Near the end of last year (2024) I discovered a huge book called Franklin Booth: Silent Symphony which is full of clear reproductions of Booth's work.

It contains over 400 illustrations, and many are reproduced so clearly that I can study them with a strong magnifying glass, which is highly recommended if you get this book.

His hatching is amazing, and the direction he takes with his hatch lines is often unexpected and worth studying.

He executed his hatching very carefully and rarely resorted to cross hatching, probably because it is not part of the block print aesthetic.

I have always stayed away from cross hatching myself because it destroys the white spaces between hatch lines, so this book is perfect for improving my own style.

Around the same time I got this book, I also got back into pen and ink sketching, particularly with the Fude DE Mannen pens that I wrote about in a previous article.

I hadn't sketched in pen and ink for about three years, focusing instead on pencil or digital sketching.

But the pendulum always swings back.

Although I do not even attempt to imitate Franklin Booth's work because it is beyond my ability, I have found inspiration for my own sketches.

I no longer make art for a living, and my only form of art these days is sketching, mainly on the train and sometimes at the zoo.

So I don't want to spend my sketching time dashing off hurriedly scribbled sketches, but prefer to spend a little more time on more finished drawings.

As a matter of fact, sometimes I use the capture and render method that I had written about fourteen years ago.

I capture the subject lightly in pencil on the train and wait until I'm at a table in a coffee shop or at my desk at home before I render the final drawing in ink.

Fourteen years ago, I sketched fairly heavily with the pencil as if it were just another pencil sketch. I now capture very lightly with a 2H pencil because it's easier to erase later.

The advantage of capturing on the train and rendering at home is that I don't have to deal with a lurching train where many of the lines are drawn by accident. Not appreciated if you are drawing in ink.

And if my subject gets up and leaves, I can usually continue the sketch with another model if I am lightly sketching in pencil.

Three models contributed to the sketch below. I took the pencil sketch home and put it together in ink like Frankenstein.

One advantage of capturing in pencil is that it takes less time, and I can finish two or three capture sketches in the time it would take to do an ink sketch.

As a result I have a notebook full of pencil capture sketches that are waiting to be finished as ink sketches.

Although I usually use the capture and render method, I still sometimes dive in and sketch directly with ink because there is a thrill in finishing a spontaneous sketch on the spot.

Fude DE Mannen and Franklin Booth

Franklin Booth's hatch lines greatly vary in width thoughout his drawings, from very broad lines to extremely fine lines.

The Fude DE Mannen works great with this type of hatching.

You can get a variety of line widths by varying the angle of just one pen.

The Fude DE Mannen comes in two models, one with the nib bent at 55 degress and the other with the nib bents at 40 degrees.

They both get the same range of line widths but I prefer the 40 degree model for sketching small.

The Fude DE Mannen can get a very fine stroke from the very edge of the tip when you turn the nib upside down.

Most Chinese fude nib pens have a ball of hard metal (called tipping) at the very tip of the nib to protect it from wear.

This tipping can get a very smooth line and is important to fountain pen users, but the line is not as fine as the extra fine line of a Fude DE Mannen which has no tipping.

So the cheap and slightly scratchy feel of a Sailor Fude DE Mannen with no tipping is also the secret to getting extra fine lines.

For general sketching, I love the smooth and expressive lines I can get from a Chinese fude nib pen. The sketch above was done with a Chinese fude nib pen, and it was fun and gratifying to use.

But if I want extra fine hatch lines inspired by Franklin Booth, the Fude DE Mannen is the pen I would choose.

As mentioned above, I have written an article of these pens called The Fude DE Mannen.

I have also written a separate article on Chinese fude nib pens called Enter the Chinese Bent Nib Fountain Pen.

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