Draw pictures: a step-by-step instruction for beginners. How to draw a drawing with a pencil?

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

You don't have to be a real artist to learn how to draw well. And you don't even need to have special talents. It is important to simply be able to hold pencils / brushes / pens in your hands and master several basic techniques for transferring an image to a plane of paper or any other surface. In essence, you just need to learn how to copy the drawings of others, respecting the proportions and lines of the original.

Carbon copy

You can draw pictures in different ways. For example, elementary through carbon paper. Of course, in this case, the image format will have to match completely, you will not be able to reduce or enlarge it. Variants are only possible, for example, in colors, coloring. But this allows you to draw pictures in such a way that even the smallest, hard-to-bearable elements are preserved. The technology is pretty simple. Take a blank sheet of paper, put carbon paper on it, sticky side down, on top,front side, the very image that needs to be copied. Carefully circle the pictures along all lines with a simple pencil with a finely honed lead. Just do everything slowly. Outline small areas of the drawing especially carefully.

Pros and cons

As you understand, drawing pictures is easy. The disadvantage of this method is that your drawing will be smudged with ink from carbon paper. When discussing the color of carbon paper, it is better to take black or gray. And, of course, when you start coloring the image, you won’t be able to remove the contours with anything - unless you work with oil and gouache paints, and this is more difficult than just sketching drawings with a pencil, for beginners. And the watercolor will already have to be applied in thick, thick layers so that the base does not shine through. Its transparency, lightness in this case will not be transmitted. What is the plus of such a way to draw a drawing with a pencil? You can apply it not only on whatman paper, landscape, cardboard or notebook sheet, but also on smooth, for example, white chintz fabric, well-finished plywood.

Quick grid cage

You can also transfer a picture from the original to your drawing using the “cellular” method. What does it mean? First, apply the grid to the sample. Use rulers, setting aside centimeters and millimeters. Then, in the same way, draw the surface on which your drawing will be. And transfer the image, as they say, from the cell tocell. What can be drawn in this way? Quite complex paintings with many objects of different shapes located at different levels: landscapes, still lifes, even portraits. The convenience of this method compared to carbon paper is that your drawing is clean, the pencil lines are then removed with an eraser, only paints, colored pencils, and so on remain. And in your drawing you can convey the necessary lightness, subtlety and richness of shades and all those color nuances that are inherent in the original.

Professional mesh

In approximately the same way, you can draw a picture in stages, only using slightly different methods. They are more laborious, but the result is more accurate. Take materials at hand, such as a piece of transparent film or a sheet of tracing paper. Next, you will need a ruler and a finely sharpened pencil, as well as the actual drawing paper and a sample from which a copy will be made. I would like to note that often professional artists do the same if they are ordered copies of famous paintings.

Work order

Where to start with all these tools? Draw a film or tracing paper to make a grid. It is better to use not a centimeter, but a millimeter scale, especially if the original has many complex and small elements. If the pattern is quite simple, then cells measuring 2 cm by 2 cm will do. When the film is prepared, it must be applied to the sample,and translate the drawing. For greater convenience, so that the grid does not move, secure it with buttons. Apply the image on the film with a thin marker - it is rather problematic to do this with a pencil. And the alcohol marker dries faster without smearing around. Now draw a blank sheet using the same pattern. If the new drawing needs to be larger, enlarge it proportionately. And number the cells, as in crossword puzzles, diagonally and horizontally. And only then copy the lines from the cells into your drawing.

Helpful tips

Working with the grid (tracing paper), start redrawing the main contour lines, longer ones at first. Go from the edges to the center. Then take small strokes and start working on finer details. When copying is finished, specially grind those lines that turned out to be too straight, angular. Give them the necessary roundness, smoothness, volume. If your work should be in black and white, then now start shading. Start with light, pale shades, gradually deepening and complementing the shadows. Emphasize shapes and curves to make your drawing more realistic.

Make sketches

If you are faced with the task of "how to draw from a photograph", you should go the other way. For example, you need to portray your favorite pet. Choose a photo where the pet is in a simple, easy-to-draw pose. Draw a coordinate axis on the sheet. The intersection point of x and y is the center of the muzzle. Make the same axis in the photo,just lightly without ruining it. Next, first draw the silhouette of the animal, focusing on the axis. Then the details. On the muzzle - eyes, nose. Ears. Paws, the way your four-legged friend holds them. Do all the strokes without particularly pressing the stylus on the paper, because a lot will have to be corrected. Be sure to keep the proportions. See that the body or head is not too small or elongated. The coordinate axis will also help you with this.

From blank to painting

Now deal with shadow and light. Gently start shading the shadows. This is wool, for example, spots, stripes. Or dark places. Gradually delve into the subtleties and details. Those elements of the picture that are key, the most important, should look brighter, and make minor ones a little dimmer. Details that the viewer should pay attention to are emphasized. In particular, the muzzle of the animal, and on it - eyes, nose. It is worth adding that the same rules are used if not the appearance of an animal is drawn, but a portrait of a person is written off from a photograph. Contrast should be concentrated on the eyes and nose.

The finishing touch

What is left for a beginner artist to do now? Clean up the dirt. Soften some places of the picture, shade something, shade somewhere. Combine with shadows, write out the necessary details, hint at the presence of a plane so that it does not give the impression that the animal is floating in weightlessness. You can draw a shadow from the figure. And that's it, your art is ready!