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Drawing Exercises In Technique

Extract from Drawing Portraits • By Barrington Barber • Published by Arcturus Publishing

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$ $ $ $ $
Difficulty
• • • • •
Time
1h00

Drawing Portraits
The following technical practices should help you to ease your way into drawing in a range of different styles. There are, of course, many more than the ones we show, but these will serve very well as a basis. You will discover all sorts of other methods through your own investigations and adapt them to serve your purpose.

Posted by Arcturus Publishing Published See Arcturus Publishing's 9 projects » © 2024 Barrington Barber / Arcturus Publishing · Reproduced with permission.
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You Will Need

  • How to make a techniques. Drawing Exercises In Technique - Step 1
    Step 1

    Pencil shading test

    When you are using pencil to add tone to your drawings it soon shows if you are not very expert. The only way you can develop this facility is to practise shading in various ways in order to get used to seeing the different tones achievable. This exercise is quite difficult but good fun and can be repeated many times over a period of weeks, just to help you get your hand and eye in.

    You will find the control it gives you over the pencil very valuable.
    You will need a very dark pencil (4B), a slightly less dark pencil (2B) and a lighter pencil (such as a B). If you wish, you can always use a harder lighter pencil, such as an H or 2H.

    Draw out a long line of squares measuring about 1 in (2.5 cm) square. Shade each one, starting with a totally black square. Allow the next square of shading to be slightly lighter, and so on, gradually shading each square as uniformly as possible with a lighter and lighter touch, until you arrive at white paper

  • How to make a techniques. Drawing Exercises In Technique - Step 2
    Step 2

    Building up tones by cross-hatching:

    1. Vertical strokes first, close together.

  • How to make a techniques. Drawing Exercises In Technique - Step 3
    Step 3

    2. Oblique strokes from top right to bottom left over the
    strokes shown in 1.

  • Step 4

    3. Horizontal strokes over the strokes shown in 1 and 2.

  • How to make a techniques. Drawing Exercises In Technique - Step 5
    Step 5

    4. Then make oblique strokes from top left to bottom
    right over the strokes shown in 1–3.

  • How to make a techniques. Drawing Exercises In Technique - Step 6
    Step 6

    5. Smooth and finely graduated tones can be achieved
    by working over your marks with a stub.

  • How to make a techniques. Drawing Exercises In Technique - Step 7
    Step 7

    Pencil and graphite

    A pencil is the easiest and most obvious implement with which to start an exploration of technique. Try the following series of simple warming up exercises, which can be practised every day that you put aside time to draw. This is very useful for improving your technique.

    1. A backward and forward motion of the hand, always in an oblique
    direction, produces an even tone quickly.

  • How to make a techniques. Drawing Exercises In Technique - Step 8
    Step 8

    2. The same motion vertically.

  • How to make a techniques. Drawing Exercises In Technique - Step 9
    Step 9

    3. The same motion horizontally.

  • How to make a techniques. Drawing Exercises In Technique - Step 10
    Step 10

    1A. 2A. and 3A.
    Now try a slightly more careful
    method where the hand draws the
    lines in one direction only

  • How to make a techniques. Drawing Exercises In Technique - Step 11
    Step 11

    Try using a graphite stick for the next two exercises; they can also be done with a well sharpened soft pencil.

    1. Lay the side edge of the point of the graphite or pencil onto the paper and make smooth, smudged marks.

  • How to make a techniques. Drawing Exercises In Technique - Step 12
    Step 12

    2. Using the point in random directions also works well.

  • How to make a techniques. Drawing Exercises In Technique - Step 13
    Step 13

    Pen and ink
    There is a whole range of exercises for pen work but of course this implement has to be used rather more lightly and carefully than the pencil so that its point doesn’t catch in the paper.

    1. Vertical lines close together in one direction.

  • How to make a techniques. Drawing Exercises In Technique - Step 14
    Step 14

    2. Horizontal lines close together in one direction.

  • How to make a techniques. Drawing Exercises In Technique - Step 15
    Step 15

    3. Oblique lines close together in one direction. Repeat as above but this time building up the strokes:

  • How to make a techniques. Drawing Exercises In Technique - Step 16
    Step 16

    4. Draw vertical lines.

  • How to make a techniques. Drawing Exercises In Technique - Step 17
    Step 17

    5. Draw oblique lines on top of the verticals.

  • How to make a techniques. Drawing Exercises In Technique - Step 18
    Step 18

    6. Draw horizontal lines on top of the oblique and vertical lines.

  • How to make a techniques. Drawing Exercises In Technique - Step 19
    Step 19

    7. Draw oblique lines at 90 degrees to the last oblique lines on top of the three previous exercises to build up the tone.

