Markmaking With Graphite 1
Stabbing with the end of the graphite. Stabbing with the end of the graphite. Using a twisting movement with the graphite on its side.
Felt Tip Pens
Felt tip pens come in all different sizes and shaped tips like the fibre tip pens. These pens are best used for quick drawings and sketches and as with the other pens mentioned so far it is difficult to correct your mistakes. They also come in many different colours, and are often used as calligraphy pens for signs. There is an example of a felt tip drawing on page 185. Here we have a drawing that reflects the use of the different thickness of felt tip pens, and notice the openness and the...
Felt Tip Pen Project Drawing Of A Harbour
Start this drawing by drawing the composition first with pencil. That way, if you make any mistakes you can rectify them by rubbing them out. To establish the composition or the drawing on the paper, use your previous learning. For example, use the window mount to help you frame your picture. As you look through the window on the world move it about to establish a composition that you are happy with. Then draw what you see through the window on to your paper, placing and mapping the objects in...
Creating Form Using Tone
The tone used here relies on an observed directional light source, which is then exaggerated to create the effect. The shadow cast makes us believe the sphere has form. Without it the drawing would look flat. This cube has been constructed using three defined tonal variations - white, grey and black - to give the illusion of form. It is a constructed illusion, of course, and has not come about as a result of observed tonal changes. The lighting appears to be from the front in this example of...
Dip Pen And Felt Tip Pen
As with the fibre tip pen one must experiment and here again we have a series of example marks that I have made using these implements. With the fibre tip pen, I have described in detail what these marks have implied. With the following examples dip pen, thin felt tip and thick felt tip I have produced for each a page of different marks which you should now be able to interpret. Try to replicate these examples, and expand upon the mark making with these materials.
Applying Mark Making
We are now going to do a series of studies and drawings based in mark making. These drawings are textural drawings, and are standard drawings for students of the arts. Having practised mark making we now need to apply that experience. Firstly, it is advised to make studies of objects that have obvious textural qualities. The drawings that you make of these objects should imply the textured surfaces. In the examples of the drawn objects, you can see that the textures is the main force of the...
Drapery
Another way of working with drapery, which gives a more static effect and is more or less the opposite to the previous approach, in that instead of movement we create a sense of form that has a weight and stillness to it. Artists would use this way of working to create an illusion of mass that would reflect the underlying form. Look at the example below and also refer to the works of Massacio, Cezanne, and some of the works of Picasso. Drape a large sheet over a simple form a chair so it...
The Pencil As A Measuring Device
We can analyse our observations in a number of ways to enable us to make a visual record of what we see. One of these ways involves using the pencil both as mark maker and measuring device. What you are doing in effect is building a grid on which to map out your drawing. This approach is appropriate for all types of observational drawing and for different subjects ranging from landscape and still life to figure drawing. I have chosen a figure for our example because the pencil is still the most...
Tonal Drawing Using Graphite Or Very Soft Pencil
This is a tonal portrait drawing based in observation and it is done using a very soft pencil - 8b. The first concerns of this drawing are to create a sense of the fundamental form by observing the nature of the effects of light. You will notice there is a very strong direct light that plays over the surface of the subject. Stepl establish the basic form of the head by drawing an ovoid or an egg shape. Draw two lines for the neck, and then two arced lines for the shoulders. This will give you...
Texture Studies From Nature
Here we have more excellent drawings from students who have applied their knowledge of texture to another subject - nature. Firstly, as we did with the previous drawings the students have focused in on single objects from nature. These drawings can quite easily be done in sketchbooks out in the field or brought back into the studio environment. This research is a way of storing information for future use, and indeed if you look in the sketch books of artists such as Leonardo da Vinci you will...
Frottage
Frottage is a French term and it means to take an impression by rubbing. We have probably all done some frottage at some point or other. Have you ever taken a rubbing from a coin when you were little Then that was a work of frottage. Brass rubbing is another form of frottage. As a drawing technique and process we can expand and use frottage as a tool to express our ideas and it has been used by many artists particularly in the twentieth century for this very purpose. No less an artist than Max...
Tonking
Tonking is a well-established way of erasing or knocking back a charcoal drawing. It was devised, I am led to believe, by one Professor Sir Henry Tonks. 1 Sketch your drawing in very basically using line to establish the composition. Then apply the tone from your observation to the drawing. Do this in a very broad way giving the drawing a black and white appearance. 2 Take a soft cloth and beat back the drawing dispersing the tone, and at the same time knocking back the tonal density of the...
