If you are a beginner from scratch - a complete zero, like me, and wanted to learn how to draw with a pencil - read the chronicle of a lazy untalented artist. The last time I drew was in school. I drew like everyone else, average.

How can you draw with a pencil after 50 hours of practice and how to learn it. I started drawing from scratch. I did not draw regularly, on average 15 minutes a day, for six months. And you can learn in a couple of months, drawing for 60 minutes a day!

Drawing is a copying skill

I started drawing the following drawings in the belief that I was mediocre at drawing. But because I know that almost everything I know about myself is not true. I decided to double-check myself: do I really have crooked hands or did I suffer so much at school.

Sphere

The main drawing element. We draw shadows and half-shadows of the sphere.

The time indicated is taking into account the reading of the textbook. Drawing itself takes half the time.

Cube

Basic building brick of any pattern.

Cube modifications

Drawing a texture with a pencil

Flags and rose

Draw cubes - advanced level

Drawing Spheres - Advanced

From this stage you obligated to buy shading - paper pencil. In the previous tutorials, I blended with my finger, then with a #3 feather.

All the magic of penumbra: volume, small shadows in the corners, when drawing an eye and a portrait - thanks to shading. Your drawing ability will seem to be multiplied by three! You'll be blown away when you compare your results.

Flags, scrolls

Cylinders: volcano, cup

Draw a living tree

Room in perspective

Street in perspective

Drawing in the central perspective: the castle, the city

Perspective lettering

Learning to draw a portrait

Learning to draw a hand

Exam: first portrait!

Drawing people is much more difficult than drawing roses or anime. The face must not be distorted - every mistake is immediately noticeable. You need to learn how to draw people when you feel confident that you can draw a recognizable outline and sketch of a face.

Portraits cannot be drawn quickly, diligence and care are required. Here is the portrait of my wife:

Learning to draw pictures from scratch

I painted eight paintings in total for a day, half the time. I also practiced with a pencil for one day. It takes 50-150 hours to learn how to draw to the same results, even if "hands grow out of your ass." In terms of serials, this is 2-3 seasons of Dr. House.

Vasya Lozhkina painted the first acrylic painting “And I like you” for 6 hours. What is acrylic and how to deal with it - I did not know. I also held the brush for the first time after school.

It is not easy to knead the desired shade. Quit everything because it doesn’t work out - I was torn every half an hour. You need someone to support you. I went to study at an art studio and drew under the supervision of an artist. A year later, a couple of times I took drawing lessons online from the same teacher.

I learned to draw with a pencil, and the skill turned out to be complex. I took a brush for the first time after school and painted. Long 6 hours, crooked, but how cool! Now I can make an extraordinary gift - draw a picture for a friend, a bookmark in a notebook, a caricature for work. Even did a little cartoon.

First painting: pastel, acrylic, gouache and oil. All techniques are from scratch, and hanging on the wall is not a shame.

How to learn to draw correctly - algorithm

Learning to draw with a pencil is the base: demolish angles, line sizes, respect proportions. Just learn not to be afraid to draw. Master the initial level, and then only more fun and easier.

How to learn to draw

We draw with a simple pencil.

Fundamental drawing tool. Almost all illustrations, sketches and paintings are first drawn in pencil. Then it is rubbed down to barely visible lines, or on top we draw with paints. Errors are easily corrected. #1 for beginners.

We draw gel pens.

A simple tool for drawing in color. The technique of drawing is similar to the technique of drawing with a pencil - after all, a pen, not a brush. Errors can only be corrected in Photoshop.





We draw with felt-tip pens. Analogues: markers and professional "copics".

More variety of colors than gel pens. The set will cost less. After 1-2 years, the felt-tip pens dry out and you need to buy a new set.





Felt pens soak the paper a little and it starts to sag, because of this I don’t like to draw with them. You can point 2-3 times and the line becomes more saturated, you can draw penumbra.

We draw with watercolors.

Cheap materials, and familiar from school. They are diluted with water, so a new layer of paint blurs the previous one. It is difficult to master how she will behave. From scratch, on your own, it's not easy to learn how to draw details. The advantage is availability.

• We draw with gouache.

  Matte color, thicker than watercolor, is also diluted with water. Great for beginners: it's easier to fix inaccuracies than watercolor. Cheap stuff.

