Introductory to Art: Part Three - Technique

 Techniques -

Below I’ve listed various techniques that I’ve picked up over the years.

Smudge technique -
The smudge technique is when an artist smudges the drawing with his finger to create a smoother appearance. However I found, when working with graphic pencil it's best to gently smudge with a napkin or a Kleenex. That way I'm not getting oils on my drawing. I also think smudging is a technique that should be used less rather than more. Paper has a texture to it that the pencil doesn't completely fill in, leaving small white spaces that we can't see. When we smudge we loose the white spots, which make the drawing less sharp.

I drew this with the Smudge technique on her skin, hair, and jacket. (2011)

Paper hand rest -
One of the most irritating things, is when working on my drawing my hand would unintentionally smudge my picture. Someone taught me to rest my drawing hand on a sheet of paper. So I wouldn't get graphite over my hand that would then smudge my drawing. The paper dramatically reduces the amount of smudging that occurs.

Sketch the whole think first -
I often want to jump right into a drawing before I sketch the whole picture. I'll start on the the eyes and then jump down to the nose, only to realize the eyes are too far away or the nose is out of proportion. If I draw the entire drawing, then I avoid such issues.

Here's a sketch at it's very beginning stages

Tracing -
I know some people view tracing as cheating, but I view it as an important tool to learning. Depending on the skill of the artist I would suggest progressing from these stages.

Step 1)I would trace the drawing, every part of it. Then I would look at the original picture and fill in details, shade, color, and texture. I knew the proportions were all correct so I could concentrate on the details.

Step 2) As I improved my drawing skills I traced less, more like guidelines. I'd trace the outside of the horses head, and then freehand the eyes, markings and muscles.

Step 3) The next step was to sketch the general from but no real hard fast lines.

Freehand -
Just as tracing is important, so it freehand. We want to use tracing as a tool to learn, and learning also mean pushing outside of our comfort zones and skill levels. Freehand can be hard to master, I still have a few drawings now and then that I have to take a second shot at because my proportions weren't spot on. As an artist works with tracing s/he should also do an equal amount of freehand.

 

That concludes my introductory lesson plan. Nothing fancy, but I hope you got something out of it. :) Have a request for a future post? Let me know bellow!