Let's Draw

Are you ready to have some fun?

This is probably my favorite pasttime. To me it’s more than just making an image on paper. It’s laying the foundation for making an image “come alive”. It intrigues me how simple lines can evolve into something beautiful.

Experimenting with various techniques, varying the pressure on the pencil, for instance, to accent the dark and light patterns of an object, stimulate the creative juices and therefore make it fun to do.

The sketch here illustrates that technique.


Study carefully the varying tones of line and how they help bring the image “alive”.

There are many helpful guides for you to achieve excellence in your work, even if you’re a beginner. There’s a great book “Drawing for the Absolute Beginner” that is available from Amazon.com for less than $15. (See Links Below)
Also, another book which I highly recommend, “Keys to Drawing” by Bert Dodson, offers the enthusiast some important elements to good drawing. For instance, sometimes we overlook the importance of a basic tool as perspective. As elementary as it sounds, it is an important tool toward good drawing and we all should know and understand how it helps to create a structurally sound drawing.

There are several viable media to use in creating your drawing. There’s pencil, Conte Crayon, Conte Pencil, charcoal, charcoal pencil, felt pen, pen & ink.

For me, my favorite medium is good ol’ HB pencil, or a #2. It has the ability to accomplish the necessary lines to capture the flavor of the subject matter. The above sketch of the water fountain was done with an HB pencil. Oftentimes the finished drawing becomes the finished work of art and has no need for transforming to oils or other media. But, you are the judge of that. You decide when it’s finished. However, if my intention is to create the sketch as a finished piece, I mostly will use a conte pencil and make use of its black-black. Pencils, as you know, are graphite and produce a gray color. In the end, it all comes down to personal preference.

In our next post we’ll explore some of the other techniques which hopefully will whet your appetite for more fun with drawing.

Peace to you,
--Adam