Start Page
Basics
Supplies
Printable Tools
Lesson - Part One
Lesson - Part Two
Lesson - Part Three
Site Map
Drawing Travel Kit
~ B Pencil
~ Sharpener
~ Vinyl eraser
~ Pad of semi-rough drawing paper
(Take these with you everywhere so you can draw anywhere!)
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Drawing Tool Tip
A plastic toolbox makes a very inexpensive storage box for your drawing tools, and the removable tray is a good place to keep your most used tools.
Look for one with extra hinged storage spaces in the top of the lid for little items.
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| Drawing Tips
Instead of shading around highlights, try working from the middle.
1. Fill the entire subject to a mid-value.
2. Darken the shadows.
3. Erase the highlights.
4. Add the more subtle value variations.
Use a value scale to help you see the true values of the subject.
Value scales are especially helpful for interpreting challenging color combinations into gray scale, such as red roses in front of a green background.
You can download a value scale and find out how to use them on my Free Drawing Tools Page.
Drawing is like any skill. You have to practice regularly to be good at it!
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Drawing Tips
Vegetables make great drawing subjects for beginners. Choose light colored veges which have interesting shapes and textures.
Here are some suggestions:
- Squash
- Peppers
- Onions
- Garlic
- Oranges
Do a study of each one, or arrange them into still lifes.
Powdered graphite can be applied with a bush to create delicate tonal washes. It's great for making skin tones and flower petal textures.
You can read more about how to make and use it on my powdered graphite page.
Make it easy to practice drawing. Keep extra pencils and paper near the chair where you watch TV at night and draw during commercials!
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How to Draw a Horse
Part One
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 The Outline Drawing
Transfer the line drawing to your paper. You can make your own transfer paper by coating a sheet of thin paper with graphite. Place the graphite side down on your drawing paper, put your line drawing on top and carefully transfer your lines by going over them with a sharp lead. Don't press too hard or you'll dent the paper. Just press hard enough to get a clear transferred line. |
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 The First Fill Layer
Put some finely ground graphite (you can make your own with an emery board) on a scrap piece of paper. Dip a small brush into it, make some practice strokes, and then use it to fill in the horse's face.
Fill in his lips, face and ears. Don't try to darken any area to its full value yet. Instead, make this first layer a little lighter in all areas than what you see on the finished piece. Leave his blaze and eyes untouched for now.
If your brush marks look streaky, you can help smooth them out by going back over them at right angles using a scrubbing motion.
Fill in his mane and neck next. Be careful not to rub out all your guide lines when you are doing this fill layer. Fill his mane into about a 2 or 3 value for now. To create a 2 to 3 value with your bush, make sure its almost empty on a scrap piece of paper first. His neck is very dark so you can really scrub in the graphite there with the ends of your bristles. Start to notice where the shadows are falling on his neck and chest. The darker area goes all the way down to the bottom of his chest and it's at an angle.
Use a kneaded eraser to clean up any graphite that has gotten out of the lines.
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Details - First Stage
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 Nostril Details
Create some ground graphite, dip a paper stump into it, and make a few practice strokes on a scrap piece of paper. Using the tip of the stump, work some of the darker details into the nostrils, lips and sides of the face. Notice that the lips get lighter towards the edge very gradually. The nostrils have both hard and soft edges you need to pay attention to. The insides of them, near his blaze, have a hard line and the outer edges softly lighten out to the edge. You can use a stump to pull the graphite out into the soft edges.
Notice that his bottom lip is visible on the right side and it's very dark. Use a 2h pencil to darken in that area. Again, don't darken anything in to its full value yet.
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 Face Between Eye and Nostrils
To darken the right side of his jaw, use a 4h lead to do a fill and your sharp stump tip to fill in missed spots. Use a brush to help you smooth if you want to.
Notice that I've stroked in some dark detail lines on the left jaw and darkened in the dark detail under his eyes also. Follow your detail lines to get these areas positioned right. Use a stump or a 4h lead to do this.
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 Ears
The ears are a very dark 81/2 to 9 value. Don't darken the ears in to their true 9 value right yet. Use a 2h and carefully fill in around the edges, highlights details, and mane hair. Don't press too hard with your lead. Smooth this all out with a stump but be careful not to lose the hair detail. Pull some graphite into the ear highlights with the stump.
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 Neck and Chest
Near his face, his neck is an 8 or 9 value and gets lighter to the left. Use a sharp 2h lead to darken his neck along his jaw line. Again, remember to use a gentle touch with your pencils. Leave the general area of his mane untouched for now but continue darkening his neck down into his chest. Your 2h lead with leave a streaky fill that you can smooth out with a brush if you haven't pressed to hard. You can also use a stump to help you smooth and it will also help darken the area a little more.
The muscles in the bottom of his neck are about a 5 or 6 value. Define the shadowed areas of the muscles first with a 4h lead first, so you won't lose them. Pull the graphite over into the lighter areas with a stump or brush to make a gradual transition. Use a 5h lead to darken if needed.
Use a kneaded eraser to clean up any smudges outside of the horse's outline.
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