  
  

• We draw acrylic paints.

  The most accessible professional material. Acrylic dries quickly, 5-15 minutes. It is easy for them to apply a second layer, to correct flaws. If it is of good quality, then it is resistant to water.

  Acrylic paint on canvas. You can also outline anything: a wall, a stool, a cup, a helmet, an ashtray, a T-shirt, photo frames. I recommend then to open the work with varnish from a can.

  

• We draw pastel - dry and oil.

  The technique of drawing with pastel is unusual - you need to draw with crayons, rubbing them on paper.

  
  

  The technique of drawing with oil pastels is similar to drawing with pencils, but has its own characteristics.

  
  

• We draw with oils.

  Complex professional paints. Durable, but you can’t buy cheap ones - they crack.

  It dries for a long time, about 2-10 days. This is a plus - you can always remove the layer, draw, shade. But also a minus, you need to very carefully apply a layer on top so as not to spoil what is. I do not recommend their use for beginners.

  

Are you able to learn how to draw with a pencil? . Find "Why?", buy a textbook and draw for fun. In a month - be surprised at your abilities.

Each of us in childhood made our first sketches. At the drawing lessons, not everyone tried to do the work efficiently, did not think about acquiring skills. At an older age, many feel the need to create something beautiful, but how to learn to draw with a pencil? After all, any drawing techniques are based on the ability to properly hold the stylus, make elementary sketches, and create images. In this article you will find useful tips for learning to draw, both in art school and on your own.

Pencil Drawing Basics

Experts say that anyone can learn how to learn how to draw correctly with a pencil, regardless of age. Learning to paint always begins with getting to know the materials that a novice artist needs:

• a sheet of white paper, any format;
• eraser, he is a rubber grater;
• simple pencils.

The first steps in drawing begin with a pencil sketch. With the help of mean lines, the general outlines of the object being drawn, various poses, and moments of movement are conveyed. A sketch is the fastest way to get your first thoughts and impressions of what you're drawing on paper. During the execution of the sketch, you do not need to pay attention to unnecessary details, it is recommended to draw it for no more than 10 minutes.

How to learn to draw from scratch

Scientific psychologists have proved that during the process of creating a drawing, both hemispheres of the brain are actively working in a person, imagination is turned on. No wonder there is a technique for calming the nerves called art therapy - this is drawing for adults and children. Many want to be able, but do not know how to learn to draw with a pencil. Learning to draw from scratch is not at all difficult, because the technique of drawing with a pencil is available to children and adults.

Art school

How to teach a child to draw with a pencil? The best solution is to send him to art school. It is designed for teaching school-age children from 6 to 17 years old. Upon admission to this institution, the level of knowledge and skills in the visual arts is determined. Depending on the skills of the child, they are assigned to the appropriate group of students.

Education at the art school is free and is funded by the state. This institution is visited after the main lessons at school three times a week. The course of study is from two to seven years. After graduation, the graduate receives a diploma that opens the door to an artistic future: admission to a college or a higher institution in the specialty.

Courses

How can adults learn to draw with a pencil? It is possible to learn the art of drawing with the help of art courses. They are paid. The course of study ranges from several weeks to four years. During this time, the art studio will teach you the following skills:

• How to draw correctly in a phased technique.
• Learn how to use a pencil and a brush. Teachers in the art studio teach not only the ability to properly hold tools, but also to choose, to distinguish high-quality from low-grade ones.
• Learn how to draw children with a pencil.
• Learn many drawing techniques.
• Learn how to learn how to draw various objects.
• Learn to draw from life, landscapes, still lifes, people, animals, etc.
• Learn to color - choose and combine colors correctly.
• Learn how to draw a cat with a pencil and other animals.
• You will be told how to learn how to draw portraits.

Lessons online

If you do not have free time, and you do not know how to learn how to draw with a pencil, then use online courses. They are suitable for those who do not have the opportunity to visit a stationary studio. An approximate plan for completing classes of this format for beginner artists:

• The teacher gives basic knowledge in drawing in the form of examples of work, pictures.
• The chosen topic of the drawing lesson is analyzed in detail.
• The teacher gives homework at the end of the lesson, which you complete and mail to the teacher for review.
• At the next lesson, the student, together with the teacher, analyzes the homework in detail, together correcting the mistakes in the drawing, if any.

