Learn To Draw

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Diving Into Drawing

Drawing has been around for centuries. In fact, wonderfully vital drawings and paintings by primitive peoples have been discovered, which proves that many thousands of years ago the art of drawing was there, innate, in mankind. Everyone can draw, for it is an inherent human trait far more natural than writing.

Unfortunately most people lose this power as they grow older, or rather it is overlaid by more complicated mental processes. It needs only the desire to reawaken it and the courage to proceed and rapidly the power to express what one sees, in drawing and in paint, comes back again.

So take courage and go ahead.

The first thing to get is a sketchbook: not too big a one but a handy pocket size that you can carry about at all times. You can of course buy a children's drawing book for a few cents, but this has a flimsy cover and has to be folded or rolled to carry, and that spoils the page, so a sketchbook with thinnish cartridge paper and a good stout cover is the best investment in the end. See that the paper is not too thick or too rough in surface. Nothing harder than a 3B pencil is much use. Get a black Conte crayon or black chalk pencil with the wood round it, for this is the kind of pencil that will give you most satisfaction in sketching. Of course you will need a razor blade or sharp penknife because the breaking of points is a very frequent occurrence. Do not sharpen the pencil to a fine point - just a blunted point.

Now you have your sketchbook and your pencil, what are you going to look for? What are you going to start on? Don't start straightaway on a landscape. Just focus your attention on a few simple things that are before you in the room you are in. Something the shape of which attracts your interest, say a decanter, or a wine glass, or a vase of flowers. Draw a definite shape on the blank page of the sketchbook with a firm, thick line - say a rough oblong. Count this as your picture space: into this defined shape you are going to put your drawing.

Then begin with the part of the selected object that interests you most. Perhaps it is the bulge of the decanter - boldly draw the curve of the right-hand side and then look across and draw the corresponding curve of the other side; then go upward to the lip and the stopper, drawing first one side and then the other; then look at the base, the dark curve where the decanter rests upon the sideboard. You now have the shape of the object - then relate this to the glass that is near it; notice the size of the glass in relation to the decanter and repeat the process, taking into account where the two objects are placed in your oblong space.

Continuing to practice these techniques will help you get a grasp for the way drawing should feel and ultimately look.

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Learning to Draw? You're going to need a Pencil

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If you're going to be doing any pencil drawing you're going to need a pencil. I know, I know, thank you captain obvious.... But, in this article I want to talk about some of the different options available.

Here are some of the options:
Mechanical Pencils, Lead Holders, Woodless Graphite, And ofcourse traditional wooden pencils

Mechanical Pencils: You're probably familiar with these. They're the ones that hold the lead (graphite actually) inside and when you push on the eraser more lead comes out. What you may not know is that, like traditional wooden pencils, the leads are available in various degrees of hardness which can be used to achieve lighter or darker tones as needed. We'll talk more about that later.

Lead Holders: These are somewhat similar to mechanical pencils in that you can use various leads with them. But rather than push a button to release more lead, these pencils actually have sort of a claw that grabs onto and holds the lead. Hence the term "lead holder".

Woodless Graphite: These pencils are basically a piece of graphite in the shape of a pencil. There are also some woodless graphite pencils that are encased in a laquer coating rather than wood.

Wooden Pencils: Okay. We all know what a wooden pencil is. It's the yellow one with a pink eraser on top and a number 2 on it. You know, the ones we used to fill in the little circles on our multiple choice tests in school.

Well yes, those are pencils, but a set of good quality drawing pencils comes with a lot more variety than that. All of the pencil types mentioned above come in varying degrees of hardness and are labled with a number and the letter H or B. The pencils labled H are on the hard side and the ones labled with a B are the soft ones. I don't know where the "B" comes from but that's the way it is.
Pencils range from 9H (the hardest) to 9B (the softest).

