Look Closer, Draw Better: Expert Techniques for Realistic Drawing Introduction If I had to choose one lesson that I could pass along to other artists, there is only one real choice: the importance and joy of learning to see. I have been absolutely amazed and enchanted—as perhaps you have, too—to discover what happens to our artwork when we truly learn not just what, but how, to see. If I had to explain the core of what I have taken into my heart, as an artist, it is my belief that if we pay close enough attention, we can discover immense beauty in the most ordinary subjects of our daily lives. On the front page of every sketchbook I own, I inscribe this phrase: Remember the Luminous Particular. I keep those words in my mind while I work, as guiding lights and guardian spirits. It is my constant work to discover how to truly see and then illuminate the soul, the essence, the spark—the poetry—of my subjects. My purpose as an artist is to always seek that presence. Thank you for joining me as we learn to see, and welcome. Kateri Ewing The How And The Why My job is to teach you how to capture, on paper, your own unique way of seeing the subjects that you find meaningful. There isn’t a moment I spend drawing or painting when I am not immensely grateful for the opportunity to learn more about the world around me and then to create something lasting and beautiful from it. With each drawing or painting, I hope to discover, and then reveal, the intricate cycles of nature, the luminous particulars that I have come to notice in natural objects, be it the spark in a bird’s eye, a decaying leaf, a broken acorn, or the wash of light and shadow as they play over a meadow, pond, or stand of trees. It is the desire to urge myself and others to pause and to look a bit more closely, to discover the extraordinary in the ordinary, that stokes my creative fire each and every day. I wish the same for you. Learning To See Let’s try a little experiment. Close your eyes and imagine that you are looking at a coffee mug sitting on your kitchen table. Take a few moments to really see it in your mind’s eye. Pick up a pencil and a sheet of paper and draw a line to depict the flat surface of the table. Then, draw a simple outline sketch of your imaginary mug resting on that surface. Don’t fret over details, just a quick drawing that shows your mug positioned on the surface of your table If you were to draw that mug without looking it at, you might draw a straight line depicting where the bottom of the mug rests on the flat surface of the table. Eight out of ten people will draw the bottom of their mug with a straight line. Our brains are clever and know that the table is flat, that the bottom of the mug is flat, but drawing that straight line is not going to produce the illusion of roundness that we need to realistically portray a 3-D object, like a mug, on paper. Practical techniques in a range of mediums Graphite In considering the techniques for realistic drawings, graphite will be our foundation. Almost every project in this book, except for the lessons on charcoal, will rely on the use of graphite in the form of a wood-encased pencil that we will sharpen to a very fine point. There are so many other forms of graphite to explore, from the silky, deep-toned powdered graphite to the watercolor-like effects of water-soluble graphite. All have their place, and I hope that in time you will experiment with each of them. Charcoal There is a certain mysterious quality to charcoal that can’t be captured with any other medium. I choose it when my subject calls for dramatic contrast between dark and light and quiet subtle transitions between the two qualities. There is something quite poetic about using burnt twigs to create renderings of objects from the natural world, and to me, the best way to create this atmosphere is by using charcoal in a reductive manner. Pen And Ink Of all the mediums I use for drawing, pen and ink is the most versatile. I can achieve a crispness of line that allows me to render in great detail, but I can also get a dreamy wash that can capture a misty atmosphere reminiscent of Chinese landscape paintings. I can use it to sharply define the outlines for a watercolor painting, or even use hatching and stippling techniques that can give every nuance of shading and form that is subtle and elegant all on its own. Pen and ink can also be combined with almost every other medium to create wonderful mixed-media art. Watercolor The very first medium that I learned was watercolor, and it remains the one I go to most often. Perhaps it is the desire to be immersed in a rainbow of color, subtly enhancing my drawings when the subject calls for it. There is nothing like watercolor for adding dreamy washes of color to your drawings. You can use it as a simple background behind a pen and ink or graphite drawing, or as a precise form of drawing all its own, with a finely pointed brush that can rival the sharpest pencil. Welcome to the beautiful and expressive medium of watercolor. Projects that explore graphite, charcoal, ink, and watercolor wash Graphite Project: A Single Pear While doing daily sketchbook exercises is vital to our progress, diving into a project is the perfect way to learn and practice new skills and techniques. Completing a drawing project from start to finish reveals how it flows together, step by step. When learning new processes, it’s important to keep subjects simple so that our focus can be on technique and not on trying to navigate a difficult composition. Charcoal Project: Turnips Before beginning to draw, I’d like to suggest that you make a few pencil sketches of the turnip reference photo. First, a blind contour drawing, then a gestural sketch. In the gestural sketch, really focus on laying in the big shadow shapes and leaving the highlights as pure white paper. These quick exercises will help you to see the subject more clearly and will greatly inform your approach when you begin the project. Pen and Ink Project: Pine Cone and Bough Before you commit your lines to ink, it’s a good idea to create your initial drawing in graphite. Using a sharp HB pencil, create a detailed line drawing of your subject. Use the same process you would for beginning a graphite drawing: block in the picture, refine the line drawing, and erase any extra lines you do not need. I do these drawings in my sketchbook and then use a sheet of tracing paper to trace the line drawing in HB pencil. Graphite and Watercolor Project: Chickadee on a Branch In this project, we’ll use our graphite skills to create an outline of a chickadee on a branch and then bring our subject to life in full color with watercolor. There are so many ways to approach this style of drawing with watercolor, and the techniques I’ll share are the ones I rely on for all of my depiction of birds and botanical subjects.
✔ Author(s): Kateri Ewing
✔ Title: Look Closer, Draw Better: Expert Techniques for Realistic Drawing
✔ Rating : 4.7 out of 5 base on (459 reviews)
✔ ISBN-10: 1631596225
✔ Language: English
✔ Format ebook: PDF, EPUB, Kindle, Audio, HTML and MOBI
✔ Device compatibles: Android, iOS, PC and Amazon Kindle
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