Online lessons, as an option, in order to learn how to draw professionally, are not the only way out. If you do not have financial and territorial opportunities, but there is a great and irresistible desire to learn how to draw cool, then this can be done independently with the help of:

• textbooks and manuals for drawing;
• tutorials;
• drawing instructions;
• instructional videos.

Step by step drawing technique

A beginner needs to practice drawing by creating sketches. In order for the drawing to be meaningful, the sketch must be created according to the rules that form the plan:

1. First, choose an object to draw, such as a teapot or a vase.
2. Examine it from all sides, determine the shape, its texture, how shadows fall on this object.
3. Determine the composition of the drawing, i.e. how it will be placed on paper, in what format.
4. After the contours are drawn, draw the details, apply shadows.

Human

In order to draw a person, you need to decide on the composition. This means that you need to analyze the boundaries of the location from head to toe. When you mentally imagine the figure, begin to compose the parts of the body. You need to draw a person from a sketch of the contours of the head, dropping lower. In the image of a person, it is very important to immediately find the image, you should determine the amount of detail needed for the finished drawing.

Face

In drawing a person, much attention is paid to the face. To draw it correctly, you need to follow the steps:

1. Decide how the face will be located on paper. To do this, mentally draw an axis of symmetry, it should pass through the center of the sheet.
2. Draw with a pencil on paper the outlines of the face in the form of an oval (the shape of a chicken egg).
3. Line up the shape of the face, starting from the chin line, moving to the most convex part - the zygomatic region, then to the narrowest - the temporal zone.
4. Align the drawn lines with the help of an eraser, this will noticeably "lighten" the outlines of the oval.
5. Divide the resulting oval into three equal parts with light, barely noticeable lines. The very first line, located closer to the chin, marks the tip of the nose.
6. We draw the nose, starting from the tip. It always protrudes forward, therefore it has a round, square, or pointed shape. Then we draw the wings of the nose and the bridge of the nose.
7. We draw a mouth, starting from the upper bend of the lip, which is located in the middle of the nostrils of the nose.

Eyes

In a portrait of a person, the eyes occupy the most important place, they attract attention to themselves, so they need to be given special attention. To draw them in a phased technique, you must adhere to this plan:

1. Before drawing the eyes, it is necessary to designate the eyebrows, which are located at the level of the bridge of the nose. Their form depends on the character that the artist wants to convey in the portrait.
2. Having outlined the approximate location of the eyes, we draw their shape in the form of an oval.
3. Draw a pupil in the shape of a circle.
4. We direct the eyelids and shape the eyelashes.

Anime and Manga

Many young artists start their art training with anime and manga, because portraying people in the style of bright Japanese cartoon characters is much easier than in the classic one. The greatest emphasis in such cartoon characters falls on the head, eyes and hair. Let's analyze a step-by-step drawing scheme, with the help of which a novice artist will learn how to learn how to draw anime:

1. We start drawing anime with an oval that will be the head.
2. Divide the circle in half lengthwise using a straight line.
3. We divide the head across into three parts with light lines.
4. Next, you need to note the location of the eyes, nose and mouth.
5. We draw big eyes, starting from the arch of the upper eyelid. The distance between them should be equal to one eye. Much attention in drawing pupils is paid to applying highlights. Eyebrows for these characters are drawn in a classic style: two even arcs.
6. Anime and manga noses are drawn small, expressed with a tick.
7. The lips are drawn with two small lines.
8. Anime and manga hair should be drawn in falling triangles that slightly cover the eyes.
9. Anime girls are drawn in bright clothes, mostly in dresses.

3d drawings

Volumetric drawings fascinate with their realism, thanks to the correct construction of the form, the application of shadows and highlights in the right places. Learning to depict such pictures should be from simple geometric shapes: a cylinder, a rhombus, a square. To recreate the 3D illusion of an object, it is necessary to draw in isometry, when the angles between the coordinate axes are 45 degrees. The volume of the picture is added by auxiliary lines, which are drawn inside the figure with a light touch, and the outline is drawn with a bold, darker color.

portraits

Portraits can be drawn from nature or from photographs. Before drawing up the image, carefully consider what message the future drawing will carry. Learn to draw a portrait of a person correctly, not only in terms of proportionality and symmetry, but also to display vivid emotions. Another task of drawing an image of a person is the maximum transfer of the similarity of what is drawn, for its implementation, before drawing, consider all the details, highlight those features, “highlights” that you will focus on.

