Color Pencil Drawing: Mahatma Gandhi Portrait

Mahatma Gandhi Portrait Final Version,
originally uploaded by
reesmeister2002.

"The colour pencil can be at its best use while making sketches of a landscape. But an experienced artist would exploit the maximum richness of this medium while drawing a portrait, too. A drawing with coloured pencils would inject decency and richness into the art piece. “Drawing is the probity of art”, that is what Jean Ingress, the well-known artist of the nineteenth century said.

Advantages of Using Colour Pencil

The pencil has its uses; the colour pencils have their special uses. Coloured pencils help make portraits. The reason is that it is very convenient to blend these colours with each other. This lightweight and portable medium of painting and drawing is a wonderful companion for a budding artist. As we can buy coloured pencils with superior pigmentation, we can explore the wider possibilities of painting and draw with them.

As these coloured pencils can be used on medium-toothed paper and on a smooth surface, too; a student or an artist can find it more convenient in using with added freedom. It would be almost similar to pastel colours; so the pencil colours can be placed one upon another, layer upon layer, to create a required tone.

The Portrait:      When I was in school, our art teacher very often insisted that we should draw and paint Mahatma Gandhi as much as possible. The colour pencil portrait of Mahatma Gandhi shown here is on Bristol Paper. The colours used in this pencil drawing are the different shades of warm grey and white. The artistic shading on the face area and the wonderful colouring of the background have given the portrait a firm look. In this portrait, the artist has used directional shading with a colour pencil. The adjustment of pressure given on the pencil while shading is superbly in control. Along with using a relaxed approach while drawing, the shading work has enabled the artist to create a strong dimensional effect in the final portrait. The back-and-forth movement of the pencil along with its turn at the end of a stroke is very well done here. If we can maintain due control on the tip of the pencil and keep the perspective in mind, the final outcome would be like this beautiful pencil drawing.

Here in this portrait of Mahatma Gandhi, the artist has done spectacular work just by the use of perfect shading and lining. But the worth of the art comes from the well-defined face of Mahatma Gandhi. Every pencil drawing involves us working in stages: first is the preparatory phase in which we make out our minds about the subject matter and actually sit for the work, with pencils and other materials like an eraser and a bunch of paper. This event (!) follows the stage of some lines on the paper, defining the outlines of the subjects to be drawn; this is called the Line Drawing Stage in the language of art.

Gandhi: The Life of A Mahatma      Mahatama Gandhi was born on 2nd October the year 1869 at Porbandar, in India (1869). His personality is such that he hardly needs any introduction. His teaching, his love for every person on the earth, and his unshakable faith in non-violence were the aspects, which has made him so a unique person. 

Gandhi on Non-Violence:     He was a staunch believer in God and non-violence. He led the Freedom struggle in India. At that time, India was ruled by the British Government, from London. He is believed to be the man of the millennium. The weapon of non-violence was used for the first time in the world. And it the non-violent-movement led by Mahatma Gandhi and his followers succeeded in making India a free nation.

Non-violence was the phenomenon he professed throughout his life. He had no faith in using violence against violence. He believed that the rule of ‘eye for an eye would make the whole world blind. He was the enemy of none; He was a friend of all. He always said that ‘Hate the sin and not the sinner’. His life has become an icon of simplicity and simple living for millions of his followers. Mahatma Gandhi greatly emphasized the importance of ahimsa and non-violence. Being a staunch advocate of the principle of non-violent, he used the concept of non-violence as a technique of satyagraha, civil disobedience, to achieve freedom of India from British rule.

The man wearing single cloth and captivating personality, Mahatma Gandhi always talked about pure common sense. However his every word carried an aura of mysticism. Teachings by Mahatma Gandhi are still relevant in modern times. He expressed his views on many subjects. In expressing views on religious or socio-political issues, he was very honest.

Mahatma Gandhi always believed in complete harmony between the beliefs we hold, the words we speak, and the deeds we do. He believed that every man and woman should endeavour to purify or their thoughts. If our thinking is pure, all other things will be set right automatically. He always told his followers, “Aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well”. In his autobiography, My Experiments With Truth, he wrote about how a person should behave with others.

