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Drawing Tutorial
Starting with the basics!


The picture above is a pencil drawing

Materials

• Paper
  
• Pencil (any kind will work, I personally like mechanical ones because you don't have to sharpen them!)
  
• Kneeded Eraser (found at any craft or art supply shop)
  
• Lots of patience

First, we'll start with the basics of drawing.

The more pressure you put on the pencil, the darker your lines (and the harder it is to erase!). When I draw, I usually just barely touch the paper, that gives me a nice soft line that can be easily hidden as I add more detail or erased if I make a mistake.

Remember: It's easier to darken the picture by going back over it a few times, than it is to make it lighter by erasing!

Get yourself some scrap paper and practice varying the pressure of the pencil. Once you think you've got it, move on to the next step.

Next Time
Light and Shadows

Drawing Tutorial
Form


Drawing above done in pencil (dark isn't it?) from Halloween 08

A special note about the picture above
The water looks like the hardest part of the picture doesn't it? Nope! It was the easiest! All I did was drew the picture as though the water wasn't even there, but left it a bit lighter where pieces went under. Then I used my kneeded eraser and 'pulled' the highlights of the waves. Easy once you know the trick, ne?

Back to this month's lesson
Form.. What is a drawing without form?
It may seem difficult at first to get your drawing to actually look like something, but be patient and back up a bit. What we usually stumble over is the details, so forget about them for now! Let's just look at the basic shapes!

Here's a piece I'm working on where you can see the basic shapes used to make the ladies to the right, then how the detail is added to them one at a time:



I like to start the detail work going from left to right on the page to keep from smudging the drawing.. You could always just use a piece of scrap paper to rest under your hand, but I just prefer to do it this way.. It's up to you.

The lady furthest right is in her third stage (that is she's gone past being just a stick figure). I've already erased the lines from the first and second stages.. Sorry..

The reason the first step is so important is to get everything in porportion (especially if there's more than one person in the picture). Sometimes I cheat and go straight to stage 2, especially when I have a reference picture to look at or a model in front of me.

Stage 1 is the basic frame. A circle for the head with a cross-shape to show how the face is angled, and sticks to represent the frame or skeleton of the victum-erm- subject.. It helps get the length of things correct (arms. legs, and body) and to get the basic posture and pose of the character.



Stage 2 is creating the basic shapes.



with stage 1 erased


Stage 3 is adding in basic details like the face and main elements of the clothing.

note I erased her legs for 2 reasons; I think she looks better that way, and I suck at drawing feet.. and hands, but that one can't be avoided sweatdrop



Next time
Texture

Drawing Tutorial
Adding Life to Your Drawings


Commissioned piece from a photograph Here

The eyes are the window to a person's soul. And that's how you add life to your characters!

The biggest thing you can do is add highlights, even if you have a model and there's no real shine to speak of.


It's a good drawing of an eye, ne? But look how dull and lifeless it is!


The exact same drawing, only I used my kneeded eraser to 'pull' a few highlights and make it shine. (yes, it looks slightly different. That's because I took a picture of the drawing instead of scanning it)

See how it looks so alive? What's she looking at? What's she thinking?

sweatdrop yea, I have an obsession with eyes. Especially Asian ones.. Go through my notebooks and old school work and you'll find at least one eye watching you from each page lol!

Need help with how the light should reflect off of the eyes? Look through a magazine at the models or look up pictures of peoples faces and study their eyes. That's what I did.. actually it started as basic anime eyes when I was in about second or third grade... About to start collage, so I've had plenty of practice.

Don't be upset if things don't turn out right the first fifty or even hundred times. It takes practice. Lots and lots of practice. You'll get there!

Next Time
[removed](or lack there of)

Drawing Tutorial
putting together what we've learned thus far!

Here is the full process of how a person can be drawn:

1: Draw your stick figure.



2: Draw the basic shapes that make up your victum- erm- subject.



3: Clean it up a bit to keep from getting confused.



4: Start adding in the main details.



5: Add in some of the finer details and get the most noticeable shadows in.



6: More detail and darker shadows (remember: it's easier to darken a shadow or line by going over it a few extra times than it is to make it lighter by erasing!)



7: Start smudging! Use either a stump or your finger to smooth out the shadows and darker areas of the drawing. Yes, it will be messy and go outside the lines, but we will deal with that later!



8: Add the finishing touches. fix lines that weren't supposed to be smudged and places that were lightened by the smudging. Sometimes you can't get it as dark as you want with smudging, so just leave it, so long as it isn't too noticeable. The final step: Clean it up! Erase the smudges that went outside the drawing, fix any lines that may have been messed up by the eraser and sign it! (I like to put the date on my work so I can see the progression over time)