Planometric Projections
First introduced by Auguste Choisy at the end of the 19th century, and the favoured system of Le Corbusier and Theo van Doesburg, these projections were primarily produced for architects. This type of presentation gives a truer, three- dimensional illusory understanding of the space and form of a building produced from a plan in scale, and has become very popular among architects. creative roots and needs. The constructed perspective drawing is dominated by pure theory the observed perspective...
Fibre Tip Pens
There is a vast array of pens that can be used for many different reasons by artists. Fibre tip pens come in many different thickness' and different tip shapes. The fibre tip pen is a very direct medium and they are designed to make very general quick but accurate drawings that are free flowing. It is difficult to correct fibre tipped drawings so mistakes should be taken as a part of the process with this type of drawing. The tip of this type of pen can become worn quite quickly and the...
Compressed Charcoal Drawing Drapery
Historically drapery has been used for centuries by artists and studied by students and artists apprentices. One has to go no further than the drapery studies of Leonardo da Vinci to see it was an integral part of their research. There are three drapery projects that are a fundamental to widening our visual literacy, and compressed charcoal is the medium that is most appropriate for this. Many artists in the past would use drapery as compositional device to create an underlying structure for...
Negative Space And Chiaroscuro
Compressed charcoal is very useful for making strong lines and very dark dramatic tones. The next series of examples will highlight how to use the medium for this purpose. The drawings use the negative space way of working we encountered in the Pencils section see the examples after Van Gogh beginning on page 40. This well established method entails drawing the space around objects to establish the composition. The second stage of the drawing requires you to look analytically at the nature of...
Fixing Your Charcoal Drawing
Charcoal is, as we have mentioned, a very unstable material. Once applied to the surface of the paper or support it can easily be erased or smudged, especially accidentally. When you are satisfied that your charcoal drawing has reached a point where you feel it is finished, it is important that you stabilise the drawing immediately on to the support. This is what is termed fixing the drawing. Fixative is a solution that acts as a binder. It seals the charcoal or the pastel on to the support...
Experimental Mark Making With Ink
Try to approach this without any preconceived ideas about what the marks should look like, as there is no formula or recipe for this way of working. It is a way of making a personal vocabulary of marks that can be used as references for future drawings. I can explain how I made my examples but it is very important that you expand upon these and discover your own natural method of working. You can use any type of ink I used Indian ink. The implements used were chosen at random, just to give you...
The Window Mount Or Viewfinder
Using a window mount is a marvellous way of composing your picture and getting the objects in the scene proportionally and positionally correct. Cut the window to scale in relation to your paper. To do this and get accurate proportions in relation to your paper, follow these instructions. Step 1 Take the paper you are going to draw on and make a diagonal line from one corner to the other. Step 2 Decide how big you want your window aperture to be. For example, if you want the height of your...
Bleach Wash And Mark Making Drawing
This is a very striking way of working, in that it brings such a luminous effect to the drawing. Drawings using this medium rely strongly on the effects of light. For this exercise you will need a selection of brushes that you think are appropriate to the marks you need to make. You will also need to stretch some paper because in the first example we are going to cover the surface of the paper with ink. Indian ink will not do for this work as when it dries it becomes waterproof and therefore...
Willow Charcoal
Willow charcoal or vine charcoal is a very fluid drawing medium and is much freer and more open in its application than pencil. It also lends itself to larger, broader drawing than the type of graphic drawings one associates with pencil. Examples of marks made by the willow charcoal are as follows. 1 A diagonal line that moves from light to dark. Charcoal is very useful for making tonal changes very quickly. 2 A tonal recession from light to dark that has been smoothed out by smudging the...
Projection Systems And Theoretical Drawings
Theoretical drawing systems include orthographic drawings, planometric drawings, isometric or parallel drawing systems, trimetric, and perspective. These drawing systems are very useful particularly for architects and designers. They are usually used as presentation drawings for clients. The orthographic or the planometric system of drawing is probably the easiest to understand as this is just a flat representation of an object, usually from the front and is done to a scale. See the example on...
Isometric Or Parallel Projections
To help engineers, architects and designers give a fuller three-dimensional understanding and impression of their ideas and finished works, other methods of drawing were developed from orthographic projection. First came the isometric projection process, introduced by an English contemporary of Monge, Sir William Farish, which enabled all the faces of the front, side and plan to be joined together. Using a specific angle from the 90 degrees angle creates these drawing systems. For instance, an...