The number 2 pencils we're so familiar with are right in the middle in terms of hardness. They're equivalent to an HB pencil. If you're just starting out drawing or you're just doing some doodling or sketching an HB or #2 will work just fine for you. But, if you want to get a much more interesting drawing you'll have to have some contrast between lights and darks. If all you've ever drawn with before is a number 2 pencil, the way you achieve your darker tones is simply to press down harder.

But there is a better way. That's where the softer pencils come in. After #2 in terms of softness comes B then 2B, 3B ect. all the way up to 9B. Although many artists never use anything softer than a 6B. With a 6B you can get some very dark tones and it's not going to be as soft and thus crumbly as a 9B.

For the harder pencils, I rarely use anything harder than a 2H and that's usually just for the initial line drawing before any shading takes place. Doing the initial line drawing very lightly allows you to erase any mistakes you might have made. Once your line drawing is acurate, it's time to get the softer pencils out and start shading.

So to wrap this up, if you're planning on getting a little more serious with your drawing you'll want to get a set of pencils. There are some sets out there that have just 4 pencils in them. So if you're strapped for cash this is an option. Pencils are also available individually so you can pick and choose whichever number / letter combo you need.

I prefer traditional wooden pencils for my drawings and my brand of choice is Derwent. They make sets of 12 pencils that range from 4H to 6B or from H all the way up to 9B. And, you can get a set of 12 pencils for about $12 - $15 so it's not terribly expensive to get into drawing.

So now go out, get yourself some good pencils, and start drawing....

About the Author: Adam Valentine is a professional artist specializing in realistic graphite pencil drawing. His work can be seen online at http://www.adamvalentine.com He also has instructional DVDs available for anyone that wants to learn to draw.

