Pencil Drawing - Page 2
Types of Pencils and a Variety of Strokes
Grades of pencils used by professional artists range from very hard (6H) to slightly hard (H); and from moderately soft (B) to extremely soft (6B.) In between the hard and soft ones is a medium pencil called HR. A good selection for general use is 2H, HB, B and 3B.
The grades of pencils used by professional artists. (click to enlarge)
Below are examples of the many kinds of strokes you will find useful in drawing. Generally, you use soft pencils to get broad, dark lines; hard pencils for lighter, sharp, thin lines. Varying the pressure will, of course, change the lightness or darkness of the line with every grade of pencil you use. Practice these strokes with a variety of pencils. You’ll learn how versatile your pencil can be.
Fine Line or Sharp Point Excercises:
Even Pressure Lines. The lines above have all been drawn with an HB pencil using an even pressure on the pencil point. The lines were drawn in the direction indicated by the arrows. (click to enlarge)
Graded Pressure Lines. Draw these graded pressure lines by putting slight pressure on your pencil point as you draw. These lines also should be drawn deliberately and not too fast to enable you to control the pressure of your pencil. (click to enlarge)
Loose Broken Lines. Draw these graded pressure lines by putting slight pressure on your pencil point as you draw. These lines also should be drawn deliberately and not too fast to enable you to control the pressure of your pencil. (click to enlarge)
Quickly Drawn Lines. The quickly drawn lines should be drawn freely and if, at first, you cannot stop your lines exactly at the edge of the area you are covering, don’t worry about it. With more practice and experience, you will be able to control your strokes. (click to enlarge)
Crosshatch. The quickly drawn lines should be drawn freely and if, at first, you cannot stop your lines exactly at the edge of the area you are covering, don’t worry about it. With more practice and experience, you will be able to control your strokes. Crosshatch lines should be drawn more carefully than others. (click to enlarge)
The First Step
To go from practice exercises to meaningful drawings is not as hard as you might think. For example: Have you ever idly scribbled on a piece of paper and discovered some of your doodles suggested real things to you?
The first sketch below started in this way. At first it was just scribbling until it occurred to the artist the doodle looked a little like a sheep. Then, for the first time working purposefully, nose, ears, eyes, and legs were roughly suggested. The other sketch developed much the same way but now there was a definite idea in mind.
Doodles turned into a sheep. (click to enlarge)
The point is, right now simple exercises like these can provide an excellent way for you to explore the wide variety of effects you can achieve with your pencil. It’s fun to do, and you train your eye to see forms and textures where you might not have seen them before—and to turn them into fresh, exciting pictures.
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