John Davidson - Pencil Drawing for the Beginner: People

Adrian Sanqui and John Davidson

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Smashwords Edition

Learn to Draw

Book Series

JD- Biz Publishing

All Rights Reserved.

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Copyright 2013 by JD-Biz Corp

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Drawing tools

Pencils

The most important tool you need to be ableto enhance your drawing skill is a medium that can be corrected incase you make sloppy line strokes. It is better if you have pencilsof different grades so you can have the kind of lightness ordarkness you want to make. The H engraved near on the pencilstip (side of eraser) stand for hardness, it ranges from 2H to 9H.A pencil with only an H mark and doesnt have a number means 1H,the most common grade of a pencil (pencils without grade marks) isusually a 2H pencil. The B marking on the pencil stands forblackness, this means the pencil produces a darker marking and issofter than H pencils. It ranges from HB (hard and dark) to 9B(very soft and very dark), and this means the higher the grade, thesofter and darker it becomes.

Mechanical pencil

A mechanical pencil has a consistent wick orpoint which makes it easier for you to maintain the thickness ofthe line marks you produce, instead of sharpening your pencilseveral times just to have a thin and constant fine point.Different grades of lead or graphite is also available forrefilling your mechanical pencil, just makes sure that the size ofthe point your pencil has is also the same as the pencil leads yourefill it with.

Sharpener

A regular sharpener is quite dependable ifyou are using H and low B pencils, but if you are going to use itto sharpen a pencil with very soft graphite cores, it may keep onbreaking, most especially if you will use it for a charcoal leadpencil. A good substitute for regular sharpeners is a cutter, soyou can easily control the pressure just enough to expose the coreand make a fine point. Cutters are often used if you want achisel point pencil that is very helpful for thick and thinlinings.

Erasers

Having an eraser is essential if you aregoing to use a pencil for drawing. Choose a rubber eraser that issoft and not the ones that leave a faint color or worst is ascratch on the paper. Dont leave your eraser lying around on thetable or just anywhere, keep it on a pencil case or anything thatcan protect it from being exposed to air for too long because someerasers (cheaper ones) harden when its left to dry out.

A kneadable eraser is very helpful for makinghighlights and reaching hardly accessible areas such as the glosson the eyes or light portions of fingernails and such. It usuallylooks like a gray slab or a small bar of clay that can be molded ordeformed to any shape you desire. It doesnt rub off the markinglike usual erasers, but instead, it lifts off the graphite from thepaper, like absorbing it. Instead of rubbing the eraser with acertain pressure to remove a marking, carefully dab on the portionsyou want to erase or decrease the applied graphite or charcoal,until you recover the brightness (whiteness of the paper) youwant.

Smudge stick

A smudge stick is used for smearing theshades on the portions that are hard to access. Some artists dulldown the other tip so it can be used for distributing the shades onthe general areas. To avoid ruining the smudge stick, use a sandpaper to make a blunter tip or to make it even pointier.

BodyProportions

Proportioning the body structure properly isimportant when drawing a person. A disproportioned body willmislead the portrayed perspective of your subject. Or worse, thesubject might look distorted and deformed.

Knowing the proper length for your subject(the person or character you are drawing) can be easily achieved bydrawing the head first. In this way, the traditional method inlaying out the proper proportion of the body can be initiated.

The traditional method of approximating thebody proportion of a subject is by using its heads size.

The height of an average man is approximatelyeight to ten heads size tall, while a womens height is aboutseven to nine heads size.

If your subject/character is eight heads tallthen the proportions should be as follows:

The distance of the head/face to crotch is aboutfour heads long.

The arms including the hands from the shouldersare closely four heads long.

An average opened hand is usually equal to oralmost one head size. While the length of a small hand can becompared to the length of the eyebrows to chin.

The wrists are aligned or right above the level ofcrotch.

The lower extremities/legs are about four headslong.

Adjustments are most effective by decreasingor increasing the length of each part by half head-size dependingon your preferred height.

The wideness of the chest is usually twohorizontal heads size or more (two and half) depending on the bodybuilt you prefer for your subject. A subject having less than twoheads size will make its actual head look too big or a bodyproportion too skinny.