My Drawing Class

Let's take a minute and talk about drawing! Yay!

So this semester at Snow, my only real 'art' class (meaning we actually make art) is Drawing 2. As opposed to Drawing 1, where we learned to copy directly from life, shaded like madmen, and annihilated line, in Drawing 2 we are focusing completely on Line as an art form. And I've found that leaving line in my work is both easier and a lot more fun. So really quick, I'm going to go through some of my favorite techniques that we've learned so far in my drawing class.

Number 1: Ink Wash

An ink wash is basically where you use ink as a watercolor medium. It creates a beautiful contrast to the wonderful hatching technique found in most ink drawings. Plus, it's really simple to do. All you need is a Pilot G-2 gel pen. Most of the colors will work for this effect, but I prefer the black since it creates a nice blue-grey color wash. Although the gel pen is somewhat temperamental and doesn't always lay down ink smoothly, it's great for quick sketches and gesture drawings. Once you have the drawing/sketch down, you simply wet a soft watercolor brush, and gently brush over the painting. The ink should bleed beautifully, and it gives a nice sense of depth and shadow to even basic sketches. Depending on the type of paper, the ink will be easier or harder to manipulate. What's really nice about this technique is that once it's dry, you can come back in and draw over the wash area no problem. I love it!

Number 2: Calligraphy pen

This one isn't necessarily a technique, but I really enjoy working with calligraphy pens. They're basically chinese or japanese-style calligraphy brushes, but with an ink cartridge so you don't have to dip them. The one I have is fine-tipped, and you get beautiful, thick, dark strokes from them. While not great for detailing, they are absolutely unrivaled for getting a feeling of fluidity. Also, it dries really quickly. No mess!

Number 3: Powdered Graphite

While I have worked with powdered graphite before in my drawing 1 class to tone paper, but in drawing 2 we got to integrate it into our drawings. So, the assignment was to do a contour line drawing in sharpie. (we drew driftwood) And those turn out great, but they're just black and white. Powdered graphite, by the way, is just pencil graphite, but ground up into a fine powder. It's usually used for lubricating machinery, and is messy as all get out, but it's ever so fun. When using powdered graphite, you either need a shammy (cured lambskin) or a piece of felt to rub it onto the paper with. We used the latter to add tone and depth to our sharpie drawings, resulting in a much more dimensional drawing in very little time. (I'll try and get a picture up sometime)

Number 4: Ballpoint Pen

Now, I usually hate ballpoint pens. I think they are the most unpleasant things to write with, and I wasn't sure what to think when our Adam gave us a sketchbook assignment using a ballpoint pen. Oh, how wrong I was. The pen we use for class is a Zebra F-3 fine-tipped Ballpoint. And it is marvelous. I've never seen a better pen for fine detail. It doesn't go nearly as dark as the gel pen or calligraphy pen, but you can get wonderfully delicate lines from it. (like the picture below)

That's all for now!