BASIC MATERIALS
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Said
Hamlet to Ophelia,
I'll draw a sketch of thee,
What kind of pencil shall I use?
2B or not 2B?
Spike Milligan
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For
successful shading
and blending, I've used an ordinary 0.5mm or 0.7mm mechanical
pencil loaded with 2B since I started drawing... this gives
me a fine line at all times without the need to constantly
sharpen. These pencils are usually sold with HB leads, so
be sure to purchase a pack of 2B to replace them. Unlike
the wooden pencil, you can't use the side of the lead to
shade large areas, instead, the shading
is kept very tight and the varying tones are achieved by
gradation and layering, with the pencil strokes always following
the shape of your object (unlike cross hatching). I find
that smooth, dark areas are best achieved by alternate layering
and blending rather than extra pressure. I may apply 5 -
6 (or more) layers of pencil to an area of dark shadow or
hair.
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| Paper |
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Bristol
2ply heavyweight board is ideal... It's actually a stiff
paper with either a plate or a vellum finish that stands
up extremely well to the rigors of blending and erasing
that this method entails. A slightly cheaper alternative
is a good quality, heavy cartridge paper although for practicing
the technique, I'm sure any fairly decent paper would do.
I do all of my drawings on A3 (11.5" x 16.5").
The vellum (regular)finish, with it's extra 'tooth', makes
the darks easier to achieve .
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| Tortillons
and Blending Stumps |
These
are spirals of wound paper that are used to blend the pencil
shading. They are very simple
to make and will last a long time if looked after. It
is important to keep these tortillons clean when using in
light areas but a selection can be kept in varying stages
of cleanliness using the blackest for large dark areas (
hair) or even for drawing in shapes. Most art shops carry
these items.
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| Soft
Tissues, Kitchen Roll, Toilet Tissue, Chamois etc... |
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To
achieve smooth gradated skin tones on the larger areas of
cheeks, jaw, forehead and clothing, try a piece of soft
kitchen roll or toilet tissue folded over the end of your
finger. This spreads the graphite much more evenly than
the tortillon and is especially suited to the smoother skin
of younger subjects. Tissue paper is also handy for resting
the heel of your hand on as you draw, protecting the paper
from grease and moistness. Try experimenting with tissues,
felt, cotton materials, chamois and other materials to discover
the various, subtle effects that can be achieved.
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| Emery
or Sandpaper |
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This
is simply a small piece of stiff card (mounting board is
ideal) approx. 4" square, on which I either glue or
double tape a sheet of medium emery/sandpaper. This is then
used to clean and shape the tips of my paper tortillons.
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| Large,
Soft Brush |
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Rather
than wiping away eraser debris with the back of your hand
and spreading the graphite dust over your pristine white
paper, use a large, soft watercolour wash brush to gently
brush it away. Even blowing away these bits is fraught with
danger as the slightest bit of moister can alter the surface
properties of your paper leaving small, dark, dust ingrained
stains that are almost impossible to remove.
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| Erasers |
I
use a variety of erasers for different effects. The most
versatile is the putty rubber... this can be pulled and
squeezed into many useful shapes and the dirty bits are
simply pinched off, try dabbing as well as stroking, the
tacky properties of this eraser will gently lighten selected
areas. A lovely tip I picked up at Mike
Sibley's 'Studio' page, is the use of ordinary 'Blu
Tack' ... I've tried it and it works perfectly!!!
One of my
favourite erasers is a large, round, white one that sits
in the palm of the hand, rather like a bar of soap...
this is ideal for lifting out the larger areas on the
forehead and cheekbones and by reducing pressure at the
end of each stroke, a very soft gradation can be achieved.
This eraser cleans up by rubbing the thumb across the
dirtied part.
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| Circle
Template |
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You
can purchase a perspex template with circles of varying
sizes for drawing the pupils of the eyes... Actually trying
to draw 2 perfect circles of identical size, freehand, is
very difficult... and as the eyes are without doubt the
most important feature of the face, it's vital to draw them
correctly. I tend to make a point of placing a single highlight
in each eye, overlapping the pupil and the iris... if there
are several highlights in each eye, often caused by studio
spots, I still only draw the one.
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| Fixative |
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I
tried the commercial fixatives when I first started to draw
and found that they spluttered and clogged up constantly.
Then a friend, who teaches at a local Art College, suggested
ordinary hairspray which they use as a cheaper and more
user friendly alternative. It can also be used on pastel
drawings. Fixing, apart from protecting the pencil on your
paper, also reduces the shine that results from the darker,
burnished areas, giving a soft matt finish. Always spray
the whole sheet from corner to corner, top to bottom...
do not spray just the drawing in the centre, as this creates
buckling of the paper. Also be sure that you have erased
all unwanted pencil marks prior to spraying. I usually spray
3 layers, allowing to dry on a flat (unvarnished) surface
between coats.
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| Celebrity
Photographs. |
I
very rarely sell my celebrity portraits, I started drawing
them simply as a means of practicing the blending technique...
The 'Coronation Street' characters were my first 'celebs'
simply because they were the ideal size and featured regularly
on the covers of most TV magazines. I also found several
subjects on the covers of autobiographies Sean Connery,
Norman Wisdom, Humphrey Bogart etc. The local library
is a goldmine for subject matter... biographies, history,
sports etc. Another good source is the poster shop, I've
found that most of them sell 8" x 10"s of past
and present film and music stars either studio posed or
film stills. And of course the video stores throw mountains
of posters and other advertising material away every week...
have a word with your friendly, neighbourhood manager!!!
You
will come across a lot of photographs that are just too
small for the gridding method... I'm lucky that another
of my hobbies is photography, I simply photograph a selection
of collected magazine pictures and print them to the required
size in my darkroom... you probably aren't in this position...
but you can purchase 'Art Projectors' that enlarge
smaller pictures directly onto your drawing paper.
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Positioning...
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Have
you found, after you're already well into your drawing,
that it isn't sitting where you originally intended...?
Somehow it's drifted left, right, up or down! This can
put me off terribly and I quite often abandon it and start
again. It also makes mounting more difficult and usually
involves trimming. |
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I
eventually got around this by reserving my drawing area
beforehand, exactly where I wanted it. I work on A3 (11.5"
x 16.5") bristol board but my actual drawing area
is A4 (11.5" x 8.5"). So, I position a sheet
of A4 horizontally central and slightly above vertical
center and lightly draw around it. |
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I
then work within my reserved drawing area. |
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When
the drawing is complete, I erase the surrounding pencil
border along with any other unwanted pencil marks or graphite
dust. I now have a nicely positioned drawing that will
require very little work to mount correctly. |
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If
you intend to frame your finished drawing, do use mounting
board. Humidity changes can cause your paper to expand
and cockle slightly if secured all around, so "hang"
your paper from the top only... this allows it to expand
and contract without those unattractive undulations. The
mounting board, apart from creating an attractive frame
around your work, also prevents contact between the paper
and the glass. |
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