DrawingDrawing Drawing

The pencil

Pencils are made from Graphite. Graphite is a mineral which is mined from the ground. The graphite is then mixed with a binding material, usually clay. This graphite/clay mixture is known as the core of the pencil.

You can, however, buy something called a Solid Graphite Pencil. These don't have a wooden casing, and no clay binding. They are used by artists to achieve more control over things like shading larger areas. Other types of pencil you can buy are: Charcoal, Carbon, Grease, Watercolour and, of course, coloured pencils.

The pencil

Standard pencils come in different strengths of graphite. They range from Hard to Black. The most common pencil is a HB pencil.

The image above only shows a small range of pencil types. You can actually buy them from 9H to 9B.

The pencilTASK: Experiment with various pencil

types to create different tones.TIP: Always keep your pencil sharp.

The pencil grip

The images show you two ways to hold your pencil,

the Detail Grip and the Shading Grip. Practice holding

the pencil in both ways till you feel

comfortable

The pencil grip

The Detail Grip is great for drawing

lines with the point of the pencil. The

Shading grip allows you to use the side of

the pencil point. Practice shading with the side of the pencil.

Aim for some thing like the shading on

the left, in the image on the right:

Three Golden rules

Drawing Rule 1: Don’t press too hard! Task: Write your name pressing as hard as you can:

                                                                 

Now try to rub this out. Can you? Repeat this exercise pressing lightly. Do you notice the difference? Just by drawing lightly your drawings will improve enormously.When learning to draw you WILL make mistakes. Mistakes are an important part of the learning process. You have to learn to not be afraid of making mistakes.

Three Golden rules

Drawing Rule 2: keep a sharp pencil

One of the most common drawing

mistakes is trying to draw with a blunt

pencil.Therefore, make the pencil sharpner your

friend:

Three Golden rulesDrawing Rule 3: Sketch lightly, smoothly and

quickly

Task: Spend 5 minutes or so drawing circles and other shapes by sketching them smoothly, lightly and quickly.

Sketching confuses your brain! Your brain is brilliant at spotting every tiny mistake. It sees every flaw in the left circle but thinks the right circle is more accurate,

even though it is made up of lots of ‘wrong’ lines. So if we sketch with multiple light lines our drawings will

look better!

Three Golden rulesDrawing Rule 3: Sketch lightly, smoothly and

quickly Task: Place an object in front of you. Draw it in three minutes. Then draw it in two minutes. Then draw it in one minute. Then in 30 seconds! If you repeat often your skills will improve quickly.

To sum up, here are my three golden rules of drawing:

Drawing Rule 1: Don’t press too hard!Drawing Rule 2: Keep a sharp pencilDrawing Rule 3: Sketch lightly, smoothly & quickly

Drawing from Simple ShapesEverything in our world is made from simple basic shapes. These are the building blocks of our world. When we draw, we have to look for the shapes contained within.

Still Life: Drawing from simple shapes

Look at a still life object and study it. Try to work out what shapes you will need to draw it.

Can you work out which shapes make up these objects? Sketch just the shapes.

The Drawing Process

Step 1: LookingLOOK at the object you are drawing.THINK about what shapes make upthe object.

                                              

In the drinks can above, you can see that it's made of circles and a rectangle.

The Drawing Process

Step 2: Measuring stage

MEASURE how big to draw the shapes, do not use a ruler.

SKETCH lightly, do not press hard.

EVALUATE Is it correct? Make changes if you need to.                                               

The Drawing Process

Step 3: Building stageADD DETAILS Improve the drawing, looking at the shapes inside the shapes

BUILD the drawing, measuring and sketching lightly

EVALUATE Is it correct? Will I need to alter anything?                                              

The Drawing Process

Step 4: Finishing Stage DETAIL Look for the fine details now and add as much as you can see.

FINISH Are you going to paint your design? Or shade it with pencil?

Perhaps you want to experiment with art materials, collage, etc                                           

Still Life: Drawing from simple shapes

In the image below, you can see that the shapes used for the drawing are various forms of circles and rectangles:

Still Life: Drawing from observation using simple

shapes

Select about six objects and study them to work out what basic shapes they are made from. Then sketch the basic shapes lightly to draw the object. Fit six objects to one A3 sketchbook page.

Shading A Ball Exercise

When light shines on an object it creates Highlights, Tones and Shadows.

Shading A Ball ExerciseThe first thing to do is to apply a light, soft tone all over the ball. Make sure

you are neat at the edges. Leave a white blank area for the highlight. Your drawing should look something like source below (you don't need to draw the light source):

Shading A Ball ExerciseNext, add darker tones around the left side of the ball (In a

moon shape), blending them with the lighter tones:

Once you're happy with your shading, add an even darker layer of tone at the very edge of the left side edge of the ball, blending it to your earlier tones to look natural:

Shading A Ball Exercise

The final step is to apply a really dark shadow underneath the ball. It should be darkest where it is close to the ball, and fade out as it gets further away. Your final drawing should look like this:

Shading A Ball Exercise

Task: Now use this same technique to draw another object from observation.

A good example for this project would be a body part.

Shading A Ball Exercise

Reference Points A reference point is a key part of a drawing that helps you to measure points

and angles. Artists pick out reference points to help them to see where things begin and end. Artists will identify the key areas where measurements can be taken from.

Task: Set up a simple still life group on a table and look at it. Try to identify where the reference points might be. Use these reference points to help you do a quick sketch.

TEXTURE

Each of these drawings shows artistic interpretation of everyday items using LINE and TONE.

What is TEXTURE?Each of these drawings shows artistic interpretation of everyday items using LINE and TONE.

Here are some DRAWING TECHNIQUES for you to try:

Contour-hatching

Stippling

Hatching

Cross-hatching

Scumbling

Random Hatching

Dark Tones Background

Why do we use a dark background like this?

To make our object stand out!To make it seem import!To make it PRECIOUS!

Rembrant Shoes

Memory Test

Study an object for 5 minutes and commit it to memory. Trace the object with your fingers, feel the textures, study the proportions and sizes, look at the details.

Take the object away from view then draw the object again, from memory. NO PEEPING!

Many famous artists drew in this way. It helps you to make more creative, expressive drawings, not just copying. You should draw like this regularly.

Blind Drawing

By placing a piece of paper over your hand, you will stop looking at the drawing and look at the object.

The purpose of this exercise is to shut off the left brain that has a negative impact on our drawing. You will draw much more freely and naturally.

Blind Drawing

“I do not have a good hand-eye coordination - when I am not allowed to look at my drawing, it simply becomes a mess. The purpose of this exercise was to focus on the motive and don't bother about the drawing“

Continuous Line

Draw a scene/object/animal/person with out lifting your pen/pencil from the paper.

Negative Space

Negative Space in Action

Do you see a Vase or two faces?

Negative Space

Only fill the space around the object/s

Negative Space drawing.

Ink and charcoal

Your studio workLook back through all your observational

research and drawing experimentation for this project.

Make decision about what you will use and how and WHY

Complete a series of studio work developing your ideas.