Drawing in tone with charcoal - video tutorial

This is a full tutorial in drawing a round object in tone with charcoal.

After watching the video. Try and draw your own round white object. Just make sure you have a constant light source that is not to harsh...A plate, cup or  toilet roll will do just fine. Enjoy!

Line and observation - Exercise 4: Drawing with touch only.

Line and observation - Exercise 4: Drawing with touch only.

When most people draw something, they seldom draw what they see, what they actually attempt to draw is their identification and reference to that object… Let me explain.

When you look at an object you often see. A chair, a shell, a cup of coffee etc… But here is the problem, even though it is a good thing that you can identify what you are seeing, you can not draw a chair, a shell or cup of coffee… you can only draw a line, a form, a tone, or a colour…When you can focus on the lines, tones and forms of the object and reproduce that, then you can draw.

This exercise helps us to draw an object by means of feeling and focussing on its form and texture… and not by identifying it and then drawing our mental reference to it.

GOAL:

The goal here is to try and draw an object only by feeling it with your hand. This might sound quite bizarre, and most of you might think that you won’t be able to do it. Well lets first try and see how it goes..:)

METHOD:

Let a friend collect the weirdest organic object that they can find.. usually available in the garden, or a nearby park, or a beachfront. I hold a collections of interesting shells, dried corral, stones and bark that I usually use for this exercise.

Let them put it in a bag, or holder, so you can not see what they are.

Now select an object with the bag behind your back.

Keep the object in your hand behind your back.

Try and draw the object while feeling it continuously behind your back…

When you think you are finished, put the object next to the drawing and compare.? You should be amazed at how close you came to the real thing!

TIP: This exercise works best if you can’t identify the object.

Student example of drawing with touch only

Line and Observation - Exercise 3: Drawing Without Looking

Exercise 3

For the next exercise you are going to need a pencil, paper and your hand. Very easy.

Most people only look at the object that they are drawing for 10% of the time, the rest of the time they spend looking on the paper - and draw something that's in their heads! -  This results in lots of frustration and bad drawing.  The proper proportion is 90 % on the object and 10 % on the drawing.  This is what this exercise is all about.

Goal:

To exercise your observation by drawing an object without looking on the paper.

METHOD: 

(For every drawing please use a different hand position)

STEP ONE: Draw your hand in any way that you like. 15 min.

STEP TWO: Now turn your body to the side looking at your hand that you are going to draw

and draw your hand without looking at the paper. 

DON'T LOOK AT THE PAPER UNTIL YOU ARE FINISHED

TIP: draw as slowly as possible, as your eyes move along the edges of your hand, let your pencil move as well.

- Step 2 Illustrated below-

You might think that your drawings looks quite odd..kind of wiggly and out of proportion... but look again..chances are it might be better than in step 1!

 Repeat step 2

STEP 3: Repeat the exact setup as in step 2 but now look at the paper every 10 seconds for 1 second.

  90 % On the object and 10 % on the drawing.

 STEP 4: Now draw your hand again moving freely between you hand and the object, but this time concentrate on spending as much time as possible looking at what your are drawing and just the right amount on the paper so you can see where you are. 

Your drawing in step 4 should be noticeably better than step 1.

Student example of drawing without looking step 1 - 3

Line and Observation - Exercise 2: The upside-down drawing

The following exercise has been known over the ages as one of the best ways to help you actually draw what you see. 

You might ask me, "Well, if I am not drawing what I am seeing, then what am I drawing?". Well, that is a very simple question with quite a long answer. 

I will gradually go into this as we go along. But for now lets just say that when we look at an object we immediately associate that object with a specific meaning and experience and that most of the time we try and convey our association with the object and not what we are actually visually seeing before us. This of course just results in bad drawing:)

The following exercise is one of three exercises that will help you bridge this gap and draw more realistically.

Exercise 2:

Goal:

To try and draw an upside down image as realistically as possible.

Method:

Make a hard copy of the following image. Put the image upside down and reproduce it as realistically a posible using a pencle on paper.

TIP: I usually start at the left corner and work my way through. Just draw the line as you see it. Don't think 'hand' or 'face' just think ' this line is going up, now it is curling to the left, now it is going straight etc.. Remember, we can not draw faces and hands, we can only draw lines.  Try and erase as little as possible. Please don't hurry this exercise, the slower the better!

Timeframe:

About 30 - 45 min. 

Student example of upside down drawing

Line and Observation - Exercise 1: Free observation

Welcome to the online free drawing course. I believe that you do have talent for drawing, otherwise you would not have sought out a course to improve your drawing.

 

Exercise 1:

 

Goal: 

Firstly - for you to get in touch with your inner artist.

          Secondly - To exercise your observation and creativity.

          Thirdly - To use these drawings as your starting standard, so we can measure your improvement against them.

 What to do:

Collect 3 organic objects in your environment. The objects should be different in texture and form. 

Example: an interesting stone, feather, seedpod, shell, dried leaves & flowers, tree bark etc.

Draw each item on a seperate paper using pencle and/or charcoal.

 

IMPORTANT:

Draw the objects the best that you can in any way that you feel fit.

Put these drawings on the beginning of your A3 flip file.

Enjoy!