Anyone Can Draw

Create Sensational Artworks in Easy Steps

Barrington Barber

• Publisher: Arcturus
• Year: 2021
• eBook ISBN: 9781398810167
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Art Techniques

Anyone can draw and this complete coursebook will show you how, written by bestselling practical art author Barrington Barber. Beginning with the basics of mark-making, this drawing book guides readers through the fundamentals of line, tone, proportion, and careful observation, and how they can be combined to create convincing, realistic drawings. Sections include:
• Marks and materials
• Line drawing
• Tonal drawing
• Observation in drawing
• Properties and perspective
• Composition
• Useful practices and projectsDesigned with absolute novices in mind, as well as those who would love to revive their skills, this book will enable all users to take pleasure in the activity of drawing.

CHAPTER 1 MARKS AND MATERIALS

When you first begin to draw it can be hard to know just what you should do to set off on the right track, so here we’ll look at what drawing is about at the most basic level. Put simply, it’s making marks on paper, and initially any marks will do.

Also in this chapter I’ll show you the materials that you’ll need to draw with, giving you some choices so that you’ll have fun and explore different possibilities.

PENCIL

The most common medium for drawing is pencil. Use B-grade pencils as they make a darker mark with less pressure required than the harder H pencils. Ideally you should have B, 2B, 4B, 6B and 8B as a range.

B-grade pencils are soft and wear down quite fast, so have several sharp pencils to hand. It will interrupt the flow of your work if you have to keep stopping to sharpen your pencil.

1. When you’re ready, start drawing a wavy line in any direction just to get the feel of the pencil on the paper. This is more important than it may seem, because experiencing through your hand the way the pencil meets the paper gives your drawing greater sensitivity.

2. Scribble lines in all directions to make a patch of dark tone.

3. Then try a series of quickly made lines, all in the same direction and as close together as you can, to make a patch of tone.

4. Next, draw a number of lines in all directions, but shorter and spaced around to build up like a layer of twigs.

5. Draw a tonal patch with all the lines going in one direction in vertical strokes.

6. Next, draw horizontal strokes in the same manner.

7. Now combine horizontal and vertical lines with diagonals to produce a very dark patch of tone.

Now we are taking a further step towards picture-making, because you are going to attempt a shape that resembles something that you might want to draw.

8. Draw a circle as accurately as you can. Although it’s easy enough to imagine a perfect circle, drawing one takes careful work and yours will probably look like the one shown.

9. Now add a bit of tone to one side of your circle to give the impression of a three-dimensional sphere. Put a patch of tone underneath the sphere, to look like a shadow.

10. Now try a drawing of a group of leaves, keeping it simple and just aiming to express the feel of the plant’s growth.

11. Similarly, draw a flower shape – don’t try to be too exact at this stage.

12. First draw a diamond shape that is flatter horizontally than vertically.

13. Then draw three vertical lines down from the left corner, the lower centre corner and the right corner. All the lines should be parallel to each other, with the outer two about the same length and the central one a little l...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Contents
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Marks and materials
• Chapter 2: Line drawing
• Chapter 3: Tonal drawing
• Chapter 4: Observation in drawing
• Chapter 5: Proportions and perspective
• Chapter 6: Composition
• Chapter 7: Useful practices and projects
• Copyright