Free Guide – Pencil Drawing Fundamentals and Basics
How to Draw with Pencil Fundamentals – The Line
The line is one of the most basic entities used in drawing. The straight line has two fundamental properties:
Length – Naturally, the length of a straight line is the distance between its beginning point and its end point.
Direction – A straight line also has a direction. Its direction is determined by the angle it makes with a horizontal or vertical line.
So, when you want to draw a straight line you need to think about two things: length and direction.
A pencil artist seldom uses a ruler to draw a straight line. Lines are drawn free-hand. And this takes quite a bit of practice. In the end you should be able to draw straight lines and parallel lines fairly easily.
The idea here is to swing your arm from the elbow as opposed to from the wrist. You can use your wrist for tiny lines or other small details. But generally you keep your wrist and lower arm fixed as one unit and you rotate your elbow as you draw the line. This movement happens quite fast. Also, hold your pencil any way you want, i.e., the way you are used to it.
To measure the length of a line you can use the following procedure:
First, you choose a Basic Length Unit. It is the length of a line segment that is not too long and not too short relative to a scene.
We will choose two such basic units:
1. Life Unit – First, we choose a basic length unit for the real scene you want to draw. For a large life scene you can do this by holding a pencil at arm’s length with locked elbow. Then, with one eye closed, you can measure a basic unit with your pencil using your thumb as a marker. Draw this line segment on a separate piece of paper.
2. Paper Unit – Now, you also need a basic length for your actual drawing. This is because the size of the real scene will usually be different from the one you will render on your paper. Again, use your pencil to choose a basic length unit suitable for the size of your paper and call it the “Paper Unit”. Draw it next to the Life Unit.
Now we are ready to use these two basic units. We use the Life Unit to measure any length on the real composition. We express these lengths in terms of the number of Life Units. For example, you will speak of this table leg being about half a Life Unit or this hat sits 1.5 Life Units to the left of that umbrella. Don’t forget to make the measurements always in the same manner, i.e., at arm’s length, with locked elbow, and with one eye closed.
Next, you take your Paper Unit and multiply it by the ratio you just obtained with your Life Unit. For example, on your paper the table leg will measure 0.5 times the Paper Unit or the hat will sit 1.5 Paper Units to the left of the umbrella. That’s all there is to it.
Then there remains the technique to measure angles:
Angles are measured relative to the horizontal and the vertical. If you work on rectangular paper you can use its vertical and horizontal edges as a reference. The angle you observe in your life composition will be the same on your paper.
Again, you can use your pencil but this time align it horizontally (or vertically) and estimate the angle a particular line makes with your horizontal or vertical. This technique requires some practice but after awhile you’ll get a feel for angles. After you’ve drawn the line you can check of the length as well as the angle seem right to you. It is remarkable how quickly the eye gets trained to detect incorrect proportions and angles. But it does take some time and practice.
Note that curved lines can be considered as a linkage of small straight lines so that the same techniques can also be applied in an approximate manner to these curved lines.
The above tips should start you off in the right direction with regards to dealing with lines.
Feel interested to learn the skill of oil painting? Read beginners oil painting here.
For the upper back tattoos read these tips as well.
Arts, Entertainment and Music | Comment (0)Upper Back Tattoos
If you have ever considered upper back tattoos, you were thinking along the right lines. There are so many reasons why people love upper back tattoos, but the main reason is that the back is an expansive, nearly flat and unremarkable canvas on most people. This makes it perfect for those who want to have a tattoo that requires a bit more detail or space to accomplish. Best of all, tattoos in this area can easily be added to without anyone ever noticing. Let’s take a look at the subject of upper back tattoos in a bit more detail.
Upper Back Tattoos Work Well In the Professional World
One of the things that is great about your back as a canvas for interesting tattoos is that in a work setting, nobody should ever be able to tell that you have a tattoo without you showing them. At the beach or at the pool is one thing, but when you work (unless you work somewhere where clothing is optional) people will never be able to see your back. Upper back tattoos are easily hidden by a tee shirt or even just a tank top, meaning that you can go places that you normally wouldn’t dare with your ink.
