How to Do Pencil Drawings
Ever wonder how artists produce pencil sketches that are nearly as lifelike as the real thing? There is no magic to art, just technique and a great deal of practice. Knowing some basics before making your first concerted effort, however, can mean the difference between results that are amateurish and something approaching a professional-looking illustration.
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Things You'll Need
- Model or portrait to draw from Pencils of various sizes Sketch pad or sturdy paper Kneaded rubber eraser Facial tissue or blending stump (optional)
Instructions
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Instructions
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Gather your materials. Use pencils designed specifically for sketching whenever possible. Art supply stores and hobby stores sell tins of pencils with different sizes and lead densities. Having a variety of pencils will come in handy when working with details in your image. For example, you will want to choose a darker, denser pencil for thick, heavy lines, and a lighter one for light areas, such as cross-hatching and fine details like hair.
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Choose your subject. You may choose to have a friend or family member sit for you as a model, work from a still life arrangement, or draw from a photograph or painting for inspiration. Beginners and professionals alike find it useful to work from a model or representation.
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Make a light preliminary sketch. Lines should be light and erasable. At this stage, ensure that your proportions are correctly aligned. Read the Arty Factory tutorial on portrait proportions (see Resources section at the end of this article) for guidelines.
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Fill in the details. Add shading, paying particular attention to areas of the subject that are lighter or darker. Shading can take on various forms, such as cross-hatching for realistic depth and texture, contour lines that are sloped or curved or smooth shading, which produces a gradient that fades gradually from dark to light. Many details, like hair and fur, require patience and persistence.
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Fine-tune the drawing. Use the kneaded rubber eraser to eliminate stray marks and lighten areas that appear too dark simply by patting the eraser lightly over the desired area. Use facial tissue to blend and smudge or a blending stump, which is available at art and hobby stores. Apply a chamois to create smooth textures.
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Tips & Warnings
Avoid touching the paper. The oils from your skin can render the area difficult to draw on, as the oils will resist the graphite. Try using various types of paper to achieve different textures and effects.
References
- Photo Credit From Our Iron Roads: Their History, Construction and Social Influences by Frederick S. Williams - public domain