Graffiti on paper

Now graffiti drawing is a fashionable movement that is gaining momentum. Many buildings are full of incomprehensible voluminous inscriptions, but often there are beautiful, professional drawings on the walls. So that your paintings do not disfigure city buildings, and expensive paints do not go to waste, you need to practice on paper for a long time. To get started, try drawing the letters of the alphabet with a simple pencil. To give them volume, use auxiliary lines.

House

The ability to draw buildings is useful not only for children, but also for people of all age groups to easily compose pictures, for example, a house with a landscape. Buildings are very easy to draw with lines. You should start with a rectangle, adding a triangle, you will get the image of a house, as children draw it. With the help of simple tricks and additional lines, the house becomes voluminous.

Cars

To draw a car with a pencil, you must follow a step-by-step plan:

1. Mark the outer outlines of the machine by dividing it in half with a line.
2. We draw the body with bolder lines.
3. Then we draw wheels.
4. We display the details of the front of the car: headlights, windshield, bumper.
5. We draw windows, doors, mirrors.

Animals

It is much more difficult to draw animals than objects, especially from nature, because they constantly change their position and are in motion. To draw an animal, for example, a horse, you need to decide on its characteristic features: a thick mane, an elongated muzzle, slender muscular legs. See detailed instructions. You may not be able to correctly portray your favorite cat or dog on the first try, but after a few trainings you will definitely succeed.

Video tutorials on drawing with a simple pencil for beginners

Video tutorials are a great way to learn how to draw on your own. Below is a selection of tutorial videos where experienced artists demonstrate how to create easy pencil drawings for beginners. After watching the video, you will learn how to draw Japanese cartoon characters - anime girls, learn how to draw flowers. If you like landscapes, then watch the third video to the end, in which the artist draws nature, focusing on trees.

Draw girls

How to draw flowers

Beautiful landscapes

How to draw a human body

Types and techniques of pencil drawing

List of lessons:

Pencil drawing technique, types of pencils, drawing basics, you will find all this in our article.

Pencil- an instrument accessible to everyone, familiar from school drawing lessons. The stylus easily forgives flaws and inaccuracies of lines, a suitable eraser is enough. However, the more demanding the work becomes, the more carefully you need to choose a pencil and its accompanying materials.

Many people prefer mechanical pencils with retractable leads for their convenience. Their lines are always uniform in thickness and intensity, and this is both an advantage and a disadvantage.

Before pencils were mechanical they were classified according to the softness of the lead with the letters H and B, which, depending on the pressure, left a more or less dark line.

The number next to the letter indicates the degree of this indicator.

The higher the hardness H pencil, the denser the lead and the lighter the line, the more it “scratches the paper”, leaving a groove-dent in it that cannot be removed with an eraser.

Soft B the stylus, on the contrary, draws more dark lines, crumbles easily and injures the paper less.

Beginners should start with an HB (TM) pencil- This is a standard pencil, medium hardness-softness.

Pencil sharpening is the most important parameter. The sharpening angle allows you to expose the stylus, which, depending on the inclination to the paper, draws either thin or wide lines. This technique helps to create expressive drawings.

The sharpening angle is created with a cutter: the wider its blade, the easier it is to increase the angle.

Box sharpeners will help sharpen the lead, but their sharpening angle is always the same.

Take white and thick paper, best of all grainy - pencil shades will be clearly visible on it.

Fundamentals of drawing technique

The drawing is linear, voluminous and mixed, and subdivided according to purpose.

• Drawing- technical drawing,
• sketch- a quick sketch of an idea from the head or an object from life,
• etude- analysis of the model and its plausible image.

The choice of technique depends on the purpose.

In the drawing you need the ability to adjust the hardness and angle of pressure along the ruler, the accuracy of working with paper when correcting.

in sketch expressiveness is important, the transfer of essence, and the choice of expressive means is not limited by anything. The more techniques in the draftsman's arsenal, the more accurately he will select the one that is suitable for a given sketch.

