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FIRST OF ALL
Art is the finest way of doing anything. Pencil drawing is one of the fine arts and one of the easiest to master. It will repay the student ten-fold for the amount of effort expended. It is important to have the right materials to work with.
In landscape drawing it is advisable to use a medium pencil H. B., a soft one B.B.B. and a soft eraser.
Art materials should be treated with respect and pencils used deftly, varying the pressure to obtain dark and light tones.
Drawings should be neat and of a professional appearance. The outline should be dwelt on before starting to shade. The shadows are used to give depth and thickness and by varying their tints, roundness is obtained.
The proper placing of a sketch on the paper is important and requires judgment and a sense of composition which are a part of the art training. A drawing badly placed on the paper loses value.
As a help in placing the contemplated drawing on the paper, sketch with your finger on the paper an imaginary outline of the subject and at the same time try to visualize the completed picture.
After this, use the H.B. pencil very lightly to draw the essential lines of the subject selected. Heavy black lines used too soon may kill the vision of the picture and thus impress mistakes on the mind.
After becoming proficient in copying drawings try to make compositions of your own.
Practice drawing from nature. Be careful to select simple subjects. Better a simple subject well done than a difficult one poorly rendered.
After copying some simple subject in this book try drawing it from memory. This is excellent practice and will help to recall effects too rapid and transient to sketch, yet most valuable as data for future reference.
With proper training there should be no waiting for inspiration. Make preliminary sketches and memory sketches until you force inspiration.
Further Suggestions
Before touching pencil to paper, hold yourself in check until you try to visualize clearly the drawing you intend to make and the pencil technique you plan to use.
The first lines should be the most important and the last ones of least value.
Training the eye and hand to co-ordinate, gives quite a thrill when mastered. The problems are different in every picture, which makes for one of the fascinating aspects of the study of art. The feeling for art goes to waste unless backed by knowledge with which to work.
To draw form correctly is less a natural ability than the result of acquired training. Most gifted students l...
