The South African Artist – July 2019

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Agent: Jozua Rossouw | +27 83 228 8651 | info@ rossouwmodern.com
deviantart: pieterdvm | Instagram: pietervdm.art | Twitter: @PietervdmArt

“From the very start, I felt incredibly

comfortable with graphite, and I did a

lot of private commissions. After barely

a year, I started attracting interest from

local art directors and galleries.

Over the last two years, I’ve been working

from my home studio in Gordons Bay and

recently an alternative studio on the farm

I grew up on in Standerton. I require my

creative spaces to be free of distractions

and as clean as possible.

Let’s start with my choice of paper: any

experienced pencil artist will tell you that

the quality of the drawing process and

the end results of the work, are mostly

associated with the paper you’ve chosen

to work on. It is the most critical factor,

more so than any other tool in your

arsenal. The Arches Aquarelle 300gsm

Hot Pressed is my current choice of

paper. I was introduced to this paper by

fellow graphite artist, Jono Dry.

I terms of graphite, pretty much the entire

Faber Castell 9000 series will be in my

arsenal of tools. The pencil grades I use

most often are 2H, 2B, 4B, and 9B. I

use the mechanical pencil for more than

60% of all the drawing done. The Rotring

600 series, 0.35mm up to 2mm, are my

mechanical pencils of choice, and they

are always filled with Faber Castell Super

Polymer leads.

The drawing process starts with the

conceptualising of a new piece. I usually

have a basic idea of what I want to portray

and part of the process is creating,

or finding the correct elements to

compose the image. I either photograph

elements myself or buy the legal rights

to photographs. Considerable time is

spent creating a one to one scaled digital

version of the artwork first, and then it is

divided into a 2cm x 2cm grid.

Depending on the chosen size of the final

artwork, I use either pre-cut sheets, or

I prepare a custom sized sheet from a

paper-roll. Whenever I use the rolled

paper, it needs to be flattened first by a

stretching process which involves wetting

the paper with cold distilled water and

stretching it out so that it dries uniformly

to be as flat as possible. The paper is

then cut to size according to the digital

reference and divided into the same 2cm

x 2cm grid.

I start off by doing the entire outline of

each element and shading areas of the

drawing. I find it is best to start off with

the darkest sections, as this makes it

easier for me to measure tones and blend

out. I also prefer to start with the most

detailed areas first, so that these difficult

parts are completed when my patience is

still flowing strong. I avoid allowing focus

points to become the victim of rushing.

Top left: Rebel; 850 x 530 mm; Graphite on Paper

Left: Vision I; 980 x 680 mm; Graphite on Paper

Below: Fabulous Fighting Men; 700 x 480 mm; Graphite on Paper