Children'S Portraits

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drawing graffiti lettersFor years I've been teaching workshops on the subject of painting figures in watercolor, and invariably I hear the same questions over and over again from students. Their questions are usually not about getting a likeness but rather about how to get children to sit still, how to work from photographs, and how to decide on a background color. For many students, the biggest stumbling blocks are simple procedures that shouldn't be obstacles at all.
Let me try to help move some of those stumbling blocks out of your way so you can enjoy and profit from the business of painting children's portraits in watercolor.
1. GET TO KNOW YOUR SUBJECT. The most successful portraits are always those that capture the personality of the child. They show a certain tilt of the head, a smile, or a gesture that's characteristic of the individual. Discovering these special qualities can be accomplished in a very short period of time if you know how to handle yourself during the first meeting with the child. I always make a point of going to the client's home, whether it's down the street or on a buffalo ranch in Wyoming, rather than asking them to come to my studio. While my studio is certainly better equipped and more comfortable for me than the client's home, I need to see the children in their own surroundings: It gives me a more accurate sense of their character and the opportunity to select more meaningful props and background material.
I also prefer going to clients' homes because it makes them feel more at ease. When children are relaxed and comfortable, their expressions aren't strained. It's important for everyone to be cheerful and optimistic during this first encounter, so I talk to the children and reassure them that what I'll be doing will be easy and fun for them. I need to help them get over the fears any person might have--whether young or old--about being painted.
Before I begin making sketches or taking photographs, I walk around the house with the children, asking them to show me their bedroom, favorite toys, and pets. I take mental notes about any repeated expressions or gestures, and I evaluate the possibility of using objects and decorations in the home as props or background material for the painting. No matter where I'll be working, I make it plain I don't want any other family members in the room with me. The "helpful" participation of parents can be an annoying distraction to both me and the children.
Most importantly, I focus on the children and watch what happens. I don't go into portrait sessions with preconceived notions about the poses or props. Children have a wonderful ability to be free and open about the way they present themselves. If I ask them to sit the same way they do while watching television, they're only too happy to oblige. Or when I ask children to show me their favorite "lookout spot" up in a tree, they'll climb up faster than a cat and, without prodding, show me how they can hang upside down. (Just try getting a corporate executive to do that!)
2. MAKE CHARACTERISTIC DRAWINGS. When I travel to a client's home, I carry a hardbound 11"-X-14" sketchbook, a variety of drawing pencils ranging from 2H to 5B, a small pencil sharpener, and a kneaded eraser. The sketchbook is durable and easy to carry, and after it's filled it becomes a record of the many people I've had the good fortune to meet.
When drawing children's portraits, I keep in mind their overall body proportions (as illustrated in Figure 1) and the ways in which they differ from the proportions of an adult. (Figure 1 omitted) For example, the head of a child is bigger in relation to the child's body, and the features of the face dominate the lower haft of the skull. While adult hands and feet are comparable in size to the face, a child's hands and feet are smaller when similarly compared.
I ask my subjects to pose in a well-lit area, and I try to have the natural light coming in from one side of the body to make the shapes and contours of the face more discernible. I need to be at eye level with the children, so if they're more comfortable on the floor with a toy, I sit on the floor with them.
I keep my sketches quick and open-ended, and I like to work on two or three at once. It's unfair to ask children to sit perfectly still, and if they freeze up I run the risk of missing their spontaneous and animated expressions. I draw them from whatever angle is comfortable for them. If one happens to be a real wiggler, there's nothing like a television program or videotaped movie to settle the child down. I often have a couple of videotapes of children's movies in my tote bag for just such an occasion. I used to carry a cast-iron frog named Fred with me, and he almost always guaranteed me twenty minutes of drawing time. As I draw, I add written notes about my client in the margins of the notebook. These notations about personality and special features become invaluable to me later.
There's no way to compensate for a lack of drawing ability--especially when dealing with children's portraits. A quick pencil sketch of posture, hand position, or shading can be the most valuable reference an artist can have when painting. That's why I encourage all my students to enroll in a life-drawing class and attend regularly. The skills you learn will be quickly put to good use when you try to draw a five-year-old who moves even faster than his golden retriever. And when the child's mother asks you to put the retriever in the painting, you'll be especially glad you learned how to draw quickly and accurately!
3. TAKE LOTS OF PHOTOGRAPHS. Even the best-natured children become weary, restless, or downright cranky after posing for a couple of hours. That's why the camera has become an essential tool for almost every artist who paints portraits of children.
There are several common mistakes artists make when taking pictures of children. One is taking the picture with the children too far away from the camera, and the second is taking it from a position too far above them. In the first case, the resulting photographs don't offer enough useful information about the subject, and in the second the figure is totally distorted by the radical angle of the shot.
