water left mostly white.
• Highly detailed foliage against a flat, white silhouette of a house.

Artists and designers use this idea of “visual hierarchy” constantly. In graphic design, for example, designers balance heavy text blocks with open space so that a page doesn’t feel cramped. You can find discussions of this in design and visual communication programs at universities such as Carnegie Mellon’s School of Design. The same principle applies directly to your ink drawings.

Putting it together: combining the 3 examples in one drawing

So far we’ve looked at three main examples of creating contrast in ink drawings – 3 examples:

• Light vs dark (value contrast)
• Thick vs thin (line weight contrast)
• Busy vs quiet (texture contrast)

The real magic happens when you combine them.

Imagine drawing a nighttime street scene:

• The main character stands under a streetlamp. Their face and shoulders are in the light; the rest of the street fades into darkness. That’s your light vs dark contrast.
• You ink the character with stronger, thicker lines, and use thinner lines for the distant buildings and cars. That’s your line weight contrast.
• You give the character’s coat and hair more texture, but keep the sidewalk and background walls simple. That’s your texture vs simplicity contrast.

Now you’re not just using one example of contrast—you’re stacking several examples of contrast in the same piece. This layering is what gives professional ink illustrations their punch.

If you’re curious how this shows up in real-world applications, look at editorial illustration in major newspapers and magazines. Many illustrators today work in ink and digital hybrids, but the same contrast strategies still apply. The trend in 2024–2025 leans heavily toward bold silhouettes, clear focal points, and smart use of negative space—exactly the kind of contrast you’re practicing here.

More real examples to try in your sketchbook

To make this less abstract, here are several concrete sketch ideas that build on our examples of creating contrast in ink drawings – 3 examples and expand them into everyday practice:

• Kitchen still life at night: Turn off the overhead lights and use only your stove light or a single lamp. Draw a stack of dishes or a teapot. Push the shadows into deep black and leave reflections as pure white.
• Shoes by the door: Use heavy line weight on the nearest shoe, lighter lines and less detail on the ones behind. Add texture only to the laces and worn areas.
• Houseplants in a window: Detail the leaves of one plant with dense hatching. Keep the others simplified. Make the window behind them mostly white, with just a few lines suggesting the frame.
• Crowded bookshelf: Choose one book spine to render in full detail (texture, lettering, tiny nicks and scratches). Suggest the rest with simple vertical shapes and a few lines.
• Portrait with pattern: Draw a person wearing a heavily patterned shirt or scarf. Emphasize the pattern and hair texture, but keep the background and some facial areas very light.

Each of these is a small, manageable way to practice multiple types of contrast at once.

How to avoid overdoing contrast

When people first learn about these examples of creating contrast in ink drawings – 3 examples, there’s a temptation to crank everything to maximum: solid black everywhere, thick lines everywhere, intense texture on every surface.

That usually backfires.

Here are a few guidelines to keep your contrast under control:

• Decide on one main area of focus before you start inking. That’s where you’ll put your strongest contrast.
• Use your darkest blacks sparingly. Think of them as “visual exclamation marks,” not background noise.
• Keep at least one area of the drawing relatively open and quiet. This gives the eye a place to rest.
• Step back often. Hold your drawing at arm’s length or look at it in a mirror. If everything is screaming for attention, soften some areas.

These habits are supported by what we know about how the eye and brain process visual information; for instance, research in visual cognition and attention (which you can read about through the National Institutes of Health) shows that we naturally gravitate toward areas of high contrast.

Building a simple contrast habit

If you remember nothing else from these examples of creating contrast in ink drawings – 3 examples, remember this quick mental checklist before you start shading or inking heavily:

• Where is my strongest light vs dark contrast?
• Where will I use my thickest vs thinnest lines?
• Where will I put the most texture vs the most empty space?

Answer those three questions—even roughly—and your drawing will almost always feel more intentional.

You don’t need fancy tools for any of this. A cheap gel pen and printer paper are enough. What matters is training your eye to see contrast and your hand to commit to it.

FAQ: examples of creating contrast in ink drawings

Q: What are some simple examples of creating contrast in ink drawings for beginners?
A: Start with a single object under a strong light. Make the shadow side almost black and leave the highlight side mostly white. Use a thicker pen to outline the object and a thinner pen for any background lines. Add texture only where you want the viewer to look—maybe on the object’s surface, not the background.

Q: Can you give an example of using contrast without heavy black areas?
A: Yes. You can rely on line weight and spacing instead of big black fills. For instance, draw a tree with very dense, tight hatching on one side of the trunk and loose, widely spaced lines on the other. Use thicker outlines for the trunk and thinner lines for distant branches. The contrast in line weight and density will still read clearly, even without large dark shapes.

Q: How do professional illustrators use these examples of contrast in real projects?
A: Many editorial illustrators and comic artists first decide where the main light source is and where the viewer’s eye should land. They place their darkest blacks and thickest lines in that focal area, then simplify everything else. You’ll see this in graphic novels, magazine spots, and even educational materials from institutions like Smithsonian Learning Lab, where clear visuals are key.

Q: What’s an example of improving an old drawing using contrast?
A: Take an old ink sketch that feels flat and photocopy it. On the copy, add deeper shadows in just one or two areas, thicken a few foreground lines, and erase or lighten some background texture. Often, those small contrast adjustments make the whole drawing feel more dynamic.

Q: Are there examples of contrast that work better in sketchbooks than in finished pieces?
A: Absolutely. Your sketchbook is the perfect place to exaggerate contrast—super dark shadows, ultra-thick outlines, or huge areas of blank space—just to see what happens. These experiments might feel too bold for a finished commission, but they teach you how far you can push things so that, later, you can choose the right level of contrast for each project.

If you keep returning to these examples of creating contrast in ink drawings – 3 examples and adapt them to your own subjects—portraits, architecture, nature—you’ll notice your work gaining more depth, clarity, and impact. Contrast isn’t just a trick; it’s a language. The more fluently you speak it, the more your ink drawings will communicate without saying a word.