The Ultimate Drawing Workbook

Barrington Barber, Peter Gray

• Publisher: Arcturus
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781848378414
• eBook ISBN: 9781398803268
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Art Techniques

This bumper drawing guide is perfect for artists looking to improve their skills. Whether you want to achieve a likeness of a human subject, frame a landscape to best effect or draw an animal that won't keep still, the advice and examples included here are sure to inspire. Experienced artists Barrington Barber and Peter Gray demonstrate the challenges and rewards in each subject area through tailored step-by-step exercises.

DRAWING TECHNIQUES

INTRODUCTION

To the novice or developing artist, the dazzling array of materials in an art shop can be quite bewildering. There is a common misconception that spending a lot of money aids artistic development, but in fact quite the opposite is true. Expensive materials only inhibit the freedom to make mistakes – and mistakes are essential to the processes of learning and developing a creative outlook.

With only a few basic tools and materials, a vast range of techniques and effects is open to you. This section of the book aims to introduce different ways of thinking about commonly used materials which will familiarize you with their various properties and help you to gain proficiency in using them.

For those readers who have yet to become confident draughtsmen, there are some reminders of the basic principles of drawing. Discussions of line, tone, perspective and more will include helpful tips and shortcuts that may also be useful to more accomplished artists.

The best way to instruct is by demonstration. In this section there are examples of techniques broken down into easy-to-follow stages. When following the exercises, try to resist simply copying my examples; apply the same stages to subjects of your own to create new pictures. Think of the techniques shown merely as starting points. You will be encouraged to experiment, push these methods further and devise techniques of your own.

Although technique is but one element of artistic creation, understanding the methods of drawing will enrich your experience of art, both in analysing and appreciating other artists’ work and in developing your own personal drawing language.

Peter Gray

BASIC SKETCHING TECHNIQUES

For those readers who have recent experience of drawing, the following techniques should be second nature, but it never does any harm to be reminded of the basic principles.

Unless you have the quick-fire confidence of a master draughtsman, drawing is a process that usually goes through certain stages. Essentially, it involves working from large shapes towards small details, drafting rough guidelines and gradually refining the forms through sight measuring, crosschecking and ever-closer observation.

Step 1

Using a hard pencil (H or HB), lightly sketch the general mass of the objects. Make sure that each object is roughly the correct size in relation to the others. Try to fill the paper; working too small will tend to make your drawings tight and stilted from the start.

Step 2

This step is crucial to making a successful drawing. Here you have to map out the essential lengths and angles of the lines that will provide a frame for the rest of the work (see opposite page).

Step 3

Having measured the width and height of the large ellipse, it was quite easy for me to add a smooth curve within the lines already drawn. Drawing a full ellipse for the base of the tin helped me to make the curve smooth and also to check that the tin sits comfortably in front of the oblong tin.

Step 4

A softer pencil (2B), sharpened to a fine point, is good at this stage to strengthen and finalize the good lines.

Step 5

A...

Table of contents

• Title
• Contents
• Basic materials and equipment
• Drawing Techniques
• Drawing Still Life
• Drawing Landscapes
• Drawing Animals
• Drawing Figures
• Drawing Portraits
• Copyright