Use dark gray as the main color in this picture. Pay attention to the white highlights in the eyes – these are very important details.
The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Drawing
Doodling of images begins at an early age in life. Thus, drawing is merely putting an image on a surface using tools such as a pen or pencil. Drawing is an enduring art that has been practiced by many cultures across the world.
The two most essential tools in drawing are the surface and a device that can make marks such as charcoal, pen, or pencil. Sketches are rough drawings that an artist makes when he wants to put his idea on paper or explain a point to a listener. The composition comprises of the way an artist positions different elements in an image. Therefore, you will notice many artists sketching an image because it serves as a guide.
People have different methods and materials across the globe that they use to produce drawings. The article will provide you with more details about the tools, different types of drawings, and books that can get you started in this art.
Estimated reading time: 14 min
Table of Contents
- Drawing for beginners
- Brief history of drawing
- Drawing experts
- Drawing versus painting
- Essential drawing tools for beginners
- Categories and types of drawing
- Styles of drawing
- Drawing books for absolute beginners
- Sketching tips for beginners
- Learning how to draw
- Parting shot
Brief History of Drawing
Drawing is an important hobby linked to other arts, for it determines how an artist plans, structures, and utilizes the space.
Drawings have been used as fundamentals for sculptures and paintings. As a foundation, drawing helps artists to sketch everything and maintain their curiosity. However, like a house, a weak foundation can affect the health of the entire building, and the outcome can be detrimental.
Since drawing is old, it can be traced to the earliest artworks of prehistoric animal images in Lascaux France. People living in the Middle Ages in Europe didn’t use papers, but instead, they used tablets.
These were made from wooden panels that were lined with white-colored coatings or wax. Therefore, a person could draw on the tablet, erase it, and re-use it again.
Other early drawing surfaces were made from animal skins. The hides were stretched and cleaned through scrubbing to remove flesh and fat. They were then dried to form parchment, which was thin, and made from goat and sheep’s skin while vellum was soft and made from calfskin.
From 105 CE, the Chinese invented paper and began drawing on this new material. Centuries later, the paper reached the Western countries, and they embraced the new development.
However, there was a massive shortage of this material until in the 14th and 15th centuries when standardized manufacturing methods were developed in Europe.
Later, paper became the preferred drawing medium when the artists realized it’s potential.
On the other hand, artists used pen and ink to express their thoughts and feelings. These pens were made from plant stalks or bird feathers. The ink was a mixture of natural powder such as red ochre, soot, or carbon and water. Thus, they used a quill, and red pens dipped in ink to draw images on the tablets or parchment.
Other drawing media was charcoal, which is a burnt wood. The hard black stick left dark marks on the surface, and the artist could either rub the space clean or smudge it to get a subtle tonal shade.
Chalk is a hand-held bar or stick made of clay mixed with red iron oxide and dried to harden it. In the 16th Century, Italy invented pastels or a more refined version of chalk that was made from a colorful powdered pigment mixed with a binder. The mixture was shaped into a brilliant stick that was softer than the earlier chalk, which had a deeper color.
With these tools, the prehistoric artists could communicate things such as the animals found in the hunting areas. The parchment and vellum were filled with calligraphy; thus, between the 7th -15th centuries, the European Monasteries produced beautifully illustrated manuscripts that were made by hand.
One excellent example is the Codex Vaticanus, which is an illuminated manuscript dated 4th century. Beginning artists used drawing as preparatory studies and practice; thus, they could paint them with accuracy at the end of the exercise. Otherwise, plain ones were destroyed, and for that reason, the closest drawings you can get from the prehistoric artists are the illuminated manuscripts which happened in the early Renaissance.
Albrecht Durer is a 15th-century artist known for his etchings, drawings, and watercolor paintings. Renaissance is regarded as the foundation of any form of art. Students were taught how to draw accurately before venturing into painting, building, or sculpturing. They started by drawing the live nude figure, and as a result, the images in paintings and drawings developed greater realism. For example, the Leonardo da Vinci drawings such as The Study of horses dated c.1490 and The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist, c.1499.
In the 15th century, the Flemish artists began using the metalpoint on white paper due to its precision. The paper or surface was prepared using gesso or primer, and a piece of silver, gold, or copper was used instead of graphite. Jan van Eyck created Portrait of an Unknown Man, and Rogier van der Weyden’s Portrait of a Woman was made with a silverpoint.
In the 20th century, artists began making images that are more individualistic as they used different ways to express themselves.
Step 1
First, we sketch out the outlines of our sheep using two rounded shapes. Try to use light lines in this step without pressing the pencil. The first shape looks a bit like a pear.
Step 2
Add the outlines of the legs of our sheep. We chose the cartoon style so it looks like four simple rectangles that are vertically extended.
Step 3
As you know, sheep have a thick, curly coat. Let’s draw this six on top of our sheep’s head. Use short, rounded lines that form a cloud-like shape.
Pencil Art For the Beginner: Step By Step Guide to Drawing with Pencil
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Synopsis
Expand/Collapse Synopsis
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
Getting Started
Drawing tools
How to grip a pencil properly
Warming up
Basics
Elements of Drawing
Lines
Shapes
Usual Errors
Perspectives
2-point perspective
Rule of Thirds
Start with the basics
Define permanent outlines
Show/illustrate some texture
Rendering
Shading
Kinds of Shading
Hatching
Cross-hatching
Scumbling
Stippling
Smudging
Casting shadows
Lighting
Sphere
Cone
Cube
Cylinder
Layering
Design
Fabrics
Texture
If you are an artist in search for further knowledge about drawing to enhance your skills then this is not the book for you. This book is for the individuals who want to be an artist but know nothing about drawing yet.
I know how it feels when you want to illustrate an idea but you just don’t know how to start. And when you finally grabbed the confidence to mark that paper but then it turned out really terrible that you don’t want to show it to anyone.
This instructional manual is for making that ‘two circles’ cat of yours into something more pleasing and distinguishable, for enhancing that sheep which looks like a cloud with a face, for turning your stick figures into cartoons, and more.
Learn the very basics of drawing easily by following this step-by-step tutorial and realize that drawing is something that is fun to do, and not something that becomes a cause of frustration.
