Have You Picked Up The Wrong Pencil Drawing Techniques

Pencil Drawing Techniques – Best Practices

Each and every artist has their own way of creating. But, that doesn’t mean there aren’t some constants that exist for every artist, across the board.

These pencil drawing techniques are used in every art form, portrait drawing included. Here are some “do’s and don’ts” that will not only make your pictures better, but help you get more enjoyment out of your drawing.

Holding Your Pencil

Can you believe it? I know what you’re thinking. “Uh, I was taught how to hold a pencil when I was five. Are you kidding me?” No, I’m not. This is one of those pencil drawing techniques that can make the difference between hours of enjoyment, or physical exhaustion.

Some artists will tell you that after a long drawing session, their fingers, wrist or even shoulder hurts. They accept it as part of the sacrifice of the art. But if they’d just look at how they’re holding their pencil, they may be able to alleviate that pain for good.

This is not say there is a “right” way and a “wrong” way to hold a pencil. What’s right for me may not be right for you. But if you’re in pain, you’re most likely holding it “wrong.” You need to have proper control, but don’t use a death grip.

Type Of Pencil

Speaking of pencils, are you using the old stand-by “number 2″ pencil? If you are, this may explain why you haven’t been able to get your shading right. Among basic pencil drawing techniques, choosing the right pencil for the right job is critical. Retire that number 2 and try a B, 2B, or even a 4B. With softer pencils you’ll see an increase in shadowing pretty quick.

Paper

Unfortunately, the lower grade the paper, the lower grade the drawing. Really cheap paper has a film on it that won’t grab the pencil materials and hold them. You need sketching paper. It doesn’t have to be expensive, but it should be made for drawing.

And now that we’ve covered the negative pencil drawing techniques, let’s move on to the positive techniques that will help you draw beautiful pictures and portraits.

Cross Hatching

Learn Good Pencil Drawing Techniques

This is one of the pencil drawing techniques that will add realistic textures and depth to your pi

ctures. It’s an ideal technique for showing paths of light on the objects in your drawing. If done right, the individual strokes are undetectable, instead giving a smooth appearance.

Circles And Scribbles

Just drawing using this technique can be so relaxing. It loosens up your hand and helps release your creative juices. For your pictures, it allows for distinctive objects that have similar tones. It can make the textures contrast for a dynamic effect.

Contour Lines

Contour lines are the lines that follow the edges and curves of your objects, adding volume and giving shape. Drawing with them is also a great way to test out your paper and explore your space.

Smooth Shading

This final pencil drawing technique really makes a picture sit up and work. While applying a constant tone, vary the pressure in a gradual motion to achieve smooth shading. Make a transition from dark to light or light to dark in one, long stroke. Once you learn this, you can create areas of subtle change in tone that will dramatically improve your drawings.

How To Draw A Pencil Portrait

Yes, You Can Draw Pencil A Portrait

Believe it or not, many people don’t know what a pencil portrait is. It’s true! How do I know? Because not too long ago, I was one of them. I wouldn’t have given these delightful works a second thought, let alone learned how to draw a pencil portrait.

Oh sure, I’d seen them. I’d been to the mall. I’d noticed those black and white portraits of celebrities. I even used to own one. But I was dense enough about any type of art that I had no idea how the portrait had been created. If you had asked me, I probably would have said it was made with a computer! That fact that you have to actually draw a pencil portrait by hand just didn’t register.

It wasn’t till a couple of years ago that I began dating a woman who told me at one point that she liked to draw. At the time, my mind immediately went back to the game my sister and I used to play on rainy days. She’d name something and I’d have to draw it.

A couple of months later, she said she had some pencil portraits of me and she asked if I’d mind sitting for one. I was flabbergasted when she brought out 4 or 5 pencil drawings of my face. They were so real. So lifelike! Absolutely nothing like what my sister and I used to draw.

I was so impressed that she had actually drawn these with just a pencil. How was that possible? I ended up sitting for her many times. Eventually, I started to wonder if I could draw a pencil portrait myself. After all, I really enjoyed drawing for my sister all those years ago…

I did a little research online and found lots of tutorials. I learned the basics of drawing a human face. Pretty soon, I was drawing from everything. Magazines, photos; I’d draw anyone. I got to where I could draw a pencil portrait from memory of most people that I knew.

Eventually I could draw a pencil portrait well enough that anyone looking at it could identify the person I was drawing, if they knew the subject personally.

I liked this a lot! But the free tutorials I found online were limited in what they could teach me. It was all very mechanical. I wanted more.

So, I did some more online searching and finally chose a program that I believed would teach me to draw a pencil portrait better. And it did. It gave me the education I needed to draw realistic pe

How not to draw a pencil portrait!

ople the way I wanted to. I even gained enough confidence to ask my girlfriend to sit for me the way I had sat for her.

Unfortunately, we’ve long since broken up. But I’ll always be grateful to her for opening up the wonderful world of drawing pencil portraits to me. She gave me something I didn’t even realize was missing from my life.

If you have a budding artist inside of you, try to draw a pencil portrait. It may just open up something indescribable inside of you. Find yourself an online tutorial. Trust me, they are more informative than you may think.

Our Top Ten How To Draw Faces And More Product Recommendations

There are so many products on the market that are aimed at helping you develop your drawing and painting talents. This is great, but they can often be difficult to find and if you do, difficult to choose.

Here, we are listing ten of the top products that are available on the Internet today. They have been placed in the order that we prefer them, but that is not to say you will!!

Have a browse through them and decide for yourself whether you think you can gain anything from them. It is suggested you read the testimonials where you find them as these provide information on how the courses have benefited users.

Good luck!