artistMay 2020 http://www.painters-online.co.ukDRAWING MATERIALS
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ROBERT’S 10 TOP TIPS
FOR SUCCESSFUL
DRAWING
l Get straight to the point! Keep your
pencils sharp with the Derwent Manual
Super Point Helical blade sharpener.
l Be accurate – look twice, draw
once. Never adopt a ‘that’s about right’
attitude.
l Experiment with different surfaces –
think beyond cartridge paper.
l Experiment with different drawing
media – think beyond the pencil.
l Get stuck in! Draw as much as you
can outdoors and with different media.
Nothing is better than first-hand
experiences to sharpen your vision.
l When working from photographs
make A4 print-outs so that you see all
the detail – but don’t copy it all! Add to
and subtract from the scene to make
more drama. Remember why you took
it in the first place. Evoke those feelings
in your drawing.
l Sketch, sketch and sketch! The more
you draw the more confident you will
be as an artist. Good drawing means
great painting.
l Draw from life. Join a life-drawing
class. There is nothing better to sharpen
your creative drawing skills.
l Limit your drawing periods to
just one hour (or less). This will force
you to focus on the essence of the
composition and create freer, looser
drawings filled with excitement.
l Use an eraser wisely. There are
no mistakes, only your thinking
process. Enjoy your explorations and
communicate what you see – let all
your marks show.q Black, white and grey pastels
Expressive drawing is not limited to charcoal or pencils. Soft, hard
and Conté pastels are rewarding and exciting to use. Additionally,
grey tones can further extend your drawing options. From left to
right: Rembrandt pastels in five shades of black, grey and white;
Unison Colour pastels in five shades of black, grey and white;
Sennelier soft pastel in white; Derwent XL Charcoal Blocks in black
and white. Shown on Canson Mi-Teintes Touch pastel paper in 490
light blue‘graphite crayon’. Not as soft as Lyra in
my opinion (despite the 2B–9B range),
it works well with other brands when I
need a harder mark. For example, I like
to hold them in the palm of my hand
to ‘dig into’ my drawings, thus loading
graphite onto the support – lovely!
Derwent have created a very different
type of graphite stick. The results are a
grey-type tone and they have a biscuit-
like feel to them. The slightly gritty feel
adds lots of texture to my drawings
and they are superb to use on rough-
textured surfaces.Carbon pencils
Carbon pencils are made from
lampblack, which is purer than charcoal
and therefore denser. The consistency of
carbon pencils and blocks is generally
pretty close to that of compressed
charcoal, but a lot heavier with a soft,
velvety feel because an oilier binder is
used. Wolff carbon pencils and blocks
create lovely deep, velvety marks.Compressed charcoal
Compressed charcoal is made by mixing
charcoal powder with grease and wax
binders. It produces dark, bold marks
that cannot easily be erased. It varies
in texture according to the blend of
charcoal, clay and fillers used.t Liquid charcoal
Without doubt one of the most exciting media for artists keen on
exploring expressive drawing techniques is liquid charcoal. Wallace
Seymour Original Liquid Charcoal (60ml tube) and Nitram Liquid
Charcoal (50ml tube) are both excellent. Use to create fantastic
expressive drawings and tonal painting effectsDerwent XL Charcoal Blocks create the
effect of compressed charcoal or carbon
blocks but because of their very soft
consistency and water-solubility they
can be blended very easily. Combining
these media is really exciting, and very
useful expressive drawing effects can be
created.
Wooden pencils with charcoal-blend
cores offer equally great rich, dark
blacks. They have a dry, almost abrasive
feel but blend easily using a paper
stump, a putty rubber or soft eraser, a
Pan Pastel Sofft sponge or the good old-
fashioned way – with your finger.
Carbon pencils (as with any wooden
pencil) have the advantage of keeping
your hands clean when working. Precise
drawing is effortless with Wolff’s carbon
pencils because they are made with
the finest quality materials. Carbon
pencils are quite rough and very
textured so I switch to blocks and sticks
of compressed charcoal to create my
dramatic deep blacks. This avoids
having to stop all the time to sharpen
the pencils.
Extra precision is maintained by
keeping the pencils sharp. Derwent’s
wonderful lightweight desk sharpener
has not disappointed me yet and remains
sharp. Since I’ve owned one I find I use
far more wooden pencils, of all sorts.