Making Accurate Line Drawings
Being able to make accurate line drawings takes a lot of practice and drawing from life is an excellent way to practice. If you trace from a photo or use a grid, though, don't be afraid to change things if you can make a better drawing by doing so.
Good Representation
Drawing is always a series of comparisons. When drawing, you constantly compare what is longer or shorter, rounder or flatter, or how this angle slants or that angle leans. It's really a matter of drawing a line or shape and then correcting it until it looks right.
Deciding what Needs to be Changed to Make a Beautiful Drawing
Always be open to what lines and shapes will flow together and be willing to change things around a little to make a better drawing. The wonderful thing about graphite is that it is so easy to change. Experiment a little; this is how learning occurs.
Negative Space
Negative space is the area that is not occupied by the subject. In this case, if the rose and stem with leaves were cut out of the picture the part left would be the negative space. The shape of this area needs to be nicely formed too.
Drawing Lightly on the Paper
It's possible to dent the paper as you draw by pressing too hard with your pencil tip. If something needs to be changed later, getting rid of dents is impossible and they are very hard to camouflage.
Value Fills
This can be accomplished in several ways. A small flat brush is a good tool for doing very light fills. Usually, just pulling the brush over the lines already drawn on the paper will make a lovely wash effect in a very light value. For the darker values, a stump or tortillion will help to make a darker mark. Finally, the pencil point can be used to gently fill in areas. When using a pencil tip to do this, be sure not to use too soft of a lead to create the value. Too soft of a lead will leave dark notes on the paper that can be very difficult to get out.
Using the Right Hardness of Lead
You can use a brush and stump to help create this layer but, at this point, more delicate control over the graphite will be needed, so start to use your pencils to block in the delicate shadings. It's a good idea to make a value scale on a separate piece of paper so you can practice going from the slightest hint of value to the deepest black that you can make without denting the paper. Use softer leads for darker values and harder leads for lighter values. If a soft lead is used for a light value, it will leave behind dark notes that are very hard to get rid of later on.
Expressing Soft and Hard Edges
A soft line is drawn with an indistinct blurred line. Often, these softened lines can be produced with a hard sharp lead which seems just the opposite of how it should be done. To do this, take a sharp hard point and carefully draw out the hard edge into the surrounding area. This will soften the look of the hard edge.
A hard edge is easy to draw. Too easy. Don't get carried away and dent the paper. If the right hardness of lead for the value is being used, this will be less of a problem.
My Drawing Technique
With my technique, I draw the values I see and draw them very smoothly and in continuous tones. More exactly, when you lay down a layer of graphite with a brush or a pencil, it sticks on the high places of the grain of the paper and skips over the low spots. In my technique, I fill in all the little parts of the paper that are skipped over creating continuous tones that subtly change from one into another. When drawn using this technique, the drawing appears as though the graphite was put on in gentle washes rather than put on roughly with a dull pencil.