A third common mistake artist make when taking photographs is not posing children in proper lighting. These pictures turn out either too dark or too light, or there are strange shadows cast by the nose and chin. Using a flash can result in lifeless photographs and, ultimately, lifeless portraits. A flash aimed straight at a child's face will flatten all the features and burn out any delicate color changes. Working from photographs taken by a professional studio photographer can be equally disappointing because the lighting used during the shoot is meant to soften contours and remove color "imperfections," leaving little for the artist to work with.
The best lighting for natural skin color and descriptive contours is soft or diffused daylight; a hazy, slightly overcast day produces soft shadows and is therefore ideal. The light available during either the morning or late afternoon is preferable for outdoor photography since too much sunlight can yield severe shadows and squinting eyes. If I have no choice but to work in the middle of a sunny day, I pose the children in a shady area under trees or a porch roof.
It's important to keep the photo session casual and fun. If I can get the children to play with me while I'm taking photographs, the results will be much more satisfying. I use a 35mm Nikon camera with a standard 50mm lens and Kodacolor 100 film. When I'm working away from my studio, I take along a small Olympus camera just in case something goes wrong with the Nikon. Using both cameras, I take between 70 and 100 photographs, being careful to include profiles, close-ups, and hands. If there's a family pet or a specific background that has to be included in the painting, I take ample shots of that as well. In short, I take more photographs than I think I could possibly use. Nothing is worse than beginning a painting and discovering I don't have enough information to work with.
Occasionally, a client will request a portrait painted from an existing photograph that the family is especially fond of. Frankly, I see little merit in copying someone else's work. I let my clients know I prefer the intimacy and originality that comes from using my own photographs and sketches.
4. KEEP THE COLORS CHILDLIKE. Watercolor has always seemed the perfect medium for children's portraits because of its pristine colors. I organize mine in the compartments of a John Pike palette so I have a choice between a warm and a cool version of each. Here are the tube colors I use most often:
Reds
Warm: scarlet lake or cadmiumred medium
Cool: alizarin crimson or permanent rose
Yellows
Warm: cadmium yellow medium
Cool: cadmium lemon
Blues
Warm: cerulean blue
Cool: phthalocyanine or Winsor blue
Browns
Warm: burnt sienna
Cool: raw umber
In addition, I use lots of raw sienna and yellow ochre for the flesh tones, and I make my darkest values by adding Payne's gray to other colors. There are many suitable colors, but I find the transparent colors best for skin tones since too much opaque color can make skin look chalky and dull.
One frequent mistake made in painting children's skin is using too much blue or gray. The liveliest sense of color is achieved when a harmony of warm and cool colors are used. Remember, however, that blue skin tones become more pronounced when placed next to warmer, rosier tones.
I avoid using dark gray in recessed areas like nostrils, inside the ear, and in the folds of the skin around a smiling mouth. Although these areas appear darker, they're warm tones that are generally not as dark in value as you might think. I paint all the shadow areas of the skin with subtle veils of color, and I consciously avoid the tendency to make them too dark and heavy when working from photographs.
Choosing a suitable background color for the painting can be confusing. When selecting any color for a painting, I consider the focal point and the overall look of the picture and ask myself whether a color would reinforce or detract from that focal point. I often use color swatches I pick up at paint and hardware stores to help me make better choices. I can hold the chips up against the painting to better judge both the color and the value.
5. KEEP THE BRUSHWORK LIVELY. When working on children's portraits, the key is to keep the colors and brushwork as lively, fresh, and spontaneous as the personality you're trying to present. For this, there's no better medium than watercolor. However, fresh and lively colors become dulled and muddied when too many corrections are made. To avoid the common problems of dull and muddy color combinations, overworked brushstrokes, and harsh edges, you have to learn the best way of handling the medium and you have to plan ahead. Let me describe the procedures I've developed during many years of practice.
After meeting with my client, I take my photographs and sketches back to my studio and do some compositional studies of how I might arrange the figure, props, and background in the painting. Regardless of the medium you're using, I recommend making a thumbnail sketch before beginning the finished painting to indicate general masses and values. You may have a good idea about the character of the features, but how much of the figure will you show? What about the hands? What color is the background, and what additional items will be included in the painting? All of these questions (and more) should be considered before the brush touches the paper.
After I've made my thumbnail sketch and settled on a plan, I draw those elements lightly in pencil on a sheet of watercolor paper that I've previously soaked, stretched, and allowed to dry. I produce a fairly detailed drawing on the watercolor paper, putting down all the shapes I see, from the shape of the small highlight on the nose to the shapes in the background. I never work from just one photograph but from several photographs and sketches.
