Thursday, 15 January 2015
Thursday, 8 January 2015
How to Draw With a Pencil
Discovering how to draw with pencil is just that - a process of discovery. Nobody is a genius on the first day, so do not expect it.. Always let yourself learn from your mistakes. Your eraser is your best friend here.. That is host-class artist..
Everyone can afford pencils, making sketching a wonderful hobby for anybody at all.. When you learn how to draw with pencil, you can begin by just using a common pencil that you have at home. Any paper will do to start. Anything you can get your hands on - computer printer paper, lined notebook paper, or whatever you have.
You could buy yourself a set of drawing pencils of artist quality when you are ready to take it to the next level,. Artist drawing pencils come in a range of softness and hardness, which describes the quality of the lead. A 9H pencil will have very hard lead, while a 9B pencil will have very soft lead. The harder the lead, the lighter the line will be. The softer the lead, the darker the line will be and it will also be easier to smudge.
A typical pencil that you buy for everyday use is an HB, which is near the middle of the range of hard and soft leads. When you are only beginning to discover how to draw with pencil, you don't need to buy too many artist quality pencils - a range such as 2H, H, F, HB, and 2B is enough to get you started with your pencil sketching.
You can also buy artist drawing paper that is archival and acid-free, an excellent choice if you want to keep your drawings for a very long time. Get yourself a hardback sketchbook that you can do all your sketching in. This way you will see how your work progresses over time. If you buy one that is small enough, you can take it with you when you go out and do pencil sketching at the park, the beach, the bus stop, or anywhere!
When you learn how to draw with pencil, start your pencil sketching lightly, using a very hard pencil (2H to 9H). When you sketch a face, using a harder pencil will allow you to lightly sketch in the proportions and outlines. This is easier to erase than softer pencils. In general, the darker the line, the more difficult it will be to erase it.
Hold the pencil loosely but firmly - don't grip it too tightly. Let yourself control the pencil without choking it to death. This may take some practice, but doing some gesture drawings may help you get a feel for the right grip as your learn how to draw with pencil.
As you progress, switch to pencils with softer leads, between 2B and 9B. These pencils will allow you to create deeper shadows, which will help create a three-dimensional face. Because these softer pencils are easier to smudge, you can deliberately smudge the drawing to blend the pencil marks or to create other interesting effects.
Discovering how to draw with pencil is a fun hobby for budding artists of all ages. Discovering how to draw with pencil sets the foundation for all other types of art. Whether you're brand new to making art or a long-time enthusiast, pencil sketching is always a rewarding pastime!
Important General Knowledge Information
Saturday, 3 January 2015
Simple Pencil Drawing Tips
Sharpening Drawing Pencils
When sharpening your pencils for drawing, use a craft knife (carefully!) rather than a pencil sharpener. You can get a longer, more effective point on the pencil this way and you can also shave it to a chisel edge which gives you more options for creating different line widths and textures. This works for pencil crayons, watercolor pencils and pastel pencils, etc. as well as normal graphite pencils.
Conserving and Using Putty Erasers
Putty erasers are excellent for drawing, being much softer and gentler on paper surfaces - especially watercolor paper - than regular erasers. They're readily available from art supply stores. However, they're a bit more expensive than ordinary 'school' erasers - but of course, just as easily mislaid.
The larger size of putty eraser is normally about 2" x 1.5" so I cut or tear a new one into four smaller pieces and use one at a time. In reality, I rarely get through one piece without losing it and I have found through painful experience is that it's just as easy to lose a large eraser as a smaller one.
You can use a putty eraser by rubbing it on the paper in the normal way or use a dabbing action to lift out pencil marks. Its biggest advantage is that you can mold it to a very fine point or chisel edge if you want to remove part of an image without affecting the immediate area around it.
Cleaning a soiled putty eraser is even easier. Just pull and mould the dirty edge inwards, until a clean area appears. You can do this for quite a while before using up every clean bit.
Cleaning Pencil Erasers
If you use any other sort of pencil eraser such as the plastic or the plain old school 'india rubber' type, it's easy to get a dirty residue on your paper if you're not careful and the devil to get it off, especially if the eraser is colored.
The two main problems are that you either pick up pencil residue from erasing previous items, which then transfers to your paper next time you use it.
Alternatively, if you've not used it for a while, the rubber surface oxidises and will badly smudge your paper. To solve this problem in both cases, simply rub the eraser on a handy hard, smooth surface - a drawing board or worktop is ideal.
This cleans off the residue and leaves a nice clean surface on the eraser. In fact, it's a good habit to clean your eraser when ever you pick it up so as to ensure your work stays clean and tidy throughout your drawing session.
