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How to Use Artist Pencils

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How to Use Artist Pencils

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  1. Always draw out ‘light’ to start with. 
  2. Wherever possible avoid ‘outlining’ the various parts of your drawing with hard drawn edges (unless of course they actually are hard edges!). 
  3. Always avoid resting your hand on the surface of your paper wherever possible.
  4. Never use your finger to smooth out shaded areas on your paper.
  5. Always try to avoid resting your hand on areas already worked.
  6. Always keep your harder (detail) pencils sharp. 
  7. Always wipe the end of your pencil after sharpening. 
  8. Never use a ‘hard’ rubber on your paper if you can avoid it. 
  9. Always clean up your work once it’s finished. 
  10. Always seal your finished pencil drawing.

Equipment

Good charcoal pencils can be very expensive, particularly from niche art shops. You can save one huge amount of money if you order online. Be sure to buy a reputable brand (Derwent for one).
Charcoal pencils

How to Use Artist Pencils

Knowing how to use artist’s pencils properly will help ensure your work is to its maximum possible quality. Pencils are great for precision and contrast. The following ‘how to’ provides some great tips to consider when using pencils.

Photo Credit: Designlazy.com

Steps

1- Always draw out ‘light’ to start with. I tend to use an HB pencil to draw out my initial, very light outlines. Use minimal pressure and make your lines just heavy enough so that you can see them – that way if you make a mistake or have to adjust something – you can, without leaving deep indentations in your paper. 

2- Wherever possible avoid ‘outlining’ the various parts of your drawing with hard drawn edges (unless of course they actually are hard edges!). Once you have roughed out your drawing and you are starting to fill in the details, erase your initial lightly drawn outlines (obviously only on the part you are directly working on) and then try and re-create your outline by contrasts of light and shade, textures, or different styles of applied shading – without where possible, resorting to a hard pencil line (that in reality probably isn’t actually there anyway). A classic example of this is when drawing the feathered outline of birds, or the fur on the outline of animals. When you have your initial outline and you are then filling in the detail on your animal or bird, use lots of smaller lighter lines running in the natural direction of the fur, or feather on the animal or bird – as opposed to one continuous drawn outline – it gives a far more realistic, softer and natural outline.

3- Always avoid resting your hand on the surface of your paper wherever possible. Your hands – no matter how particular you may be about washing them – will always be slightly greasy. Where possible I always use a second piece of paper or transparent film to rest my hand on, avoiding direct hand contact with the drawing surface whenever it’s practical to do so. Keeping your paper clean this way, in my experience helps greatly if you maybe need to erase applied graphite later (any grease or moisture from your skin effectively binding the graphite into the papers surface – making it harder to erase cleanly). 

4- Never use your finger to smooth out shaded areas on your paper. Always use something dry to work applied graphite. You can buy proper tools for this purpose, but I tend to use cotton wool for larger areas of smoothing and cotton buds for smaller areas. Never use your fingers! 

5- Always try to avoid resting your hand on areas already worked. Being right handed I try to work from left to right and top to bottom on my drawings. Whilst this is not always practical – using this principle as far as possible will help keep your drawing smudge free. On occasions however, resting on already worked areas is unavoidable. By using your second piece of paper, or a piece of OHP transparency as a rest for your hand however, you can get away with overworking previously drawn or shaded areas. Just ensure that once your ‘rest’ paper is laid on your work, you don’t then, inadvertently drag it over the surface of your drawing. Lay it down, rest on it, lift it when necessary, then lay it down again, work on it again and so on – never drag it, as this can smudge any soft graphite applied underneath the paper across your drawing surface, just as your hand would. 

6- Always keep your harder (detail) pencils sharp. There is just no way that you can apply fine detail to a drawing with blunt pencils. I sharpen my pencils with a scalpel and then shape the lead with my file boards; this gives me a really fine point for that finest detail. 

7- Always wipe the end of your pencil after sharpening. Particularly if you use a file board – but even if you just use a normal pencil sharpener – wipe the sharpened end of your pencil with a piece of kitchen or toilet roll before using it on your drawing again. You will always get residual grains of graphite that will stick to the sharpened surface of your pencil, these can ruin a finely drawn line, so wipe them off before using the pencil again. 

8- Never use a ‘hard’ rubber on your paper if you can avoid it. All a hard rubber does is effectively ‘rip’ off the top layer of your drawing paper, taking your mistake with it. This ruins the smooth surface of your paper and whilst you may have removed your mistake – you’ve also removed your drawing surface. Redrawing or shading over that damaged surface will be very difficult. If you must use a rubber – use a putty rubber, but better by far is to use Blu Tack. Blu Tack lifts the graphite off the surface of the paper without damaging it. The more times Blu Tack is applied to a graphite line, or area of shading, the lighter that line will get.

9- Always clean up your work once it’s finished. Once your drawing is complete clean any smudges on the paper around your work using either a putty rubber or Blu Tack, but do take the time to clean up your page before sealing your work with fixative. By removing any unintentional smudges off of your drawing, it makes it look cleaner, better defined and generally more professional.

10- Always seal your finished pencil drawing. Once you’re certain that your drawing is complete – seal it. Graphite pencil and charcoal will smudge if rubbed or touched, so seal it in with a sealing or fixative spray (Available at art shops). A possible alternative if you don’t have any fixative spray is a ‘perfume free’ firm hold hairspray. I always used to use hairspray to seal my pencil drawings, hairspray basically doing exactly the same thing as purpose made fixative sprays. However, I would these days recommend you use a ‘proper’ purpose designed fixative spray like ‘Winsor Newton Artists’ Fixative’. Through experience over the years, I have found that the alchohol in hairspray can over time slightly ‘yellow’ the paper. Not a huge problem for me as I tend to work on slightly off white heavy watercolour and cartridge papers anyway, but for those of you working on brilliant white papers and boards, it could ‘potentially’ be an issue over time. Whatever fixative you do use though, always spray these ‘fixatives’ on lightly. Too heavy an application can cause a slight loss of really fine detail with graphite work. Several light applications generally work best. Be aware though – once your work is sealed you will be unable erase any mistakes. So make sure it is right before you seal it!


Tips

What paper you draw on will also largely become a matter of personal preference as you progress with your drawing practice. Obviously you can draw on pretty much most types of paper, but, the results that you will achieve will obviously vary according to the type, weight and quality of the paper you use. Over time, you will find the paper/papers that work best for you for different types of drawing, and your own particular style and techniques will develop accordingly. Both go hand in hand.

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