During the Indian struggle for independence, Mahatma Gandhi taught the whole army of his followers to follow ahimsa. He never deviated from his principle of not hurting others for personal gain. Many of the writings and speeches by Mahatma Gandhi reveal his belief that violence could never be helpful to the human race, nor it can achieve any goal.

Gandhi drafting a
document at Birla House,
Mumbai, 1942 Kanu Gandhi

Gandhi on Vegetarianism:       He practised and professed that humans are born to remain vegetarians. We have no right to snatch the life of any other creature on the earth. Non-vegetarian food is the symbol of mindless violence done to our fellow creatures. The almighty God has given us equal rights to live on earth to all of us. Can we take another's life for the taste of our tongue?

On Social Harmony:   It was not the case that his road was easy. He faced many odds during the movement for freedom in India. He had many opponents. But he always found convincing solutions for the problems he encountered. He never made his opponents displeased. India is a country having a population of almost all the religions of the world. He advocated the equality of all religions. This was how he demonstrated the principle of mutual tolerance among the people following different religions and faiths. For delivering the message he always said, "My life is my message". If you want to remember the concept of great human beings of the world; if you want to speak about truth and no-violence; if you want to know about the bloodless freedom movement of India; you would certainly remember one name: Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.

Mahatma Gandhi in South Africa (1893 - 1914)
Freedom Movement of India and Mahatma Gandhi (1915 - 1947)

Gandhi in London 1906 
Unknown authorUnknown author

He had studied law in England. Thereafter Gandhiji went to South Africa. He practised as a lawyer there in South Africa. Here practising as a lawyer, he encountered the evils of the apartheid regime prevailing at that time in South Africa. As he had a love for every being in his heart, he could not bear the rules and regulations practised by the then-British rulers of South Africa. 

Due to Gandhi's constant fight with the apartheid region in South Africa, the people there get certain liberal laws. He had opposed every discriminative law passed by the South African Government.

Once he started opposing the rules treating humans inhumanly, he got very much support from the local people and intellectuals worldwide. This was the initial support Mahatma Gandhi started receiving for his non-violent-movement against the inhuman treatment by the rulers. Subsequently, he kept fighting British Rule in India. Ultimately, India was freed from the foreign rule in 1947. The country was divided into two parts: India and Pakistan. Gandhiji had never agreed upon the issue of the partition of India. Pakistan was again divided in 1971 when Bangladesh was created. (Image courtesy See page for author 

Mahatma Gandhi in South Africa, In 1906.
Unknown authorUnknown author

He encouraged the local people and the Indians residing there and working hard for the development of the country. people and conducted the civil disobedience movement in South Africa. 

He was able to get the support of the local people, as his cause was noble and the modus operandi of work non-violent. In South Africa Mahatma, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi led a successful civil disobedient movement.

Gandhiji started his career in South Africa. He had gone there to practise as a lawyer. But he saw the rule of apartheid in South Africa. Gandhiji was a man who was not ready to accept the world he had bequeathed. He protested against the rule of the then rulers of South Africa.

When he returned to India in 1915, the movement for freedom in India was in the hands of the leaders like Gopal Krishna Gokhle and Pandit Motilal Nehru. Most of the leaders were very senior in age. He met all the great leaders of the time and took their guidance. Within no time, M. K. Gandhi became a popular leader in India.

Gandhi and Nehru in 1946

He was a man of the masses; he was a saintly being. So was his charisma, such was his personality that the greatest warriors of the world felt powerless before his subtle smile of love and affection for the human race.

He fought against the rules and regulations of the British Raj, but he never professed hatred against the British people ruling over India. His approach was very human. He believed that “One should not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is like a big ocean. Some of the drops in an ocean might be dirty, but that does not make the whole ocean dirty.”

Mahatma Gandhi is rightly known as the father of the nation of India.

On the day of the thirtieth of January, 1940, a man enters a prayer meeting conducted by Mahatma Gandhi. The man bowed his head showing regard to Mahatma, and he fired three bullets at him. These bullets were in fact not shot at the mortal body of Mahatma Gandhi. One bullet was fired on Truth; another was on Non-violence and the third one was on the soul who loved every creature in this world.

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