Upper Back Tattoos Are Great Starting Points
Another thing that works rather well with upper back tattoos is that they are easily added to. If you start out with a small, medium, or even a larger upper back tattoo, you can add more to it later if you want to as the back is a large area. The fact that it is fairly flat also makes it a good place to have a tattoo that you may want more added to later, as the arms and legs and even the stomach make this a little bit difficult.
Upper Back Tattoos May Lead to Lower Back Tattoos
When it comes to the ladies, lower back tattoos are another option for someone who wants to be a little more discreet with their ink. Many times, upper back tattoos and the things that get added on to them lead to the desire for lower back tattoos, a popular spot for ink when it comes to the fairer sex. These are not only sexy, but stylish and chic and easily hidden at the same time. Being a relatively flat area as well, the lower back makes it easy for people to be able to use whatever tattoo design they like without having to wonder if it will fit or look good.
Upper back tattoos and virtually any other tattoo that goes on the back is bound to be a good one. If you are interested in getting inked on your back, you will find that the possibilities are endless when it comes to design ideas.
Get more tattoo design ideas.
Free Guidebook to Mastering Skill of Seeing Color
Beginners Oil Painting Tips – The Skill of Seeing Color
Color is the central component of painting. It is what makes it a unique art form. Therefore, it is essential that we develop the skill of seeing colors as they really are. Here are some tips to help you with this.
Prejudice – The first step in learning to see color correctly is to get rid of all built-in preconceived notions about color.
The brain (luckily) has the ability to filter the myriad of visual impulses and often fills gaps with stylized memories of reality. Unfortunately, stylized color memories are often very wrong.
So, we must learn to approach the observation of each color as if we see it for the first time without prejudice.
Local Color – Each object has its own color which is sometimes called the object’s local color. It is the color of the object when seen in normal daylight.
Light – The local color of an object will be affected by the light that shines on it. We must realize that all surfaces are to some degree reflective. In other words, the local color of an object changes when subjected to light and we must be aware of those changes.
For example, let’s we have a perfectly red apple. That is, the local color of the entire apple is red. When a yellowish light shines on this apple sideways we will observe that the lit side takes on an orange undertone and that the side in the side receives a violet bias which is the complement of yellow.
Harmony – A lit scene is naturally harmonized. The light that spreads over the scene has the effect of changing all the local colors in such a way that all colors become harmonized.
For example, the colors you observe in an actual landscape will always be in harmony. This is because the light source (the sun) drenches the entire scene. This is not the case when you put together an imagined scene in your studio. Indeed, it takes a bit of color theory knowledge to produce a harmonious painting.
Nomenclature – There is also the matter of nomenclature. People tend to use special names for certain colors such as lemon green, navy blue, etc. This is not the best way to go about describing colors.
A better way is to start with the three primary color names: red, yellow, and blue. Add to these the names of the three secondary colors: orange, green, and violet.
Then, a color that looks like red but has an orange bias is called orange-red. A color that is clearly yellow but has a green undertone is called green-yellow. Or, a green that has more yellow than blue in it is called a yellow-green. And so on.
Tertiary colors often have a clear secondary nature with a bit of a third color added. For example, we can speak of an orange-red with a touch of blue or white.
This way of thinking about color also aids us with color observation. When you see a color you can start by identifying the overall primary color. Then you can try to judge if there is a bias to that primary color. And finally, you can try to gauge if there are touches of additional colors visible in the mix.
At the same time, this approach also gives you a methodical approach to mixing the observed color on your palette.
In the end, as is the case with so much in painting, learning to observe colors correctly is a matter of practice and experience. The above tips, however, should help in this endeavor.
I am also giving useful tips about how to draw with pencil here.
Crazy about upper back tattoos? Make sure you know this before getting one done.
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