Drawing Fundamentals

104 flashcards by MentisLibrary

Pencils, charcoal and paper, line and mark making, sighting and measuring proportion, one to three point perspective, value and edges, figure proportion and anatomy, composition, and how to practise. For self-taught and first-year drawing students.

What do the letters on a pencil mean?

H stands for hard, B for blackness, and F for fine point. The scale runs from 9H, hard and pale, through HB and F in the middle, to 9B, soft and very dark.

Which pencil grade for which job?

H grades hold a point and stay light, so they suit construction lines and fine detail. B grades give dark values fast but smear, so they suit shading and final darks.

Vine charcoal vs compressed charcoal

Vine charcoal is burnt willow with no binder: pale, dusty, and it lifts off almost completely. Compressed charcoal is powdered charcoal in a binder: much darker and far harder to remove.

Kneaded eraser

A soft, tacky eraser that lifts graphite and charcoal off the surface instead of abrading it. It can be pulled into a point, a wedge or a flat pad.

Plastic eraser vs gum eraser

A plastic or vinyl eraser removes graphite cleanly and completely but is abrasive and can burnish the surface. A gum eraser crumbles as it works, is gentler, and leaves a lot of debris.

Blending stump and tortillon

Tightly rolled paper points used to push graphite or charcoal into the paper tooth for smooth gradations. A stump is thicker with two points; a tortillon is thinner and wound to a single tip.

Paper tooth

The texture of a paper surface. A rough or cold-pressed tooth grabs more pigment and gives a broken, grainy mark; a smooth or hot-pressed surface takes fine detail and even tone.

Bristol board: plate vs vellum

Bristol is a heavy, stiff drawing board. Plate finish is very smooth and made for ink and fine pencil; vellum finish has a light tooth that holds graphite and charcoal better.

Paper weight

How heavy a sheet is, given in grams per square metre or pounds per ream. Light paper buckles and tears under erasing; heavy paper takes repeated correction.

Why draw gesture on newsprint?

It is cheap, takes charcoal well, and its low quality removes any pressure to make a keeper. Volume, not preciousness, is the point of gesture practice.

Fixative: workable vs final

Workable fixative sets a layer enough to stop smudging while still accepting more drawing on top. Final fixative seals the surface and resists further work.

Toned paper with white chalk

Mid-toned paper supplies the halftone, so you draw only the darks and the lights. It cuts the work roughly in half and makes highlights read as genuine light.

How should a drawing pencil be sharpened?

With a blade rather than a barrel sharpener, exposing about a centimetre of graphite. The long point gives a sharp tip for lines and a broad flank for shading.

Why keep the drawing surface upright?

On a flat table you view the paper at a sharp angle, which foreshortens it and makes circles and proportions distort. An upright board keeps the drawing perpendicular to your line of sight.

Contour line

A line that follows the outer or inner edge of a form. A good contour changes weight and speed as it travels, describing the form rather than merely outlining it.

Blind contour drawing

Drawing the contour of a subject while looking only at the subject, never at the paper, and not lifting the pencil. The result is distorted on purpose.

Cross-contour line

Lines drawn across a form rather than around it, following how the surface curves, like the lines on a topographic map or the seams on a ball.

Gesture drawing

A fast drawing that records the action, direction and rhythm of a pose rather than its outline. It answers what the figure is doing before what it looks like.

Line of action

A single sweeping line, usually a C curve or an S curve, that captures the main thrust of a pose. It is drawn first and everything else is hung on it.

Line weight

Deliberate variation in the darkness and thickness of a line. Heavier lines suggest shadow, weight, nearness and the underside of forms; lighter lines suggest light, distance and delicate edges.

Hatching

Building tone with parallel lines. The darkness is controlled by how close together they are, how thick they are and how much pressure is used.

Cross-hatching

Layering sets of hatching at different angles to deepen tone. Each additional layer darkens the area and evens out the texture.

Contour hatching

Hatching whose strokes follow the curve of the surface rather than running straight. The direction of the marks describes the form while their density describes the value.

Stippling

Building tone from dots. Value depends on how densely the dots are packed and how large they are.

Drawing from the shoulder

Moving the whole arm from the shoulder joint, with the wrist and elbow locked, so long lines stay straight and smooth. The wrist is used only for small detail.

Ghosting a stroke

Rehearsing a line in the air above the paper several times, then committing it in one confident movement without slowing down at the end.

Overhand grip vs tripod grip

The tripod grip is the writing grip, good for detail near the tip. The overhand grip holds the pencil under the palm, which allows shoulder movement and shading with the flank of the lead.

Line quality

How a line reads: confident or hesitant, fast or slow, tapered or blunt. It is a separate skill from accuracy and is judged independently of it.

Sight-size method

Positioning the drawing beside the subject and standing at a fixed spot so that the subject appears exactly the same size as your drawing. Comparison then becomes direct.

Measuring with a pencil

Holding the pencil at full arm's length, locking the elbow, and marking a length on it with your thumb to compare one part of the subject with another.