I never project my photographs directly onto the paper, but I often put a sheet of gridded tracing paper over my best photograph of a child's face, draw a corresponding grid pattern on my watercolor paper, and then carefully transfer the lines indicating the outlines of the facial features. This procedure helps me get a better likeness of the child and avoid drawing too many pencil lines on the paper.
I almost always work with the painting surface tilted in an upright position because I find that the pigment settles more cleanly and easily when it's pulled by the force of gravity. I also like being able to step back from the painting and see how it's progressing. Since the finished picture will be viewed from about eight feet away, I make a point of looking at it from that distance as I work.
For portraits I recommend using a paper that can take scrubbing and erasing. Even the best-laid plans sometimes require change. My favorite paper for watercolor portraits is Arches 140-lb cold-pressed paper because of its workable, textured surface and the slightly warm white hue that complements skin tones. Generally, I paint with a one-inch flat and a No. 10 round sable brush. The collection of brushes I use includes some Pro Arte brushes and one Utrecht Giant round.
I begin by painting pale washes of the skin tone and then apply light washes to indicate the clothes, props, and background. If I'm unhappy with the color combinations or placement of elements, I can adjust them at this early stage.
The next three hours of the painting process are the most critical as I move from painting soft wet-in-wet shapes to more sharply defined facial features. Rewetting the paper so my brushstrokes have soft edges and easy transitions between colors, I bring up the values in the face from light to dark. If I paint a feature and it looks too hard and lifeless, I paint over it with a brushload of clear water to soften and blend the edges.
I continue working on the clothing, props, and background--everything in the picture except the person's eyes. I leave the eyes for last since they're the smallest and most crucial details of the portrait. By the time the portrait is finished, I've usually worked for a total of 12 hours over two or three days.
On average, one out of every three or four portraits turns out to be a failure, and I have to tear up what I've done and start over again. I don't hesitate to do that if I have any serious doubts about a painting.
DEMONSTRATION: CHRISSY
Step 1. Here are the photographs and sketches I made while visiting one of my clients. In all of them, I was trying to capture the child's natural gestures and posture while she sat in sunlight outdoors.
Step 2. After photographing and sketching Chrissy, I soaked and stretched a piece of 140-lb Arches paper and, once it was dry, made a light drawing of the figure with a No. 2 pencil. I then painted light washes of color over the entire picture. By keeping the skin tones light at the beginning of the painting process, I can easily make corrections later without sacrificing the freshness of the watercolors.
Step 3. Keeping the paper damp so the shapes I painted would have soft edges, I put down all the lights and middle tones. I made a point of keeping the brushstrokes quick and broad to give the portrait all the vitality of an active young girl.
Step 4. I always save the detailed work of rendering eyes until the last stage of the painting process. I rarely use masking fluid because I prefer to paint around light areas such as whiskers and loose strands of hair.
The completed painting: Chrissy, 1992, water-color, 20 X 17. Private collection.
FIVE TIPS ON BUSINESS PRACTICES
1. CONFIRM YOUR APPOINTMENTS. A few weeks in advance, confirm the portrait sitting in writing and make note of the date and time, the price, medium, and approximate size of the painting, and the deposit required. On the day before or the morning of the sitting, call again to reconfirm the appointment.
2. BE ON TIME. Frazzled nerves created by being late for a portrait sitting can interfere with concentration--both yours and the client's. Timeliness is also important in meeting a delivery deadline. If the family wants the painting completed within a time frame that doesn't work with your schedule, be up-front and tell them you can't meet the deadline. Then tell them when you will have it ready. If the painting is to be given as a gift on a date you can't meet, make up a gift certificate the client can present instead, stating that the portrait will be ready on a specific date.
3. BE FLEXIBLE BUT NOT SUBSERVIENT. Clients have every right to be pleased with the finished product, but don't compromise your integrity. If they ask for something you feel you can't or won't do, offer recommendations of other artists who may be better able to meet their requests.
4. BE OPEN TO CRITICISM. After the painting is completed, listen to any suggestions or criticism offered, even from the child. Clients may not be artists, but they'll pick up on a drawing error or missed judgment call. Many of these points can easily be corrected and then mentally filed for future reference. With every suggestion or criticism made, see the opportunity for growth.
5. LOOSEN UP! Many artists say that accepting commissioned work inhibits their spontaneity. It needn't. If the painting is going badly or the client is unhappy, loosen up and start over. Very often, all that's needed is to schedule another portrait sitting. Few clients remember the inconveniences of portrait sittings when faced with the finished painting of someone they love.
Mary Whyte graduated from the Tyler School of Art, Temple University, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She has earned a national reputation as both a landscape and portrait painter in watercolor and oils, and her paintings have been included in juried shows organized by the American Watercolor Society, Allied Artists of America, and The Greenwich Workshop in Southport, Connecticut. She teaches portrait- and figure-painting workshops throughout the United States and maintains a studio on Seabrook Island, South Carolina.
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