Scott - Draw and Paint 50 Animals: Dogs, Cats, Birds, Horses and More

draw AND paint 50 animals

Jeanne Filler Scott

Contents

To get started drawing and painting, you will need the right supplies. You dont have to buy the most expensive art supplies, but you should get the best available to you. Remember, the most expensive brushes arent the key to becoming a master, and a good artist can use moderately priced brushes to produce a masterpiece!

Three mediums are used in this book: acrylics, oils and pencil. In this section, Ill provide you with a list and description of everything youll need for each medium. Ill also cover some basic techniques to get you started drawing and painting as well as finding references.

Well start with pencil drawings, which require just a few simple materials:

Bristol paper with a smooth finish makes an excellent surface for fine pencil work and withstands some erasure without roughening the paper surface. You can also use hot-pressed illustration board, which has slightly more texture than the bristol paper and can also withstand erasures.

Use a no. 2 pencil for your preliminary underlying sketch, whether youre sketching directly on the bristol paper or transferring your sketch with tracing paper.

For the final drawing, use ebony pencils. They are jet black and smooth to work with because they are softer and denser than ordinary pencils. This also makes them easier to blend with a stump.

The kneaded eraser is best for pencil work as it erases cleanly and can be formed into any shape for detailed erasures. Also, you can easily clean the eraser by kneading and working it around. You can use a kneaded eraser to lighten areas that have gotten too dark by repeatedly pressing the eraser lightly onto the area until it is the right tone.

Similar to tortillions, stumps are made of soft, tightly spiral-wound paper. They are a good tool for smoothing and blending and give a softer look to some areas of your drawing than can be achieved by the pencil alone.

Its important to have a good pencil sharpener, preferably electric, so you can quickly sharpen your pencils to a fine point. Its a good idea to sharpen several pencils at once so when one gets dull, you dont have to stop to sharpen it.

Spray fixative stabilizes drawings so that the penciling wont smudge or smear if it is accidentally touched or rubbed. Workable fixative is best since it provides lasting protection, yet you can still rework the drawing if you decide to make changes. Apply it in a place with plenty of ventilation, placing the drawing on a larger piece of scrap paper or cardboard so you dont get the spray onto anything else. Cover the surface uniformly but without drips.

Here is what youll need for your pencil drawings: a surface (bristol paper or illustration board), a no. 2 pencil, ebony pencils, kneaded eraser, blending stumps and spray fixative. Its also useful to have a good pencil sharpener and tracing paper for transferring your sketch to the surface. Drawing supplies are relatively inexpensive and easy to order over the Internet.

The list of materials youll need for painting is more extensive than for drawing. However, basic painting supplies are well worth the expenditure since theyll provide you hours of satisfaction and enjoyment as you create your own paintings.

The surface for most of the oil and acrylic painting demonstrations in this book is Gessobord, a pre-primed Masonite panel with a nice texture for realistic painting. It comes in a variety of sizes. I completed most of the demonstrations on 8 10 (20cm 25cm) panels. Illustration board is fine for acrylic paintings, but since it is paper based, it is not suitable for oils. Although I prefer Gessobord for finished oil and acrylic paintings because of its permanence and smoother surface, illustration board has the advantage of being less expensive to buy, and it can be easily cut to any size you desire.

Paper towels are useful for blotting excess paint, water, turpentine or medium from your brush. Keep a folded paper towel by your palette and a crumpled one in your hand or on the table.

Medium improves the flow of the paint so it is easier to spread and blend, and it can also be used for glazing. For acrylics, I use plain water instead of a manufactured medium. For oil painting, I use Winsor & Newton Liquin. It improves the flow of paint, makes the paint dry faster and is good for blending and glazing. I use turpentine or a turpentine substitute to thin a neutral color for blocking in the form in the first step of the painting and for cleaning brushes.

When painting with acrylics, its important to change the water fairly frequently so it doesnt get too murky with paint. For oils, you may have to change your turpentine occasionally if it gets too saturated with paint. Always wipe as much paint from your brushes as possible with a paper towel before cleaning them.

Youll need a pencil and an eraser for drawing or tracing the image onto your panel. The kneaded eraser is good for making corrections and for lightening pencil lines so that they wont show through the paint.

Youll need tracing paper if you want to trace your sketch or the template drawing provided with each demonstration. After tracing your sketch, you can transfer it to the Gessobord using homemade carbon paper. The advantage of doing the sketch on a separate piece of paper, and not directly onto the panel, is that you have much more control over the size and placement of the subject, often resulting in a better painting.

When an oil painting is completely dry (which can take six months to a year, depending on how thick the paint is), it should be varnished with a final picture varnish for total surface protection and to restore colors. You should keep a schedule and inform people who receive your art that they or someone else must apply the varnish to preserve the value of their acquisition. Although it isnt necessary, some artists also choose to varnish acrylic paintings because they want the painting to appear glossier or to add a protective layer.