Artistic Pencil Drawing Techniques, Easy to Draw for Beginners

 

The technique of pencil drawing is one of the methods used in the art of illustration, especially in sketches, to improve the artistic skills of beginners in this subject. This will help novice learn to master drawing styles, and if you practice enough, you will reach perfection.

To achieve good results, you must know that patience, dedication and effort are needed, not to mention that this technique requires exclusive materials to improve the quality of the drawings. For starters, you need to know that there is a classification of pencils, ranging from those with a soft tip, which serve to give details and fine finishes, to those with a hard tip that helps to give better lines with depth to the image.

If you want to learn artistic pencil drawing techniques, professional graphite pencil artist Jay Greig recommends some methods that will serve as a guide. With this style of drawing, you can capture thousands of scenes such as landscapes, portraits of people, monuments and any type of object that you never thought to portray with these novel methods.

Next, Jay Greig will show you the most exclusive methods of pencil drawing, which will help you capture any person or object on a sheet of paper.

You may also be interested in General Tips for Creating Black and White Art

Hatching, the artistic pencil drawing technique based on lines

Hatching, also called cross hatching is the technique of artistic pencil drawings that consists of outlining the tone, texture and shading of the drawing using parallel lines. These lines must have little space between them, that is, when these lines intersect, they form a crosshatch. After turning into diagonal lines, you can get less or more darkness, depending on the separation left in each space. This will create an amazing drawing.

Circulism, artistic pencil drawing technique

As the name implies, this method uses a series of very small circles that overlap each other. Here, it is not necessary that each circle be perfect, it is only enough that they are small and close together. The darkness or the shadow will depend on the sizes of the circles that are made, explains American artist Jay Greig.

Circulism is useful for penciling people's skin, because the finish is uneven. For this reason, for this artistic pencil drawing technique it is recommended that the circles be made smoothly on the sheet. With the circulismo, you can give special finishes to the pores of the face, which is almost one of the last finishes that are given before finishing the sketch.

Try the shading technique for your artistic drawing

To further improve yourself with artistic pencil drawing, Carson City-based artist Jay Greig recommends trying out the shading technique. It is divided in two ways: open and closed. Both differ in the way the pencil is used, that is, this object can be used at a closed angle, increasing or decreasing the pressure, producing open zigzag hatches, closed parallel lines and separate lines.

Graphite Pencil Drawing

The technique of pencil drawing is the simplest of all, which makes it ideal to start in the art world. The pencil is a very docile and convenient drawing instrument and has a great variety in graphite leads This means that, depending on what we want to draw, we can choose the one that best suits our needs.

 

This technique gives us many advantages, it is surprising to know that with a single soft lead pencil we can achieve a wide variety of tones, from an intense black to a smooth and homogeneous gray. Also, with a hard lead pencil we can draw very fine and clean lines. The pencil is easy to erase and you do not need an exceptional pulse to use a pencil.

“For all this, the pencil is the most suitable instrument to start drawing and to accustom the hand to achieve safe and clean lines. Also, it is the best instrument to start shading, which is so important in the quest to achieve the best results,” says Jay Greig, a graphite pencil artist.

We must not forget that the more we practice, the more we refine the technique. This is very important since drawing is the backbone of all pictorial work.

“One of the methods that has been useful to me personally is the practice of quick drawing. I know that in our beginnings we all want to draw perfect and we are disappointed not to be able to do it and even more if we compare our work with that of someone more experienced than us. I am not saying that it is wrong to compare ourselves, it is more I believe that it is necessary to observe the way how others work, but it is necessary to understand that each one lives the process of refining technique in their own way and at their own pace,” says Jay Greig.

PENCILS AND PAPER

Many graphite pencils in the world are classified with the European system that uses a continuous gradation described by "H" (for hardness) and "B" (for degree of darkness). The standard pencil commonly used for writing is the HB.

Here Jay Greig shares the definition according to the letter and number of the pencil:



6B - Very black and very soft. ideal for dark areas

5B - Less black and very soft. ideal for shading

4B and 3B - Less squishy and a little less black.

2B - It is equal to the number 1.

B - Intermediate between 1 and 2.

HB - Same as 2.

F - Between 2 and 3.

H - Equal to 3.

2H - Between 3 and 4.

3H - Same as 4.

4H, 5H, 6H, 7H and 8H - Increasingly harder and less black.


In Jay Greig’s opinion it is necessary to mention that, when creating an artwork, one of our priorities as artists, in addition to seeking that the work is well executed, must also be that whoever acquires the artwork keep it for a long time and in good condition. For this we must put special interest in the materials we use to make it. The paper generally last less than oil work, so the paper we use plays an important role.

