Creating portraits in the pen and ink techniques are quite difficult. One must be prepared to figure out ways to work back into the image with some correcting measures. Mistakes are very easy to make and when one is trying to form a likeness of someone, mistakes can be disastrous. Pen and Ink is much more suitable for inanimate objects and non human creatures. Some artists have a wonderful direct way with pen and ink but this one is not so blessed.

The hard blacks and whites of the pen and ink media are good for when images are printed to cheap paper like newsprint. Any absorbent matrix will blur ink and cause details to be impossible.

Latta's pen and ink images are rarely created on paper larger than 8"x 10" in size. Since the introduction of the Rapidograph fountain ink pens in the late 1950's Doug has considered it to be the best instrument to use. Some artists will disagree with this assessment because of its inherent mechanical nature. Before this pen's introduction, Doug's favorite instrument with technique was the crow-quille pen; a very small sharp pointed round pen tip that does have a nice flair to it. This pen with constant use does get a little messy and must be reloaded in an ink tub frequently.

You may notice that his prices for pen and ink renderings are a little lower than his his other media choices because he thinks that you get a better quality for work done in media with which he considers himself to be more competent.

For your convenience Doug may be reached through the following venues: