PENCIL ART

After the invention of the pencil in its present form, in the seventeenth century, the pencil has almost replaced all other instruments which were used for drawing. Earlier the artists used chalk, charcoal, pen and ink for sketching. Once the graphite went into the wooden case, which is called pencil now a day, then it has become an excellent instrument for drawing for all artists. The pencil has carved out a distinct section of the art. Among a host of other qualities, the preciseness and accuracy of the pencil work are its main features, 

The articles given here are for all of those who wish to learn pencil drawing. No more lectures here. No one would be required to be confused by complicated theories, and difficult manoeuvers. Pages with easy-to-use cross-references would take you on a journey through other books, other articles and the artworks of other artists who worked in the field of drawing. In this article, some headlines in bold letters are provided with links where you would find a detailed article on that particular subject. You just click on the link, and you will be reading a useful and entertaining article about the art of Pencil Drawing. 

When we decide to put the first step in the land of art, the initial thing we think about is where should we start. And that’s a good start. We know that every big building has its first stone; so, every art-learning has its first phase. Taking a pencil in hand is the first step. Take it and enter the fertile land of drawing and painting. It is because the pencil is a very sensitive and supportive instrument for an artist. And believe it or not, Edgar Degas was the artist who had explored the sensitivity of pencil art to its fullest form. Degas once said: Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.

Edgar Degas used pastel pencils and coloured chalk pencils. Degas infused warmth and charm into his drawings by using pencils. Unlike the pen and the chalks, the pencil strokes can be controlled. That's a great advantage. We can draw with softness or hardness. We can vary the strokes to create lightness and darkness on paper. Degas did it. Master artists did it when they wanted to represent the visual world with precision and accuracy. So, while you take a pencil in your hand, you are in good company; the company of an artist like Edgar Degas!

Line Drawing in Making A Portrait In the world of art, there can be no partnership better than between a pencil and a piece of drawing paper. Artists would use these two incredible things for a visual representation of objects, alive figures, and anything the human eyes can see. By using a pencil to draw the lines and curves, and doing the shading work, the artist portrays the world that is before his or her eyes. You know, the pencil tip can work on any surface. Try it on any type of paper.

Pencil Portrait portrait drawing is an art and a technique. Yes, it is a technique because it can be learnt. It is an art because it is innovative. If you want to learn the technique, if you want to understand the art of pencil drawing, and if you are a beginner, too, then, first of all, you should define the outlines of the object you want to draw. That is the first lesson. The outlines. That is necessary for developing detailed work. After the rough sketch is done, you can move on to adding the details. 

In the drawing given here, you can see that it is a very simple drawing of the position of the facial features. You can draw that by taking the help of a simple lining. The next stage would comprise the adding of the details. That can be done by the shading work. By using the technique of shading an artist varies the tonal values. The shading did the work of placing the shadows and the lighted portion in its proper place. If it is done precisely, it can be a real piece of art.

Artists who have just started drawing should not worry about the variation found in the drawing and the real object. It happens in the initial stage. Do not worry. As the practice of drawing goes on, that problem would be solved in due course. The art is just like a Tapasya, a long-time activity of devotion and practice. Mark one thing important here. Once an artist has mastered the art or has elevated himself or herself to a certain level, it enhances the happiness of life. Artists will start feeling the element of work satisfaction.

For a freshman, or even for an accomplished artist, line drawing has remained a crucial stage. Here the artist has to limit himself or herself in drawing the contours of the large forms only. It is because while in the line drawing stage, our main objective is to create a structured picture of the overall scene or the portrait we are going to draw. It is of paramount importance that at the stage of line drawing, the overall structure must be geometrically accurate.

Types of Drawing    No artwork can be classified into water-tight segments. But for the convenience of art lovers and curious readers, we would classify the works done by pencil artists into the following categories. Each type of work has similar importance and it takes a similar amount of labour and artistic attention.

Portrait Drawing   If we are to explore the art done with the tip of a pencil, the portrait-making segment would cover the wider area of our discussion. The portrait drawing requires almost every weapon that an artist must have in his or her armoury. Portrait drawing is an art itself, and it is used as primary work for making a watercolour or oil colour portrait.

How to Draw A Portrait of A Celebrity Drawing is a process that transfers the mental images, the visuals in mind, onto paper or canvas. Pencil Drawing is ABCD of the Art of Painting. If you are fond of reading about the art of the pencil, if you wish to learn pencil drawing step-by-step, you have come to a proper place, perhaps. When an artist starts trusting the tip of a pencil and begins to love its movements, an intimate dialogue is established between the pencil and blank paper. Then the drawing takes a shape through such a dialogue.

Edward Law-Pencil Drawing   
-by H. M. Raeburn, 1909
via Wikimedia Commons

The painting or drawing of celebrity persons, men or women, receives more attention and critical interest from the viewers. The drawings of a celebrity take much attention from viewers and artists alike. The celebrity model would be in various postures like sitting, standing, sleeping, reading, Reclining or doing some work. Drawing a celebrity is a delicate subject. 

