Introduction to Drawing: Practical easy steps to great artwork

INTRODUCTION

Starting to draw is an interesting and sometimes daunting business. I want to help you find ways of gradually improving your skill and thereby increasing your enthusiasm, because this is perfectly possible, no matter how little formal teaching you may have had. One of the great advantages of coming to drawing relatively unpractised is the freshness with which you can approach the subject. So even if you are a complete novice, this book should help you to get some drawing practice under your belt and produce some lively pictures.

The principal skill in drawing that you need to achieve is the co-ordination of the eye and the hand. It is not as difficult as it sounds, because we all learn to do this naturally by having to pick things up, catch a ball, write a list and the many other day-to-day tasks that we perform. The eye can see very much more than we generally give it credit for and our mind analyses the information quite readily and with remarkable accuracy. It is also amazing how precisely our hands can move, with just the right amount of pressure and degree of judgement, when required. When you are drawing, these skills will naturally come to your aid, as long as you don’t get in the way of the action by thinking too much. In fact, thinking too much is often the chief obstacle to making improvements in drawing.

We shall look at the materials that you require if you are going to draw seriously and at ways of using them to their best advantage, so you don’t waste time trying to find that out for yourself. Nevertheless, it’s a good idea to do some experimentation when you try any new medium – you may discover a way of using it that you particularly enjoy.

You will find a series of exercises to help you refine your eye and hand co-ordination, which takes practice if you really want to draw well. Many of the exercises I demonstrate are time-honoured ones, used by artists for centuries. I shall also give you an understanding of basic elements of successful picture-making such as composition, creating a sense of depth and showing perspective. You will discover how to draw still life compositions and landscapes before progressing to the most difficult genre of all – the human figure and face. Eventually you will be able to build a complete picture of almost anything you care to imagine.

Skill isn’t achieved overnight: you may sometimes feel you are taking two steps forward and one back, when a drawing you feel satisfied with is followed by one that just doesn’t go well. However, I can guarantee that if you carry out all the exercises in this book, and practise regularly, there will be a remarkable improvement in your work. So, I wish you good luck and happy drawing.

1 BASIC MARK MAKING

When you draw, you make marks on paper to represent a visual experience that viewers will recognize from their own knowledge of the world: the drawings are illusions of form and shapes that we all see. So effective mark-making is important to create a convincing illusion and you need to put in plenty of practice to improve your ability to do it easily and well.

Probably the first thing to consider when you begin to draw is exactly how you are going to organize yourself. So, in this section we shall examine whether you sit or stand to draw; the way you hold your drawing implements; how you assume your viewpoint; and even the size of the image that you draw. It is well worth spending time over these matters, although they are mostly a matter of common sense.

We shall also look at the materials and mediums that are commonly used for drawing, as well as accessories such as brushes, sharpeners and erasers. Then it’s time for you to put pencil to paper and start on your path to becoming an artist by means of exercises as simple as making dots, lines and geometric shapes before going on to discover how to show tone to give your subjects the impression of three-dimensional form. You will be surprised by how much confidence you have gained once you have practised these early steps.

Positions and grips

Here we consider ways of standing or sitting to draw and how to hold the drawing tool to get the best results.

When you are drawing objects laid out upon a table, you can sit and work on a drawing board large enough to take the size of paper you are using. You can attach your paper with clips, drawing pins or masking tape. Of these, I prefer the last as the paper can be changed more easily and it doesn’t matter if you lose the bits of masking tape.

To draw standing up, which is much the best way, you will need some kind of easel. This will be more expensive than any other piece of equipment you will have to buy, but easels last for ever if you are careful with them and make drawing so much easier. There are several types, such as portable easels, radial easels (my own favourite), and large studio easels, which you need buy only if you have sufficient space, prefer the design and are intent upon a career in art.

The way that you hold your drawing tool has a big influence on your drawing skill. Try to relax your hand and wrist and hold it loosely so that there is no unnecessary tension; the quality of your line should improve immediately.

Also try out different ways of holding it, for instance more like a stick or sword than a pen. The pen-holding method is not wrong but is often too constrained for really effective drawing.

Sketching

Going to a place that you know, and simply drawing what you see to the best of your ability, is one of the best exercises that you can perform. Rather than loose sheets of paper, consider keeping a bound sketch