Etude- a classic drawing, in which there is always a model; in translation, etude is study, its purpose is to analyze the model and its plausible image on paper. Long, up to several hours, etude sessions develop a sense of proportions, an eye and a hand-eye connection, which allows you to draw accurately, only occasionally taking your eyes off the model.

drawing techniques

outline drawing to

requires work with the line, its thickness, intensity and shape. Drawing a line of the desired quality is an indicator of the skill of a draftsman, which is achieved through practice.

There are many simple and quick exercises for training the hand, they are based on: drawing a shape at a time, without lifting the pencil from the paper. Start with stationary objects - this makes it possible to compare the image with the original and take into account errors.

It is important to vary pencils- mechanical and simple, soft and hard, with and without a large sharpening angle, as well as paper density - from waxed sheet to loose cardboard. The variety of the result will help you understand exactly how to achieve a certain property of the line.

3D drawing

It is based on the transmission of chiaroscuro - the gradation of tone between surfaces in the light and in the shadow. In a pencil drawing, the transfer of tone is achieved by shading and its subsequent stage - shading. Reception is based on a gradual set of surface tone.

Hatching

creating parallel lines with a separation of the pencil from the paper. The choice of stroke length depends on the nature of the surface - the more uniform the surface, the longer the stroke. Stroke density is the distance between lines. The greater the density, the darker the tone of the surface. Hatches can overlap each other. This classic drawing technique simultaneously increases the darkening and gives the surface a relief.

Hatching seems like a simple technique, but it takes practice to do it well. Strokes should be straight, loops at the beginning or end of the line give out an unsteady hand. You also need to train the angle of inclination - novice draftsmen stroke at one angle that is convenient for the hand, while the relief of the form achieves precisely the variation of the angle.

feathering

literally "smearing" graphite chips of a stroke on the surface of the paper, in which the lines mix and disappear. This technique allows you to achieve a "photographic" image. For successful shading, preliminary hatching should be done with the softest stylus - this will greatly simplify the work and save the surface of the paper.

Rookie Mistakes

Neglect of drawing from nature.

Often, novice draftsmen want a quick, spectacular result “for the frame,” so they choose the picture they like for the base. This copying will help to develop a hand, but a three-dimensional model is needed to acquire a sense of space.

The importance of lighting.

We perceive form depending on how it is illuminated. A close, bright light source will create contrast between surfaces, while a weak one will blur the contours. Try to illuminate the same object in different ways - the nature of its shape will change. Proper lighting of the model will allow you to consciously work with chiaroscuro and develop spatial thinking.

From simple to complex

It's impossible to create a masterpiece from scratch, but don't despair. Take on feasible exercises, build your training from simple to complex. With each new drawing, the eyes will be more trained, the hand more confident, and the experience will allow you to intuitively choose the appropriate techniques, and then mix them.

Vary the type of exercises: after a long, but necessary study for the eye, do not start the next one. Develop, make a friendly caricature on the just completed plaster bust. Drawing techniques are tools for conveying ideas, and the more of them you have in your arsenal, the more eloquent your work will be.

You are amazed at the skill and technique of the artist's work. Of course, most of the creativity of the work is determined by talent, but without systematic work it cannot be fully revealed.

We present to your attention a small text dedicated to the basics of drawing with a pencil.

Paper.

Preparation for drawing usually begins with the choice of suitable paper. For quick sketches and small sketches, it is enough to purchase an ordinary sketchbook. For larger and longer drawings, you should choose thick paper “semi-whatman”, “Alexandrian” or drawing sold in separate sheets. You can fix the paper on the board with buttons, but it is better to pull it on the tablet. In such cases, a sheet of paper is taken a little larger than the tablet. Having attached the paper to the tablet, slightly bend it around the edges. Then the paper is moistened with wet cotton wool or a sponge, the water is allowed to soak well into the paper, the excess water is drained. Then carefully grease the curved edges with carpentry, flour or other strong glue and glue them to the sides of the tablet. When sticking, the paper should be slightly, but not strongly, stretched with your fingers so that wrinkles and folds do not turn out, especially at the corners of the tablet. To do this, it is advisable to slightly cut the folded corners of the paper (make four cuts in the corners). The depth of such an incision should not exceed the width of the folded edge of the sheet. When you're done with the sticker, lay the tablet with the paper horizontally and let it dry slowly. When dry, the sheet of paper will stretch evenly, and it will be very convenient to draw on it. Do not dry the tablet near a hot stove or in the sun, as very fast, uneven drying can cause wrinkles at the corners of the paper, and sometimes even cracks.