The model might be a young girl or a senior man; the portrait of the model may be drawn while sitting in an open area or a closed one, like in an artist's studio. The portrait of a celebrity can be drawn from the front side or from the backside. This involves different types of drawing techniques. 

Look at the pencil portrait of Edward Law. Here in this portrait, look at the pencil work in which the artist has executed his master class efficiency in making a portrait drawing. In making this pencil portrait the artist used the various aspects of a pencil. These aspects are the lining, shading and cross-hatching. While infusing the lightness in the arias whereupon the light falls on the face, the artist would have applied lesser force to the pencil tip. It is obvious that to create darker areas, you will have to put more pressure on your pencil. This can be done very efficiently by using artist-grade pencils.

Making a portrait of a child is a practical challenge. This section deals exclusively with how the drawings of children are done. Making a portrait of a child is not as easy as it is in the case of an adult. it is because the child has multiple beauties on his/her face and he/she would not be sitting quietly while sitting as a model!

How to Draw a Portrait of A Child   While drawing a portrait of a child, the artists should have one thing: patience. It is very difficult to have a small child as a model. But when the drawing of the portrait is finished, all the labour done in the making vanishes, and the pleasure of making a pleasant piece of art fills the artists and all those who are involved in the process of making the child's portrait.  

Tips  If you are drawing a portrait of a child with the help of a photograph, the black and white version would be better to understand the face. The black and white photograph helps in deciding about the various aspects of the portrait: like where the light falls, how the shading is required to be done, and above all, how the colours would affect the enhancement of the image.

How to Draw Pets and Animals  We love to see the drawing of our pets like cats and dogs. The Drawings of Horses are much in demand. Other animals like elephants, goats, monkeys and cows are also drawn with equal fervour and artistic skill.

How to Draw Landscapes With Pencil  Generally, before painting a landscape in watercolour or in oil or any other medium, a preliminary sketch is done. Thereafter the artists draw the same with graphite pencil or charcoal. The drawing of mountains, rivers, farms and farmhouses helps the artist to decide the most proper hues and shades of the colours to be used in the final painting.

How To Draw Portraits of Holywood Actors and Actresses    We love men and women who have done good work for the human race. so we love saints and war heroes and heads of nations. The other types of celebrities are film personalities. The actors and actresses of Hollywood and Bollywood attract every cine-lovers attention. The portraits of sportsmen and Sportswomen, too, are received with much interest. The names and links for seeing the portraits of important celebrities are given in the sidebar.

The Stages of Pencil Drawing    The pencil is a tool using which an artist can create wonders. If used with passion and fueled by inspiration, the resulting artwork would be an astonishing one. After the outlines of a figure are over, the stage of shading becomes crucial for making a drawing live. This shading work can be done in two different manners. Generally, the outlines are honoured and the shading follows the boundaries set by these lines. However, an artist can prefer the technique of value drawing.

Line Drawing and Value Drawing   When an artist takes a pencil in his or her hand, he or she would use two types of techniques to display artistic prowess. One would be a drawing with the help of a lining. That is called the 'line drawing'. The smooth lining work would recreate the images in the mind of artists. another one, and a harder one too, would be the value drawing technique. Here the artists would not define the different areas of the drawing by putting lines, but the shades done by various grades of pencils would mark the same. This technique is called 'value drawing'.

Art of Value Drawing in Portrait Making     Value drawing is an artistic process wherein no lines are drawn. The artists look at the light falling on the object and decide the tonal values of the light. he or she would catch the degree of the shining and darkness the light would create on the objects and on the surrounding area. Thereafter the artist would start recreating the figure only with the help of direct shading and not putting linings for guidance.

This process of value drawing would give the artist a higher level of freedom needed. Here in this pencil drawing, the artist has tried to recreate the face of the young girl with the help of shading only, with colour pencils. We can see how beautifully the artists have been successful in creating the feel of a three-dimensional effect.

Value drawing would expect the utmost care from the artist regarding the placement of the shadows and the lighted areas. Careful shading work done with varying pressure on the pencil tip would make the final drawing a wonderful piece of art. The art of pencil drawing, and making a portrait with a pencil, seems to be at its best level here. The artist has put great effort into depicting all the emotions on the face of the lady. Look at the eyes, how expressing is the pair of her eyes....!

Qualities of Pencils   A little stick of a pencil, having graphite inside, is a wonderful device. It would recreate the world before our eyes are near to real. While drawing or painting, an artist goes through a process of letting the viewers know about his or her feelings. He used the means of drawing or painting or the making of a sculpture. What an artist wants is the recreation of the world he/she sees and how he or she feels about the inner and outer aspects of the things or figures being recreated. The pencil helps the artist in a greater way to perform well.

In the above article links, you would find detailed and useful articles about how to draw various pencil drawings, other than portrait making. Here the technique of drawing a Landscape is narrated in detail. The method of drawing the interior of the house, the streets, and the mountains and rivers is narrated with the maximum possible details.  [All the images shown here are in Public Domain, Taken from Wikimedia Commons]

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