You can also shave off a sliver of the plastic or rubber eraser with a craft knife and use it to pick out small areas. But see the reference to putty erasers above.
Article by Bob Davies
Tuesday, 16 December 2014
Pencil Drawing, Tips and Equipment
The use of any art medium requires a little knowledge. This article focuses on the tools you should use, and some of the techniques of pencil drawing.
Firstly, consider the pencils themselves. In my experience, paying more for a pencil merely buys a better quality casing; the performance of the leads is pretty similar across the price range.
The important thing when buying graphite pencils is to have a range of different grades. "H" pencils have hard leads. "B" pencils have soft leads. The higher the H or B number, the harder or softer they are; so an H9 is very hard, and a B9 is very soft.
In terms of drawing, pencil "harness and softness" equate to lightness and darkness. A hard pencil will make a very faint, sharp grey line, while a soft pencil will make darker and less sharp mark. Pencil drawing is a matter of recording light and shade, so you need to use a range of lighter and darker pencils to capture tonal variations.
The range you choose is up to you, and dependent on the style of drawings you wish to make, but the "Bs" are suitable for most drawings. I would recommend the minimum of an "HB" (neither hard nor soft), B, 2B, 4B, 6B, and 9B.
The choice of paper again depends on type of drawings you wish to make, but generally, the best type of paper will be very smooth (e.g. cartridge paper). Paper quality is important. Imperfections in the surface of a smooth paper have a nasty habit of filling-in with graphite, and forming blotches.
Pencil work can require a fair amount of blending and reworking, so it is advisable to use a paper that is reasonably robust. My personal recommendation is that you use the heaviest weight paper you can - something that will stand-up to a bit of a battering.
Always apply pencil very lightly, and never press hard. The aim should be to float the graphite on the surface of the paper, and not to produce an engraving. Pressing hard will make the pencil mark darker, but it will also deform the paper. Far better results can be obtained by using a darker (softer) pencil lightly, when you need to draw darker areas. Altering the angle of the pencil to the paper can help if you tend to be heavy handed. Briefly, when the pencil is vertical to the paper, it's easy to press down hard. Leaning the pencil reduces the amount of pressure than can be applied to its tip, and the least possible amount pressure is achieved when the pencil is leaned so far that is almost horizontal.
When shading an area, don't randomly scrub the pencil back and forward in all directions. Try to apply pencil strokes in a uniform and specific direction. The best direction is often one that describes the shape of an object, so if shading something that is round, used curved strokes.
The hardest thing to do with pencil is lay down and area of flat and even shading. The problem is often that the pencil strokes overlap, with the result that the overlapping areas are darker. One way to avoid this is to always shade an area two or three times to achieve even coverage. Multiple layers of shading with a single grade of pencil will not make that shading significantly darker. For example, three layers of B should not be as dark as one layer of B3 (but it should be smoother).
The usual approach with pencil is to work from dark to light. Graphite is a lubricant. If you lay-down a very light shading first, you will find that this effectively lubricates the paper, and subsequent shading goes on more smoothly and fluidly. So, if you want to shade an area to a "B3" depth, don't go straight in with the B3; build-up through two or three steps, say a B, a B2, and then a B3. If you wish to shade an area to B8 or B9 depth, similarly go through a few steps, but start with say a B6.
If you want to record really dark shades, it is possible to buy specialists' pencils, darker than B9, or you can use a little charcoal. Graphite is shades of grey, and never black.
Time for a quick word about sharpening pencils. Most pencil drawing is a matter of recording areas light and shade; it's not about "lines", unless technical drawing is your thing. My advice is therefore - don't sharpen your pencils too often. Shading is easier to do with a slightly blunt pencil, so only sharpen when you need crisp detail (usually the finishing touches).
Blending is a vital pencil drawing technique. Blending is fundamentally smudging. Smudging can be used to smooth-out shading, and blend different pencil grades to produce a smooth tonal graduation. Pencil smudges very easily due to the lubricating properties of graphite. You can do it with your fingers (although a little messy), Torchillons (paper stumps), and "Q-tips" (cotton buds on sticks found in most bathrooms) are very good for blending. Whatever you use, make your blending strokes directional rather than random.
An eraser can be very useful. It is not for correcting mistakes; it is necessary for cleaning-up (because pencil smudges so easily). The best type is a putty eraser. These are very soft and can be pinched into points or thin edges to take out tiny dots or thin lines of pencil from your picture, without doing any damage to the paper.
The final bit of equipment you may like to use is a fixative spray. This stops the drawing from smudging once it is complete, but can also be used mid-drawing to prevent unwanted smudging. Don't use hair spray (except on your hair): use a purpose made fixative, and don't over do it (a light spray is enough).
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)