You can stretch the paper on the tablet without glue, using the so-called eraser. The eraser consists of a tablet and a frame precisely fitted to it. As in the previous method, the paper is placed on the tablet, its edges are wrapped, and then the tablet with paper is inserted into the frame. The edges of the paper are firmly clamped between the tablet and the frame, and when dry, the paper stretches well. The convenience of using the eraser lies in the fact that after finishing work, the tablet can be easily removed from the frame, remove the finished drawing from it and lay a new sheet of paper. However, the manufacture of the eraser requires great accuracy, strict matching of the dimensions of the frame and the tablet freely included in it.

Pencil.

For drawings and sketches, we can recommend pencils of the brand "Designer", "Orion", "Mayak", etc. The degree of softness of a pencil is usually indicated at the end of its wooden frame with a number and the letter "M", "2M", "ZM", etc. ., with an increase in the “M” number, the softness of the pencil also increases. Hard pencils are marked with the letter "T"; "2T" is harder than "T" and "ZT" is harder than "2T", etc.

It is more convenient to start the drawing with a pencil of medium softness “TM” or “M”, and then move on to softer numbers “2M” and “ZM1”. However, the choice of one or another pencil number depends on the quality of the paper and on the educational and creative task that you set in this case. For example, it is convenient to make quick sketches with a very soft pencil, and a long drawing on semi-whatman paper can be started with light strokes with a “T” or “TM” pencil. On smooth paper, a soft pencil is better, on rougher paper a medium soft pencil is convenient, and on paper with a grainy surface, like Whatman paper, it is very difficult to draw with a pencil, since the line or stroke turns out to be intermittent and loose. On paper "whatman" work in watercolor.
The pencil should be held at arm's length while working. From a greater distance, the picture is visible in its entirety, which is very important for maintaining the overall unity and integrity of the image. At the same time, the pencil must be held freely, without tension, so as not to hamper the movement of the hand. In all cases, the pencil should be held with the thumb and forefinger, and supported with the middle finger. In a quick sketch and in the first stages of working on a long drawing, when you need to apply relatively long lines, quickly switching from one part of the drawing to another, the pencil point should be further from the fingers. Finishing the drawing, refining the details, you can move your fingers closer to the tip of the pencil.

It is most convenient to hold the pencil in such a way that its end, opposite the point, is inside the palm of your hand. In this way, even greater freedom in drawing lines is achieved, especially in larger drawings.
During work, you need to look not at the tip of the pencil, but as if looking ahead with your eye, to the final place where the line should be brought. Hand movements should be bold, energetic, however, one should not press hard on the paper. It is better to draw a light line several times in search of the correct shape than to erase incorrectly applied bold lines with an elastic band.

The less you use gum, the fresher and more pleasant the pattern will be. You should also not abuse the so-called "shading", when graphite is rubbed on paper with a finger. This gives the drawing a lifeless, boring and monotonous look. The most typical drawing technique with a simple graphite pencil is a stroke.
In the process of working on a drawing, individual auxiliary lines drawn for the initial marking and construction of the form gradually give way to strokes. Strokes, sometimes thickly, sometimes barely noticeable, are a means of conveying tonal relationships, depicted forms.

By conveying in the drawing the infinite variety of forms surrounding us, we can extract inexhaustible possibilities from a simple pencil, either by varying the pressure of a pencil of different softness, or by freely changing the direction and length of the strokes.
The strokes can go vertically, horizontally, diagonally or intertwined, they can be thick or sparse, clear or soft, straight, curved, wavy, etc. But always, in all cases, the strokes are not drawn “by themselves” , but to identify the depicted form. They seem to “sculpt” the given form in space, and therefore the nature of the strokes always depends on the nature of the form, as well as on the material of the depicted object. When drawing objects that are rectangular or rounded, you will apply strokes in different ways. You will draw massive and heavy objects differently than light and soft ones. In a different way, you will put the strokes when you draw a landscape or a person's head. Different tasks require their own stroke technique.