  • How to make a techniques. Drawing Exercises In Technique - Step 20
    Step 20

    1. Make patches of short strokes in different directions, each time packing them closer together.

  • How to make a techniques. Drawing Exercises In Technique - Step 21
    Step 21

    2. Draw small overlapping lines in all directions.

  • How to make a techniques. Drawing Exercises In Technique - Step 22
    Step 22

    3. Draw lines that follow the contours of a shape, placing them close together. For an additional variation, draw oblique lines across these contour lines.

  • How to make a techniques. Drawing Exercises In Technique - Step 23
    Step 23

    4. Build up myriad dots to describe tonal areas.

  • How to make a techniques. Drawing Exercises In Technique - Step 24
    Step 24

    Shading with chalk

    This next series of exercises is similar to the one you have just done but requires extra care not to smudge your marks as you put them down. The key in this respect is not to use a smooth paper. Choose one with a texture that will provide a surface to which the chalk can adhere.

    1. Shading obliquely in two directions.

  • How to make a techniques. Drawing Exercises In Technique - Step 25
    Step 25

    1A. Shading in various directions, heavily.

  • How to make a techniques. Drawing Exercises In Technique - Step 26
    Step 26

    1B. Shading in one direction obliquely

  • How to make a techniques. Drawing Exercises In Technique - Step 27
    Step 27

    2. Shading vertically in two directions.

  • How to make a techniques. Drawing Exercises In Technique - Step 28
    Step 28

    2A. Shading in various directions, more lightly.

  • How to make a techniques. Drawing Exercises In Technique - Step 29
    Step 29

    2B. Shading in one direction horizontally.

  • How to make a techniques. Drawing Exercises In Technique - Step 30
    Step 30

    3. Shading horizontally in two directions.

  • How to make a techniques. Drawing Exercises In Technique - Step 31
    Step 31

    3A. Shading in various directions, very lightly.

  • How to make a techniques. Drawing Exercises In Technique - Step 32
    Step 32

    3B. Shading in one direction vertically.

  • How to make a techniques. Drawing Exercises In Technique - Step 33
    Step 33

    In a series of squares practise shading of various strengths, progressing from the heaviest to the lightest.

  • How to make a techniques. Drawing Exercises In Technique - Step 34
    Step 34

    Brush and wash

    The best way to start with brush and wash is to try these simple exercises. Your brush should be fairly full of water and colour, so mix a generous amount on a palette or saucer first, and use paper that won’t buckle.

    1. With a brush full of ink or watercolour diluted in water, lay a straightforward wash as evenly as possible on watercolour paper.

  • How to make a techniques. Drawing Exercises In Technique - Step 35
    Step 35

    2. Repeat but this time brushing the wash in all directions.

  • How to make a techniques. Drawing Exercises In Technique - Step 36
    Step 36

    3. Load a lot of colour onto your brush and then gradually add water
    so that the tone gets weaker as you work. Keep working with the brush until it finally dries and you wipe out the last bit of colour.

  • How to make a techniques. Drawing Exercises In Technique - Step 37
    Step 37

    4. Practise drawing soft lines with a brush and wash.

  • How to make a techniques. Drawing Exercises In Technique - Step 38
    Step 38

    Scraperboard

    Take a fine-pointed and a curved-edge scraper and try your hand at
    scraperboard. The curved-edge tool produces broader, thicker lines than the pointed tool, as can be seen from the examples shown below.

  • How to make a techniques. Drawing Exercises In Technique - Step 39
    Step 39

    1. Oblique fine line
    2. Vertical fine line
    3. Horizontal fine line
    4. Short pecks
    5. Short pecks and strokes
    1A. Thicker vertical lines
    2A. Thicker oblique lines
    3A. Draw a ball, then scrape away to reveal
    lighter side
    4A. Thicker, measured vertical strokes
    1B. Scraped wavy lines
    2B. Cross-hatching with fine lines
    3B. Gradually reducing from thick to fine lines
    4B. Draw an eye shape and then scrape out
    light areas
    1C. Lightly scraped wavy lines
    2C. Thickly scraped wavy lines
    3C. Criss-cross pattern
    4C. Multiple cross-hatching increasing in
    complexity from left to right

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