Ready, Set, Draw!

Since I’m an artist, I would like to share with you a few basic principles of drawing.  The pencil is the most basic medium to learn with in producing art, so let’s start there.

In making any kind of drawing and a soft-lead pencil and a sketchpad, and I recommend a pad at least 9x12 inches in size.  If you are interested in drawing landscapes, then you will want to hold the pad horizontally as you draw.  Most landscapes show earth and sky, and the place where these two meet is called the horizon.  With few exceptions, it should never be placed midway between the top and bottom of your picture.  This will produce a static and boring picture.  The most satisfactory results are always achieved with the horizon somewhere below or above the center of the paper.

Also, symmetry vertically should be avoided.  It is balance, not symmetry that is pleasing to the eye, so place your “center of interest” (such as a house, an old barn, a boat, a twisted oak tree) on one side or the other of the center of the page.

As you look at the scene you are about to draw, you will notice that everything recedes toward the horizon.  Many things contribute to this effect—color and value graduations, the diminishing sizes of objects, such as trees, and the converging of parallel lines as they lead away from you.  So if you’re center of interest is an old shack, you might draw a meandering path of rock or dirt up to the structure.  Or you could sketch trees or shrubs or rocks that diminish in size as they go back.  Also, you might give more detail and perhaps stronger shadows to your center of interest, and hazier, grayer tones to the surrounding object, which will cause the viewer to look at all the drawing but continually settle on the main thing you want him or her to see.

I’ve found that art is a measure of talent but a lot more the amount of time one is willing to practice, so get outside and draw, draw, draw.  I bet you’ll improve with every sketch!