Shapes and patterns are everywhere and our imaginations are always trying to put a name to them. We see faces in bunches of leaves, animals in the stars, and otherworldly flora in the texture on a wall. So, if you’ve ever done a double take to check if you really saw what you thought you saw, take it as a sign that your imagination is healthy and you can rely on it as an ever renewing source of drawing potential.

There are lots of traditional ways to access that creative reservoir of drawing goodness but, as with everything in life, there’s an app for that!

Computer Assisted Imagination

Drawing made with the Meander app.

The drawing to the left was made on an app called Meander. Just touch the iPod or iPad screen and lines go strolling in all directions on their own. I wasn’t trying to draw anything when I “generated” this image, I just wanted to watch the pretty lines grow. :)

But, I see lots of images in these lines now. Two of the strongest are a face and a snake with wings, and I could definitely draw them, and fill in the missing parts too, because they’re so clear to me.

Image created with Alchemy.

And if you’d like to try some full-blown creativity software, there’s a neat program called Alchemy that lets you easily generate fantastic mishmash images with a combination of lines,  gradients, shapes, patterns, colors, brushes, and you name it! (There’s even a brush that responds to sound.)

The one thing you can’t do with it is make a representational drawing. (At least I can’t.) Alchemy tickles your imagination into creation mode by giving it lots of visual  toys to play with.

Roll Your Own

If you want to take a break from being plugged in all the time, here’s an old fashioned way to get your imagination’s attention.

Scribble.

Play with felt tip pens.

Dance, skip, and hop a pencil across some paper.

Close your eyes and feel where the line wants to go.

Use graphite, ink, crayons, or whatever is handy, on whatever paper is nearby.

Alma

People are storytellers, so look at your scribble and tell yourself a story about what you see. Then think about which story images appeal to you the most.

And Then What?

You’ll probably start with a drawing concept instead of an entire piece with all the details worked out, so don’t over-think this or you may never begin. Your drawing idea will grow to completion in its own way though, if you have the patience to let it.

There are as many ways to get the images from your head onto paper as there as artists, so I’ll tell you about some of my techniques and maybe they’ll help you come up with your own.

1. To get a three dimensional and “real” look, I keep the lighting the same throughout the drawing.
2. I often use the side of the pencil to quickly express an idea because of the range of line and texture that’s possible with that pencil angle. (See video at bottom of post.)
3. I let myself edit the drawing as I work by listening to inner prompts that say things like, “move that … make it darker … now larger … add more texture here … less there.”
4. And then, if I’m lucky, an image finally appears that reflects a little bit of what my imagination was able to dream-up.

So what are you waiting for? Find a pencil and draw something phantasmagorical.

ps – There is no such thing as failure when you’re dealing with creative invention. There is only discovery.

Weighted And Varied Line With The Side Of A Pencil

Graphite & Pitt Pens Test

This started out as a doodle and ended up as a Prehistoric Chicken. (That’s my closest guess about what it is.)

Anyway, I decided to experiment by using Pitt Pens along with my usual graphite. I’d tried this before and had some success, and this time it went a little smoother.

I used Warm Grey III 272, Warm Grey IV 273, and Warm Grey V 274. They come in the “Shades of Gray,” brush tip 6 pack by  Faber-Castell. That pack comes with three cool grays too, but I think the warm grays look better with graphite. I might use the cool gray pens in my next experiment though.

I used the pens to fill in the comb on top of his head, the feather / scales down his neck, every other band around his beak, and on some of the leaves. Where the ink shows through the graphite, you can see a slight yellow tint. I think that yellow-ish tint is fascinating and I want to play with it some more!

I didn’t convert the scan to gray scale so you can (hopefully) see the tint, or at least get an idea of what I’m talking about. (Click the image for a larger version.)

When an inked area was dry, I covered it with pencil hatching to blend it in, but the edges of the ink were challenging to cover completely.

Lessons learned:

1. Use pens in areas that are going to be “hard’ edged or are enclosed by a line.
2. The yellow tint adds extra interest to the drawing.
3. Graphite over the darkest pen makes a terrific deep black quickly, but there still is the edge problem.

My Next Experiment:

1. How about mixing warm and cool grays with graphite?
2. Would that give the drawing more depth, or just look awful?
3. I need to invent some different techniques for blending the ink edges.

That’s my report from the Drawing Lab for this week. I’ll report more experiments as they develop. :)

Here are the pens at Dick Blick – my affiliate and favorite art store.

Benefits

• Thirty days of practice is just about right for reviving rusty drawing skills, or learning them in the first place.

• This exercise helps establish a regular drawing practice.

No-Rule Rules For 30 Days Of Drawing (For people who hate rules as much as I do.)

• Draw everyday for 30 days.
• Any line, angle, smudge, or dot counts.
• If you miss a day, that’s okay. And you don’t have to make it up. (But you can if I want to.)
• Use a single sketchbook for all the drawings. Or don’t.
• If these rules are too strict, toss ‘em out. (But do make the effort to draw regularly for 30 days somehow.)

