Then you can go over these lines with a softer pencil. To create ultra neat lines, try drawing with a harder pencil first, as the lines are light and easy to erase. Make elements stand out by emphasising them with thick lines.ĭrawing precise lines will make an artwork feel neat and precise. Vary line thickness within a drawing to create a pleasing composition. A harder lead pencil that has been sharpened will give you the sharpest lines for the finest details. Choose an unsharpened, soft pencil to create thick lines. With a softer pencil you will have more flexibility in creating variation in line thickness. By varying pressure, you can create anything from light sketches, to highly contrasted drawings. It feels quite intuitive to shade in this way, by increasing the pressure on the pencil for darker areas. 8B pencils will give you the darkest lines, whereas a harder lead pencil like H or F will give you lighter lines. To create the darkest lines, get a softer graphite pencil. Extra drawing techniques Vary pressure applied to the pencilīy applying more pressure, you can create darker, thicker lines. You’ll find that you get into the flow of drawing details pretty quickly-it’s an enjoyable process.
Drawing highly detailed work requires careful consideration and it takes time. Hold the pencil fairly close to the tip for extra precision. It will sharpen pencils to a long point, preserving more of the pencil lead. Use a quality pencil sharpener like this one. For detail work, make sure your pencil is sharpened to a fine point. Gesture drawingĭetails add depth and realism to a drawing. You don’t need to press too hard on the paper when trying this technique. To create a looser drawing, hold the pencil further up the casing and sketch with sweeping strokes moving your elbow instead of your wrist or fingers. You could optionally erase messy lines and add in details afterwards, or you could leave the drawing as a sketch. With this approach, the aim is to focus on the big picture-the composition and interplay of different elements. Create a loose sketch before you start drawing your final outlines, then you can erase parts of lines that don’t fit with your drawing afterwards. It’s a useful technique to try, especially if you’re a beginner and only used to trying to achieve precise fine lines.īy sketching loosely, you can plan compositions and practice drawing accurately without worrying about making mistakes. This is an approach to sketching which will give the effect of a more relaxed and effortless style. If you’re drawing with coloured pencil, you can layer different colours on top of one another to alter the tones and hues. The circles don’t have to be neat, apply more pressure to the pencil for darker areas of the drawing. HatchingĪnother shading technique, where small circular marks are layered on top of one another to create a textured appearance. So by using these different shading techniques, you can create highlights, shadows and give your drawing depth and form. In art, a value is the relative lightness or darkness of a colour. These techniques will allow you to create values in your artwork. The following techniques of hatching, stippling and tonal sketching are all types of shading methods. To improve the accuracy of your drawing, you could create a sketch on another piece of paper first, then transfer it with tracing paper or with the grid method. Then build on this layer afterwards with layers of shading. This is especially true for pieces that require more accuracy or time investment.ĭraw a fine, light line to outline the main features of your subject.
The underdrawing acts as the first layer of an artwork, it can form the first stage of the drawing process. Most artists will use this process to plan out where the elements fit before committing to dark lines which are more difficult to erase. The concept of layering in drawing, refers to the process of starting with a light sketch then slowly building in the dark areas to create shadow. Graphite isn’t a transparent medium, so you can create a finished looking piece all in one layer. Layering pencil marks isn’t the same as layering paint.