<p>Provided is a direct write patterning method utilizing a mixture comprising an ink of choice and an ink carrier matrix. The method involves disposing the mixture on a tip or stamp and transporting the mixture from the tip or stamp on a surface to form a pattern that contains the ink. The method does not require chemical or physical modification of either the tip or stamp or the surface prior to transporting the mixture to the surface. The method can be applied for patterning hard inks such as nanomaterials and crystallized polymers and soft inks such as biomaterials including peptides and proteins. Also provided are related biomaterial and hard ink arrays.</p>