Drawing

Have you ever wanted to tell your mom about something, but can’t find the right words? Want to give a gift you’ve made all by yourself? When words don’t work or you want to make something special, try drawing! Although your drawings might not be perfect or dazzling the at first, your parents are sure to love them. In some ways, drawing can even help you do better in school!

Stuff You Need

Before we start we need to find some things from around the house. Open all the drawers, check all the shelves, and get to know where all the materials you need are usually stored. Who knows, you might find the candy drawer or other hidden goodies while you’re searching! If you’re having trouble finding what you need, I’m sure your parents would gladly help you.

Something to Draw With

You could start off with colors, picking up the first crayon or colored pencil you see. However it’s best if you use a pencil. A number 2 pencil is good to start with because you can find it easily.

An even better pencil is the mechanical pencil. It looks much like a pen except when you click it lead comes out instead of ink. They don’t need to be sharpened and sometimes come with padded grips, which make writing and drawing easier. However, the lead is very thin and breaks easily. Mechanical Pencils come in four standard sizes: 0.3, 0.5, 0.9, and 2.0. The numbers are the thickness of the lead in millimeters. Use a 0.7 or 0.9 lead if you break mechanical pencil leads a lot. Also, keep in mind that a mechanical pencil will not work right if you load a lead other than the size written on the pencil.

Something To Draw On

You might want to keep a stash of paper near a large flat table or desk. Also remember that they can be found in many sizes, colors, shapes, and can be thick or thin. Graph paper has lines that go up and down as well as left to right while notebook paper only has lines that go from left to right. Printer paper has no lines on it, so it’s best to put your final drawings on this type of paper.

Something to Get Rid Of Your Mistakes

Erasers are squishy objects (usually made of rubber) that are used to make pencil marks disappear. Most pencils have erasers attached to one end, but they don’t last very long. There are many other types of erasers that work just as well or even better! Test each eraser you find on a scrap piece of paper first. If you end up tearing the paper, then the eraser is too stiff. Also, the eraser shouldn’t leave any marks on the paper, unless they are smudges that are easily erasable.

An eraser cap is a small eraser that you can put on the non-pointed end of a pencil. If you find that you the eraser on the end of your pencil is disappearing, but think using a separate eraser is too much work, look for these.

A large eraser is also good have, especially for large mistakes. These erasers come in many colors and shapes and are also are less likely to tear your paper. The Pink Pearl erasers are famous for their excellent quality.

Getting Things Down On Paper

When drawing, hold your pencil between your first finger and thumb as shown in the drawing to the left. Your other fingers should curl under the pencil to keep the tip pointed slightly downwards. This is called the drawing position. Holding it this way keeps your hand off the paper, preventing smudges. You can also make the quicker and longer strokes required of gesture drawing with this position.

Step One: Finding Shapes in Things

First make a gesture drawing to put as much information about it on paper. A gesture drawing is made up of ovals and lines that show the general shapes of the object you are drawing. You use light, quick strokes that follow the core and general shape of whatever you’re drawing.

As you can see from the drawing to your left, it looks quite messy, but you can still recognize that it represents a hand. I have drawn blue lines to show the middle of each finger and outlined them in red. If you wish, you can do this with colored pencils or crayons while you’re practicing. Just keep in mind that they will not erase if you’re planning on finishing the drawing.

Step Two: Make Sure it Looks Right

After you have everything you want down on paper, take your pencil and hold it horizontally in front of you. You then measure the height of a small portion an object to the whole. In the hand drawing, for example, you can use the height of the top section of the middle finger to measure the rest of the hand. You can also use that same section as a reference for measuring the width of your hand as well. As you can see from the lines I drew, the hand is five fingertips high (to the base of the palm) and roughly ten fingertips wide. This is why graph paper is really good to start with.

Step Three: A Continuous Line

Next you draw the contours of the object (in this case the hand) as accurately as you can. To do this, follow all the lines in your object. Take your time and make sure that you catch all the little dips and creases. Follow the line inside the object as well when you can. If you can, try to draw the whole contour without taking your pencil off the paper. The contour should be done in a heavier line, but a lighter line will be easier to correct if you make mistakes.

Once you’re finished, darken your lines where they meet shadows, and lighten it where you meet light. This gives it a 3D look and makes it pop out of the page a bit. You can then erase your gesture lines to give your drawing a more finished look.