learning to draw

[isthmus nekoi]

I'll second copying the old masters. You can learn *a lot* about composition and technique from copying them. I wouldn't just look at the Renaissance men though. Check out other artistic traditions, look at Japanses prints, Arabic caligraphy, web design.... try to internalize what makes a visual image work.

 

[HudsonGray]

Punchinella--take a look at this: Prismacolors (color pencil) on black paper. Gorgeous! Not a tone of work on it (ie: no layering except on the eyes and a bit in the fur) but regardless of how 'loose' it is, it's beautiful. The Yerf site has some skilled artists there, working in different media.

http://yerf.com/schuheat/ivytiger.jpg

 

[punchinella]

HG, by 'layering' do you mean putting stroke on top of another?

I'm thinking that the pencils used must be fairly soft (oily) to cover that black paper. It's a neat look (&, of course, I love the tiger )

Oh, I'm going to have to try this now too. Oh oh oh oh.

 

[HudsonGray]

Yep, it's where one color is laid down over another--you can see it best on the eye. They burnished the eye though (rubbed it with the back of a spoon to make it shiny) and didn't burnish the rest. You can see how that makes a difference! Color pencils are soft, and Prismacolors are the best, they don't have any grainy hard bits in them to mar the lines as you use them.

I haven't used black paper, but have used the brown from paper bags, it gives a nice texture effect.

Did you see how the use of a white color pencil on the eye gives it a gloss? Much different than a sharp thin line used on the fur or whiskers. That's what makes them so much fun to play with, too, they've got a wide range of looks after you really start learning them.

 

[punchinella]

Burnishing with spoons--oh, my god you're a gold mine of info.

It kind of looks like they did the same thing on the nose, only not so much (??)

I wonder how white pencil would look over the top of ink.

I have this Leonardo Da Vinci 'cartoon' here with what looks like white chalk added to give dimension/make the figures pop right off the page . . . I've been admiring it for years. I guess the key to using dark & light media together would be to start with a paper that's somewhere in the middle, wouldn't it. Paper-bag/kraft paper color, actually, would be just about right (pity groceries come home in plastic now )

I have quite a bit of construction paper downstairs though, & some chalk . . . hmmmn . . .

 

[Ravenswing]

imagination...

Great thread here guys-- thanks.

Most of my work is straight out of my head. One exercise I've developed to help loosen up my images is sort of like cloud watching. You know, lie down on a grassy hill on a summer day and figure out what clouds look like....

So, take a pretty hard lead pencil. Close your eyes and make some strokes on your paper. Long squiggles, short bold lines... whatever. Not too many or you'll get overloaded. DON'T THINK-- just let the hand move. I've found that it helps to hum as you do this.

Open your eyes and re-orient the paper. Just so the top isn't the top any more. And don't feel that an edge has to run along the bottom-- try a corner sometime.

Look at the lines and finish the sketch. Don't feel that you have to use all the lines-- some might not belong.

This exercise'll bust you out of a lot of little boxes.

Use color if you want-- you may wind up with a landscape...


fly well
Raven

 

[punchinella]

***BREAKTHROUGH***

I've found the coloring method I was looking for, woo hoo!!!

Downstairs just now I was experimenting w/ colored pencils, & started adding touches of color to some of the pen & ink things I've been working on, & presto! --The look I want, THE LOOK, THE VERY LOOK . . .

I don't need to learn to use watercolors at all, I can do it with pencils (oh I'm so happy . . . so very very very happy . . . )

I want color in my deck, but such delicate color that it's almost not there at all. I thought watercolors were the only way to achieve this, but they're so hard to control! --& the pencils work so very well

(Can you tell I'm feeling ecstatic?)

I've decided to 'illustrate' a poster for a class with a rabbit, bear, ibis, dolphin, otter, & owl (well, maybe this is just a wee bit ambitious ) & worry over lack of color in the poster is what got me experimenting.

Anyway, thanks Hudson Gray for pointing me in the direction of pencils several days ago

(Oh & Ravenswing, thanks for that exercise idea too, I plan to try it as soon as all assigned projects for the semester are OFFICIALLY OVER--that'll be Tuesday )

 

[Cerulean]

Good for you and one idea...

http://images.google.com/imgres?img...ncil+palette&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sa=N

The following suggestions are if you want to create a color palette as a visual help to see what colors you have and how they behave on your paper.

You can just do shading practise on one sheet of paper for all your pencil colors so you know how they behave. The inch square idea creates a visual palette and is very soothing after a few tries. If you get to browse at a library or bookstore or weblink and see color samples, that might assist on showing how you want to handle color schemes...just an idea.

You can also buy a watercolor pencil, one at a time, for smudging effects with a brush or a watercolor marker--the advantage is you don't need many colors, just some water and strokes along a few edges and a brush to spread the color. I've not been able to use water on prismacolors to spread the color very far because of their wax content, but it may differ for you.

If you already have watercolors, match a pencil to the watercolor by coloring a square about an inch across and an inch wide--don't go by a name, because all makers have different names for colors. You can go through your pencils first to match a watercolor hue.

I notice on the sample sheets by watercolor makers that the first top stroke has the most color or is darkest and then the brush is emptied of some paint by brushing it on a paper towel or another sheet of scratch paper. A little water and a lighter stroke of color in the middle, then the last stroke for the inch square. You might be able to get for free in a good art store--if they have sample hand outs- a color chart either of the pencils or watercolor that you want to mentally buy.





Best wishes,

Cerulean Mari

 

[Hihepux]

Im Not certain about Pencils, but for many paints, expecially Modeling paints, they have a Latin or French (forget which language) printed on the side of the bottle. This way no matter the brand or name of color you get the same color depending on shades. You might want to look into that, it wont be on each pencil most likely though so check the back of the boxes for the pencils.

 

[punchinella]

Well actually I'm not so terribly worried about matching up precise colors (yet . . . )

The watercolor pencils are an interesting idea though (thanks Cerulean)--using them dry but then touching certain areas with water might produce an interesting effect. Also, I guess the main point here is that one can more easily control how much pigment gets onto the page (??)

--This art 'budget' of mine is starting to get a bit out of hand ( )