Olivia Knapp’s Pen Illustrations Are Incredibly Detailed

It’s hard not to be taken by Olivia Knapp’s incredibly detailed hand-drawn illustrations. Influenced by European line engravings of decorative relief and scientific specimens from the 16th to 18th centuries, her tight cross-hatching technique involves long, slow, and steady curved lines that articulate the surface contours of her subjects; creating supple and tangible imagery.

Having studied at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Parsons The New School for Design, majoring in Fashion Design and receiving her BFA in 2006 from Parsons, Knapp dipped her toes into the fashion industry first, working for several years as a Printed Textile Designer, before finding her true calling.

“In 2010, when I was still working as a full-time Textile Designer, I was asked to create a t-shirt print inspired by an engraving of a Baroque relief,” she relayed in an interview with Jung Katz. “The process of reimagining this aesthetic with pen and paper was intensely enjoyable. By the time I completed the print I just wanted to do more.”

Now wholly committed to her detailed drawings, she incorporates a “line to dot” rendering method as well as an extremely rare “dot and lozenge” rendering method. According to her personal website, “dot and lozenge” is a practice that was used by 16th-century masters, in which a dot is placed in the center of a diamond shape made by a cross-hatching pattern, helping to refine the transition between values.

“I experimented off and on with cross-hatching while maintaining my corporate job for a couple years,” Knapp explains. “I then left my job and moved out of the city for nine months. During this time, I devoted myself to perfecting my cross-hatching technique. I started showing a few friends and gradually people started approaching me, wanting me to create logos and illustrations for them. And now, it’s my full-time gig. That t-shirt print was the birthplace of my cross-hatching style that I use today.”

With more than 20k fans on Instagram and an impressive body of work, we’re glad she found her calling.

View this post on Instagram

#selfportrait #crosshatching #drawing #penandink #copic

A post shared by Olivia Knapp (@oliviaknappart) on