Coal.
Just as popular as a drawing material is charcoal. Charcoal is usually sold in small round sticks. It is not difficult to make it yourself. To do this, you need to plan dry birch sticks with a thickness slightly smaller than a pencil and lay them vertically in a tall tin can. The length of the sticks should match the height of the jar. The sticks should be laid tightly, covered with sand, closed the jar with a lid and covered with clay. Make a small hole in the lid. When you put the jar in the fire, the gas from the smoldering sticks in the jar will come out through the hole in the lid and ignite with a blue flame. As soon as the blue light above the hole in the lid goes out, the jar must be removed from the fire - the coal is ready.
Soft, well-rubbed charcoal on paper gives the artist rich opportunities. Charcoal can also draw relatively thin lines and lay wide spots of any shape, a wide tonal scale of coal allows you to quickly find the lightest and darkest tones of nature.

They often make sketches with charcoal, they mark out a preparatory drawing for painting on canvas, and they also make large finished drawings with it.

However, the soft and pliable material of coal has its drawbacks. Coal does not adhere well to paper, crumbles, the drawings made by it must be fixed or stored under glass. In order to better rub the charcoal into the pores of the paper, one should choose rough paper, and if this is not available, lightly rub the smooth paper with sandpaper to make it more susceptible to charcoal. For sketches made with charcoal, even the reverse side of the wallpaper is quite suitable, on which the charcoal fits quite well. Coal can be fixed either with a weak solution of rosin in denatured alcohol (10 g of rosin per half a glass of alcohol), or with a solution of gelatin in water (10 g of gelatin per glass of water). A good fixative is also obtained from skimmed cow's milk mixed with water. It is necessary to spray the drawings with a fixative from a spray bottle at a distance of two or three steps from the drawing, which is best placed on the floor and attached to the floor with buttons to prevent warping of the wetted sheet. Spraying should be done from above to avoid smudges. It is better to fix the drawing two or three times, spraying it with small doses.

Of the other materials used for drawing, one should also point out a charcoal pencil, pressed charcoal, sauce and sanguine.

Charcoal pencil is usually sold under the name "Retouch". Unlike a simple graphite pencil, it gives a much greater contrast of light and dark tones. In terms of its technical qualities, a charcoal pencil is close to charcoal, but it does not crumble so much and is hardly erased with an eraser. Working with a charcoal pencil requires a certain amount of experience, since the mistakes made in it are almost impossible to correct. Drawings made with a charcoal pencil must also be fixed.

Compressed charcoal goes on sale in the form of small round or square sticks. Similar in many ways to a charcoal pencil, but almost does not crumble and is not erased with an eraser.

The sauce looks like short sticks wrapped in tin paper, very fragile, immediately gives a velvety black tone, easily rubbed, allows you to make soft transitions from one tone to another. It is not recommended to work directly with a stick of sauce, as it strongly blackens and stains the drawing. Usually they use shading - a small piece of paper rolled into a tube with a sharp end. Beforehand, the sauce is ground in a small amount on a separate piece of paper and from there it is carefully applied by shading onto the drawing. If instead of shading, you work with a brush, and dilute the sauce on water, then the drawing looks like watercolor or Chinese ink. This method is commonly known as "wet sauce".

Sanguina, as well as pressed coal, is made in the form of short round or tetrahedral sticks. Its beautiful warm color - red or dark brown - is very effective in drawings of a head or a nude figure. In the work of sanguine, the same techniques are used as in the work of coal. Sanguina makes it possible to apply a variety of strokes and stains of various strengths. It can be rubbed with a cotton swab, you can apply shading, you can wash it with an elastic band. Like working with charcoal pencil and sauce, working with sanguine requires considerable experience.

Based on materials desert-chronicles.com

You can see more pencil drawings.