Graphite Pencil Drawing Techniques

 

For many artists, pencil drawing is the skill that introduced them to the art world. Even if you've moved to a different medium, understanding how to draw with a pencil can help improve your skills elsewhere. These pencil drawing techniques presented by Carson City artist Jay Greig, cover everything from brand-making fundamentals to advanced processes to push yourself out of your comfort zone.

With this simple drawing tips offered by graphite pencil artist Jay Greig, you can take your drawing skills to the next level, whether you are using the graphite pencil or colored pencils.

When we talk about drawing or illustration techniques, we want these to be (and look) like accurate samples of what we want to capture on paper; a graphic and almost perfect translation of reality, depending on how you want to develop.

However, not everyone knows in depth what is needed as a basis to start in this career. In this article hyper-realistic American artist Jay Greig, reveals his top drawing techniques to learn to draw step by step, on any surface and different materials.

The pencil drawing technique, ideal for beginners

In order to start drawing, you first must know something about pencils. Standard pencils are often used for drawing. These come in a variety of styles and sizes, containing both soft and hard leads. The lower the number, the smoother the mine. The soft ones are used to add nuances and tones, while the harder ones are used to trace the contours.

The pencil drawing technique is done in two large stages. The first one is based on drawing the lines that will form the skeleton of the drawing, and the second that will address the shading. There are different graduations of pencils, which will make your line more or less hard and will directly influence the shading technique. This can occur in an open zigzag, in parallel lines or in disparate lines. Other forms of shading, are circle and smoothing. These consist of passing a paper or a cloth over the graphite of the drawing, this effect will give it another appearance.

 The technique of drawing with charcoal, a classic style

The drawing techniques with charcoal and graphite are two of the most used implements for creating freehand drawing. These implements are also used for dry drawing techniques. Graphite can be used on smooth surfaces such as income and canson paper. It will also depend on the absorption, weight or grammage and texture.

In the case of charcoal, some artists use it to help them create lines, since it is easy to erase and blends easily. They also make use of charcoal, which is suitable for both line and stain, and excellent for preliminary sketches before starting to paint.

Jay Greig - Essential Drawing Materials

To start drawing in pencil you will need appropriate tools in addition to knowing how to give them the exact use, since it is useless to have all the materials and not know how to use them. In this guide, graphite pencil artist Jay Greig shares the must-have art supplies for pencil drawing.

PENCILS - The main tool is the pencil, these will allow you to easily trace shadows and add reflections or highlights. Later Jay Greig will explain how to add shadows and highlights.

It is also important to know that pencils have different degrees of hardness (they use more or less graphite). The harder the pencil, the softer the mark you make. Use the different types depending on the tone you want.  Hard pencils are labeled with an H and soft pencils with a B. The higher the number that accompanies the letter, the harder the pencil will be. There is also a standard pencil ... the HB.

USE PROPER PAPER - Depending on the medium you choose (pencil, color, charcoal, paints), you should make sure to get the appropriate paper. In this case, Carson City artist Jay Greig will focus on the appropriate paper for pencil or colored drawings.

If possible get an acid-free paper, this will prevent the drawings to turn yellow over time or wear out.

DIFFUMINATOR - A smear is a pencil-shaped roll of paper with a rough tip. Its tip serves to blur the charcoal or the pencil, forming soft degrees of shadows in the drawing. You will need to polish it every time it is filled with charcoal or graphite due to the pencils.

ERASER - When making pencil drawings, the eraser not only helps us to remove errors, it is also important to create shine. The easiest to use are plasticized pencil erasers, as they are easy to shape to erase small details.

Material for Graphite Pencil Drawing

Here are some tips from the graphite pencil artist, Jay Greig, on choosing the material to draw with pencil or if you prefer graphite pencil. Greig decided to speak on the subject, because he realized that very often, many people were surprised by the variety of different pencils, erasers and other materials used for graphite pencil drawing. So, here Greig shares is a short list of non-exhaustive materials, which he thinks that will allow artists to expand their possibilities in the field.

Differences Between Graphite and Charcoal

Charcoal and graphite are two drawing tools that are very similar in practice.

In turn, both belong to the group of "dry techniques", along with sanguines, pastels, colored pencils, crayons (Plastidecor, Manley etc.), chalk and other materials that do not require any liquid element (water or turpentine among others).

History of Graphite Pencil Painting Technique

Before discovering the graphite pencil, metal tips of gold, copper, zinc, silver, lead, and alloys such as lead and tin were used.

If one of these tips is passed over the paper with sufficient pressure, it will leave a trace made up of very fine metal particles. It was widely used in the manuscripts Depending on the metal, they produce a very delicate brown or light gray line of metallic reflections. The surface (paper or parchment) needed a special base made from pulverized bone, water, gum arabic and dyes. The metal tip is used by Van Eyck, Botticelli, Leonardo and Durero, among others.