My Odd Stick-It-To-Your-Sketchbook Method For 30 Days Of Drawing Success

Illustrations Below

It’s surprisingly challenging to draw everyday for a month, so I invented this quirky but convenient way to draw small objects.

• Collect small interesting objects and keep them in a bowl by the chair — and if you have cats, ferrets, or nosy dogs, put a lid on it.
• Put a tall light near your favorite chair. A reading lamp will work. (Read about simple lighting here.)
• Keep a sketchbook, pencils and, erasers there too.
• When you sit down to watch tv (that’s what I do in my favorite chair), pick something out of the bowl, and stick it to the drawing paper with a tiny piece of kneaded (putty) eraser.
• Draw right beside the thing you stuck to the paper.

What To Tell People When They Ask Why You’ve Got Something Stuck to Your Sketchbook

• Tell them it’s really handy to stick things to your sketchbook because:
  • You can take breaks and come back to the same placement, or even wait to finish your drawing the next day.
  • Also, if you’re drawing something round, it won’t roll away.

• Tell them this set up is a great way to draw from life because:
  • You can draw at a one to one ratio.
  • Reach over to take measurements easily.
  • And quickly compare the drawing to the object as you work, which is the key to drawing realistically from life.

• Or, say you’re an artist and are not allowed to tell. Say this while gazing at the air over their right shoulder with a far-away look in your eyes.

Here’s How I Drew A Hazelnut Anchored To The Paper With A Sticky Kneaded Eraser

Hazelnut Stuck In Place With Eraser

I stuck this round nut to the paper by squishing it onto a piece of kneaded eraser. This is a neat way to keep a small object secure if want to break a drawing session into smaller pieces of time. You just have to be sure to adjust the angle of the pad when you come back so the shadows look the same.

I Drew The Nut With My Usual Sketching Style

(… only now it couldn’t get away!)

Hazelnut Line Drawing

Line Drawing

I arranged my light until the hazelnut cast a small sharp shadow. (I draw that in step three.)

Using an HB pencil, I made the drawing the same size as the nut and took height and width measurements from the nut and transferred them to the paper.

This image enlarged quite a bit so you can see it better.

A couple of pointers:

• You have to make lines wrong before you can make them right, so make some and then correct them. Do that over and over again without erasing until the outline looks right.

• Compare the object to your drawing by looking quickly back and forth between them as you draw.

• To measure with a pencil, hold it over the object and use your thumb to mark the distance from the tip.

Mid Value Shading

Erase Extra Lines And Hatch

I erased the “wrong” lines and lightened the outline I by tapping it with a kneaded eraser.

Then I hatched in the mid values in the dark and light sections of the nut.

And then I took a break.

About Hatching

Learn how to make this kind of hatching.

About Mid Values

I usually use a mid range hatch value to begin shading. You can read more about how to do that here:

Drawing From The Middle

Shadow Shading

Added Darkest Values

After I was back from my break, I made sure the nut cast the same shadow so that I’d be drawing it from the same angle.

Then I added dark value with a softer 2B pencil. I outlined the dark detail line around the shape at the top of the nut, hatched in the value patterns I saw on the rest of the nut, and added the cast shadow.

The cast shadow was the darkest value of all, so I made sure the darkest values on the nut were lighter than that.

Notice that I’m not too concerned about details yet. I just added the very obvious line around the top of the nut and refined the edge shape of the nut a little.

This step was all about comparison and adjustment. As I worked, my eyes were constantly comparing my hatched values and shapes to the real nut.

I added a lot of dark hatching in this step, so that means I was too timid with first mid range hatch. If it had been darker, it would have saved some time in this step.

Erase Highlights

Erased The Light Values

Erasers aren’t as exact as pencil tips, so I shaped my kneaded eraser into points and wedges to dab and rub out the light areas.

There were two types of light valued shapes I paid attention to.

1. The body highlights that run over the entire nut, lightening and darkening as they move over the hills and valleys of the surface.
2. The smaller detail shapes at the top and bottom of the nut.

This is a very dark nut and I realized I’d got carried away and erased too much. That’s fixed in the next step.

Finished Drawing

Corrections and Final Details

I used the harder pencil to go back over and slightly darken and reshape the edges of the details.

Details look the most real when their shadows are drawn right, so I kept the direction of the light in mind as I observed and drew were the shadows fell.

Comparison Again

This last step was very much about comparison again. My eyes were on the nut as much as they were on my drawing, flicking back and forth so I could superimpose one over the other for a fraction of a second to compare them.

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Edited 3/09/11 – added pencil grades and link to hatching how to lesson. A basic drawing kit for beginners:
If you don’t have all your drawing supplies yet, these links take you to Dick Blick, my favorite affiliate and art store.

Five grades of drawing pencils – 4B, 2B, B, 2H, 4H.

A pencil sharpener that makes a long sharp point.

A kneaded eraser.

Sanford Tuff Stuff Eraser Stick

gray paper stumps for blending

A small thick flat paintbrush for blending or a pastel blending set – Sz. 2.

Drawing paper marked “fine” or “smooth.”

A storage box

Or this drawing kit with messenger style carry-all has all you need and it looks like a pretty good deal too.

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