I. Using a variety of materials while drawing, you can achieve interesting effects:
1. to receive blurred outlines, drip water (or vodka) on a watercolor sheet. In this way it is good to depict the sky covered with clouds;
2. effect "flakes", snowflakes, "ice crust" can be obtained by sprinkling salt on the applied watercolor image;

3. chaotic uneven retouching is obtained thanks to crumpled paper;
4. stencil drawing has many options. Try attaching the cutout to a sheet of paper and painting them in watercolor. Now remove the stencil, allowing the paint to spread out. The contours of the stencil image will turn out blurry, and the color will intensify from the center of the figure to the periphery;
5. interesting texture can be achieved with sandpaper;
6.emerging "second" layer possible with multilayer image. draw crayons or a candle something on a sheet of paper and cover with watercolors. In those places where something is drawn with chalk or with a candle, the paint will not lay down evenly, and an image will be visible from under it;

7. "scratching" paint paintings. draw something crayons or a candle on paper (or just paint over the sheet with colored crayons). Now cover the sheet of paper with the image with a thick layer of paint (gouache) and let dry. After the paint has dried, you can start scratching the image. In those places where there is chalk, the paint will come off well, in other places it will remain an even background;

8. another interesting way to draw crayons and gouache can be called " mnew image". An object is drawn on paper with wax crayons, the entire space around it is also painted over with crayons. Now this sheet is carefully crumpled, straightened and covered with gouache. Now we quickly wash off the gouache with a sponge and water. The paint should remain only in places where the paper is folded;

9. an interesting effect is obtained from drawing sponge. Invite the child to "draw" with a sponge a crown of trees or a sea;

10. give "fluffiness" image can be done using gauze or cellophane. It's good to use this effect with stencil. Cut out an animal figure from cardboard and attach it to a piece of paper. Now we lower the gauze or cellophane into the paint diluted with water, and with light movements we pass along the contour of the stencil. When you remove the stencil, you will see a clear figure of the animal, and its contour will look soft and fluffy (for example, like a bear drawn with gauze by Valeria Koryavikova).
Nearby is a drawing made according to the same principle, only without a stencil, and instead of gauze, polyethylene bag;

11. try to use as an additional drawing tool threads. Good at drawing sinuous lines with the help of woolen threads from a loose product;

12. amazing colorful circles are obtained if you draw not with a brush, but electrical toothbrush or massage brush.

II. "Punching": baby might like it stamp"objects or in this way" draw "something." You can "stamp" any objects, it can be cubes (a set of geometric shapes) or an elastic band on the back of a pencil:

Prints can also be made with natural materials, for example, a spruce branch or a large leaf from a plant:

III. The kid may like to draw on a sheet if it lies on some convex surfaces. You can make your own curly stencil for "imprints", for example like this:

IV. If you draw on a wet drawing with watercolor back side of the brush, then you get " grooves", as in the picture with the trees. So you can “draw” wet with scissors, in which case the “grooves” will turn out the same and two at once.
V. Spray: interesting effects and images can be obtained by spraying paint from a brush or toothbrush onto a piece of paper. The same can be done by placing an object on a sheet. Then there will be a "dotted background" around the object, and the image of the object will be colorless.

With help spray you can paint the whole picture:

VI. blots: drip and let the paint spread over the sheet. You can blow into the center of the blot through a tube. Blot images can be made mirrored, if you first fold the sheet in half (or twist it), then straighten it and drip paint on it. Now fold the sheet again and press lightly. The rest is up to your imagination. See what the blots look like and draw the necessary details. Below is a mirror drawing from Yulia Mitko's inkblot.

VII.Monotype. This technique works well for postcards.Apply to glass (or any other material that does not absorb paint) multi-colored stripes or a pattern. Now place a sheet of paper on top and press lightly. Remove the sheet from the glass and examine the printed pattern.

VIII.Foam drawing.

1. Whisk foam and pick it up with a sponge. Now wring out the sponge so that the foam is in the paint container. Stir and apply foam with paint to paper with a brush. When the drawing dries, the excess foam can be blown away.

2. For creating effect use different shades take the colors shaving foam and gouache of the color you need. Mix shaving foam and paint in a bowl and apply with a brush to the drawing.

IX. Drawings with glue

1.Adhesive lining.Draw something on the sheet with a pencil. Squeeze out the glue along the contour of the image through a small hole in a tube of stationery glue and leave it to dry. Then paint over the space inside the contour.