Not making this drawing would have been easy. For a couple of days I walked right past my friend's basket of ordinary garden tools and nearby potted plants, not even giving them a moment’s notice. But little by little, this random backyard arrangement began to capture my fascination. And then it found its way onto … Continue Reading ››
Tag Archives: pencil
My Brief History of Sketching Trees
As a young child, you likely learned to draw a tree by using a few circular shapes to symbolize masses of leaves supported by a narrow rectangle to depict the tree’s trunk. And if you were in a creative mood that day, a few angled lines could be added to suggest its branches.
[caption id="attachment_11864" align="aligncenter" … Continue Reading ››
2B or Not 2B?
Which pencil should you use for drawing? That is the question.
During the early 17th century, as Shakespeare's Prince Hamlet first gazed upon a skull and questioned what to be in life, the country of England was busy mining a valuable carbon material. This dark, powdery material eventually … Continue Reading ››
Getting Sideways With Your Pencil
The very first thing my students learn is how to hold the pencil on its side while drawing basic lines and shapes. The overhand grip, as it's called in the art world, is a bit awkward at first. But with practice, it quickly becomes second nature to sketchers. One advantage of the overhand grip is … Continue Reading ››