Techniques of drawing in pencil: training

If you decide to master the basic techniques of drawing with a pencil, it does not matter whether you are an adult or a child, you need to start with the image of simple things and learn the basic rules of working with the material. The main thing - be consistent, follow all the steps in turn. And also be patient and willing to learn.

Types of pencils

To master the various techniques of drawing with a pencil, you need to figure out which materials are used. Any pencil consists of a base (wooden or plastic at a mechanical one) and a lead, which can be graphite, but not only that.

Ordinary pencils, which are called simple, are of different softness: the solid is marked with the English letter H, soft B. The figure next to the letter indicates the degree of this index, for example, 5B is a very soft lead.

Color pencils are often used . It is interesting to work with watercolor pencils as an addition to the same paints or as an independent material. For the convenience of use in the form of pencils, other artistic materials are also produced: coal, chalk, sanguine, etc.

What will be required, except pencils

Techniques of drawing with a simple pencil can be used different. In accordance with the chosen option, paper and other related materials are bought. If you perform a thin contour drawing, the sheet should be dense and smooth, and the pencils are hard or medium. Errors are corrected by a soft eraser.

If you will draw voluminous images with the transmission of light and shade by hatching, the pencils must be sharply sharpened, preferably not with a sharpener, but with a knife so that the free part of the lead protrudes 1-1.5 cm from the base.

To work with the method of shading graphite, you need a piece of soft paper, cloth or a cotton disc. For this type of work, you can use paper with an uneven surface, for example, even watercolor and soft pencils. Surplus graphite is easy to remove a special soft stitch, similar to plasticine, or bread crumb. As you can see, it is important to determine in advance which method you will perform the work in order to properly prepare the materials.

The Basics of Pencil Drawing Techniques

You can execute a picture in several ways:

• By memory or by presentation;
• From nature (in front of you is a real object);
• From a photo or sample (copy method).

In either of these ways, the overall workflow will be:

1. Choose the size of the sheet and its location (vertical or horizontal).
2. Apply the basic dimensional relationships of objects.
3. Draw contours of large shapes.
4. Draw small details.
5. Transfer the volume of objects and chiaroscuro. The brightest areas (glare) are best left white, and the dark ones also perform the last.

If the selected techniques of drawing with a pencil involve hatching or a whole sheet of paper, work carefully so as not to rub the executed parts of the image with your hand. Put a sheet of paper under your arm or fasten the picture on the easel and try to lean on the drawing not with the entire side of the hand, but with your finger.

How to draw a contour image

This version of the work is used as an independent method or as a preliminary application of the forms of objects for the subsequent study of chiaroscuro or painting with colors.

The simplest technique of drawing with a pencil for beginners is to perform an image from a sample on a grid or cells. The work goes like this:

1. Take your favorite photo or picture and draw on it or on a film so as not to spoil the source, a grid consisting of square cells. The smaller they are, the more accurate and easier it will be to transfer the image.
2. On the prepared sheet of paper, draw the same grid with a similar number of cells. If the image is transferred on the same scale, then the size of the squares is taken the same. To increase the sample, simply scale the size of the cell.
3. Analyze the outlines of objects as they cross the grid cells overlaid on the pattern and draw similarly on your sheet with the workpiece.

It is even easier to translate the image outline through a glass on the back of which there is an illumination source, but in this case your sheet and the base of the sample should be thin enough and translucent.

If you are going to be engaged in painting professionally, do not use the above options, but work like this:

1. Mark the boundaries of the entire composition inside the sheet (left, right, top and bottom).
2. Mark the basic proportions of objects on the eye or by making appropriate measurements, for example, using a pencil.
3. Draw the details.

If the image is executed as a contour for working with paints, shading or shading, make it only thin lines. If the work is linear, it is usually worthwhile to highlight the foreground objects with a softer pencil or a broad line.

How to give volume

Many begin with the image of individuals when they decide to master the techniques of drawing with a pencil. The portrait, in fact, is one of the most difficult subjects. If you decide to stay on it, please note that each detail is a three-dimensional shape, not a flat one, as it looks in a photo or picture. The nose, eyes, lips - all have their own shade and cut-off details. The same applies to any other objects.

You can transfer the volume in two ways:

• Hatching;
• With a stitch.

In the first case, the strokes are superimposed in form (vertically on a straight surface, arc-shaped on a complex spherical shape). To convey the effect of dense material, the strokes must be applied close to each other so that the face does not produce "grass" or "hair." For beginners to perform accurate hatching is difficult, so it is better to use the second method. The mousse supposes the imposing of a tone with subsequent rubbing of graphite on a sheet within the shape of a particular object or part thereof. Black and white transitions are soft, and the image is more realistic, although professionals usually do not use this method.

Techniques of drawing with watercolor pencils

This kind of pencils is very interesting both for beginners and for those who already have experience in this field. Watercolor pencils are used in different ways:

• As an independent material for drawing.
• To study the details of the picturesque painting, made with watercolors.
• For drawing with the subsequent blurring of the image.

It is worth remembering that the detailing should be done at the end of the work, so that the water no longer falls on the traced elements. And if you are going to blur two adjacent objects of different colors, you must first blur both forms and only then - the border of the contact forms.

As you can see, the techniques of drawing with a pencil are various, like the material itself. If you are a beginner, do the first work by copying the samples on the grid. When you try yourself in a linear drawing, go to the tushevka. Hatching and drawing from nature is the most difficult task.