Trimetric Projections
Trimetric projections are very similar to isometric projections and are used for similar reasons. The difference being that the trimetric projection can present different orientations of a box or object on the same picture plane. Therefore, what we have are different degrees of orientation. This type of drawing is very useful as a diagrammatic drawing that is used to help you assemble or even take apart a piece of furniture or machinery. One usually sees these types of drawings in car manuals.
The Trimetric System In Use
Industrial designers use the trimetric system to 'crate' a form that is, to put it in a box. The shape of the object is drawn on the front face of the box and then the form of the shape is projected back into the 'crate'. By encasing volume and form in this way, designers can visualise how their ideas will appear in reality.
Erasers
Usually our first encounter with an eraser is when we use it to remove a mistake. Our sole aim with it is to obliterate the offending area so that we can get back to the business of progressing with our drawing. Because the eraser is associated with mistakes, a lot of negative feelings about it and its function are directed at it. The poor old eraser is seen as a necessary evil, and the more dilapidated it becomes with use the greater become our feelings of inadequacy. It really is time for a...
Charcoal 1
Charcoal is the oldest medium of the three materials in this section. It is made from wood that has been slowly charred in a controlled firing. The material takes on the natural form of the wood that can range from a twig to something as large as a branch. The largest piece of charcoal I have seen is up to 2 inches thick and this is called scene painters charcoal. Charcoal is a material that has been around since the dawn of man. As man discovered fire then he discovered charcoal, inadvertently...
Other Types Of Pencil
Other types of pencil are available to us as well as those described above, and these offer even more opportunities for experimentation and discovery. You will find all of the types recommended below in any good art supply shop. Peel-back pencil - graphite encased, or coiled, in twists of paper which are peeled back to reveal the graphite. Propelling pencil - comes in a variety of mechanisms which reveal the point of the graphite. Clutch pencil - provides a very soft point fine or thick for...
Linear And Tonal Drawing Using Graphite And Plastic Eraser
This is a line and tone drawing of the female nude, but it is a very different in concept to the last drawing. Whereas the last drawing was based in the analytical observation of light and how it falls on the form, this drawing is more of an expressive metaphor of the reality we are seeing. 1 In stage one of the examples we are drawing with a continuous line. That line is made by not taking your graphite off the paper until that section of the drawing is finished. This line is trying to...
Soft Pencil
The soft pencil has more versatility for creating tone and textures than the hard pencil. Soft pencils are denoted by the letter B. The HB pencil is a mixture of hard and soft and is the pivotal pencil between the two extremes. The range of soft pencils available consists of HB, B, 2B, 3B, 4B, 5B, 6B, 7B, 8B and 9B the softest . These pencils are designed for the fine artist to express particular ideas, for example through the building of tone, the creation of texture, cross-hatching or even...
Conte Crayon
Conte crayon is the same as compressed charcoal except that the pigment and the binders are different. Conte crayons are small square sticks that are made from pigment mixed with clay and a binder. They are harder than charcoal, compressed charcoal, and pastels. The traditional colours are black, white, sanguine, bistre, and sepia. You can however now get conte crayons in different colours. Conte crayon can also come encased in wood like a pencil. Conte crayon, like charcoal, can be smudged....
Light And Dark Soft Pencils
Our first concern in this series of drawings is to create the fundamental form of the head, neck and shoulders if the light is coming from a fixed position on one side of the figure. In our example the light is coming from a fixed position on the left side. Once the fundamental form is established, you can concentrate on modelling the form through observation of how the shadows are cast and how they fall over the form. The figure here has the appearance of being constructed out of pure light.
Linear Shading Techniques Using Willow Charcoal
1 - 6 Show a series of techniques on how to build up crosshatching to create shading, and in turn, these techniques are used to create the illusion of form. 1 Diagonal parallel lines created by using the side of the charcoal. See holding the charcoal. 2 Diagonal lines in parallel directions. One set in one direction and the other set layered over the top going in the other direction. 4 Vertical parallel lines over layered by horizontal parallel lines. 5 Section 2 over-layered by section 3 shows...
Constructed Tone Landscape After Cezanne
As well as using tone from observation to construct form or express an emotion we can also use a constructed form of tone to create the illusion of space. In this drawing after Cezanne the tonal drawing is a very formal one and is not very reliant upon observation. Although the basic composition comes from observation, the tone in the drawing is a means to an end, and informs us of a planal recession instead of the idea of volume. Cezanne in this picture seems to go out of his way to deny...