Basic Drawing and Pencil Skills

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Whether you're new to drawing or you have some experience, this little workshop is an opportunity to get more comfortable with your sketching and pencil skills! Being good at drawing is an important foundational skill, and will help you with your artwork, regardless of medium or style.

 

I am a fan of working in pencil, and find graphite to be an incredibly powerful medium. It is beautiful in and of itself, and is gaining more respect as a fine-art medium in its own right. I also love to make graphite studies of projects I'm going to paint, as I can address a lot of the challenges that are going to come up, and can think about how I'm going to deal with them. I also like to sketch in pencil just to keep my observational skills sharp.

 

This workshop will address: 

 

• Warm-up routines

• The importance of blind contour and similar drawing exercises

• Developing observation skills -- drawing what you see

• Basic measured drawing

• How to use the components of a drawing set:

  • Pencils (including the graphite grading scale and how to use the different pencils)

  • Paper (weight, tooth)

  • Erasers (all the different kinds!)

  • Sharpeners

  • Blending stumps

  • Clear ruler

We'll work on several drawings that will allow us to get some practice in, and you'll have some homework as well.

 

Materials list:*

• Pencils: If you don't already have a really good set of pencils, here's your opportunity to get a set. I love Staedtler Lumograph pencils, and a 12-pencil set would be good to have.

• Erasers: In graphite work, erasers aren't only for erasing, they're helpful for making textures as well. These are the kinds of erasers I use regularly.

  • Tombow Mono (I seriously love this little eraser!)

  • Kneaded eraser

  • Plastic eraser

• Paper: I like to have a sketch pad to work out ideas, but I also like to have some nice Bristol board paper for projects that are more special. Here are suggestions.

  • Strathmore 300 sketch pads (available in lots of sizes)

  • Canson XL Bristol pads (also available in lots of sizes, and the vellum surface is awesome for graphite)

• Pencil sharpener: lots of different ideas on what's best, but I have settled on buying less expensive ones and replacing them frequently as the blades dull quickly

• Blending stumps and sandpaper pointer, like those in this little set

• A clear ruler

 

*The provided links all go to products at Blick, but these are standard items that can be purchased at many different stores. 

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**Note, I don't seem to be able to get rid of the shipping charge, so when you register and get to the check-out screen, choose the "Store Pickup" option in shipping and that'll get rid of the shipping charge.**

 

Two consecutive Saturdays: March 4, 11, noon-3 p.m. Pacific

(Any participant in any of the workshops always is welcome to attend the free open studio/drop in session every Wednesday, 5:30-6:30 p.m. Pacific, most weeks of the year.)

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Register