Pencil Drawing Tips

The Fishermen by Jim Fogarty

Most people who enjoy drawing will probably have their own tried and
tested methods, ideas and techniques. Lets face it, there are only so
many things that you can do with a graphite pencil no matter how
clever you are.
Most of the limited information and techniques briefly outlined here are
probably already used in one form or another by the majority of
people wor!ing in pencil. "ut here are the few very basic drawing tools
that # personally wor! with and tend to use for my own pencil drawings.
Pencils
$ome pencil artist today prefer to wor! with mechanical draughtsmans
style pencils. These mechanical pencils have numerous advantages
over regular pencils. They are a constant length and so a constant
balance, the leads are more regular and they don%t need sharpening as
such.
The arguments for using mechanical pencils ma!e a lot of sense. "ut
then again, doing what ma!es sense has never really been my
strongpoint and with me old habits die hard. &ersonally, # have always drawn with regular wooden

pencils, mostly %$taedtler
Tradition% and %'erwent (raphic%
pencils, ranging in hardness from
)* +,ery hard- to )" +,ery soft-,
*" being about midway between
the two. They are what # have
become used to and whilst the
chore of sharpening %umpteen%
pencils at a time can be a pain,
there does seem to be something
vaguely %wor!manli!e% about the
whole process.
# also sharpen my pencils with a
scalpel as opposed to a pencil
sharpener, it maybe ta!es slightly
longer, but this way # find # can get e.actly the profile of lead that # want impossible with a
pencil sharpener. This is certainly not necessarily the best way to wor! and # wouldn%t dream
of suggesting to anyone else that they should do the same, it%s just what # personally have
gotten used to doing.
Other Useful 'Bits'
/s well as the pencils and whatever paper or board #%m using when drawing, there are a few
other items that # always try to have at hand before # start. "y far the most used pieces of !it
that # have are my trusty %wet and dry% boards. These are simply pieces of wood or hardboard
with %wet and dry% fine grit paper glued onto them. These file boards are used to maintain a
needle sharp point on my pencils, this being essential for really fine wor!. /nother useful
byproduct of my %frantic filing% is the build up of graphite powder on these boards very useful
for rendering clouds, or large areas of smooth shading li!e the s!y or bac!ground tones. #
usually apply this graphite dust with either cotton wool, or applied with the tip of a cotton bud
for shading smaller areas. 0otton wool and cotton buds also wor! very well on graphite
applied with a pencil for smoothing or fading the edges of previously shaded areas.
1bviously different tones
being achieved by using
different grades of graphite
dust, just the same as using
the pencils.
My fileboard basically, just a
bit of wood with with a piece
of wet and dry paper glued
onto it2 3ote the graphite dust
useful for clouds and large
areas of shading. / little blob
of "lu Tac! in each corner
!eeps the board from moving
about yet another blob of
"lu Tac! is used here for cleaning e.cess graphite off of the pencil tip after filing.

This drawing was ta!en from an old blac! and white photograph of my Father and a very %young% Me +nowhere near as cute as this anymore2-.
#t too! about a wee! or so to complete and was drawn on /4 si5e paper. The original 64cm . 67cm photograph +ta!en with an old "o. "rowny-
was quite overe.posed in places. This added to the feel of photograph so # drew it out the same way.
Li!e everyone # ma!e mista!es +Far too many actually- and on those occasions there are really only
three options. They are the plastic rubber, the putty rubber and the trusty %"lu Tac!% option........ +o!ay,
maybe there are four options if it%s really, really, 89/LL:, grim # may just bin it2-. %"inning% option
aside though, # do still tend to use the putty rubber for rubbing out initial %light% s!etch lines when
drawing out. "ut generally by far the most effective method of removing graphite is "lu Tac!. /pplying
a lump of "lu Tac! to graphite actually lifts the graphite off the paper without damaging the papers%
surface at all. This is very useful, not only for removing general mista!es, but also for creating
highlights on already shaded areas. "lu Tac! is an invaluable %get out of jail free card% when drawing
and certainly worth a play if you%re not already familiar with it.

Basic Techniques
*ere again, most people having used pencils to draw for any time will already have developed their
own personal techniques and ideas. "ut here are the most valuable lessons regarding pencil drawing,
that # personally, have learnt over the years.
Always draw out %light% to start with. # tend to use an *" pencil to draw out my initial, very light

outlines. ;se minimal pressure and ma!e your lines just heavy enough so that you can see them
that way if you ma!e a mista!e or have to adjust something you can, without leaving deep
indentations in your paper.
Wherever possible avoid %outlining% the various parts of your drawing with hard drawn edges +unless
of course they actually are hard edges2-. 1nce 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 wor!ing on- and then try and recreate your outline by contrasts of light and shade, te.tures,
or different styles of applied shading without where possible, resorting to a hard pencil line +that in
reality probably isn%t actually there anyway-. / classic e.ample of this is when drawing the feathered
outline of birds, or the fur on the outline of animals. <hen 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.
Always avoid resting your hand on the surface of your paper wherever possible. :our hands no
matter how particular you may be about washing them will always be slightly greasy. <here possible
# always use a second piece of paper to rest my hand on, avoiding contact with my actual drawing
surface whenever it%s practical to do so. =eeping your paper clean this way, in my e.perience helps
greatly if you maybe need to erase applied graphite later +any grease or moisture from your s!in
effectively binding the graphite into the papers surface ma!ing it harder to erase cleanly-.
Never use your finger to smooth out shaded areas on your paper. /lways use something dry to wor!
applied graphite. :ou can buy proper tools for this purpose, but # tend to use cotton wool for larger
areas of smoothing and cotton buds for smaller areas. 3ever use your fingers2
Always try to avoid resting your hand on areas already wor!ed. "eing right handed # try to wor! from
left to right and top to bottom on my drawings. <hilst this is not always practical using this principle
as far as possible will help !eep your drawing smudge free. 1n occasions however, resting on already
wor!ed areas is unavoidable. "y using your second piece of paper as a rest for your hand however,
you can get away with overwor!ing previously drawn or shaded areas. Just ensure that once your
%rest% paper is laid on your wor!, 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, wor! on it again and so on
never drag it, as this can smudge any soft graphite applied underneath the paper, just as your hand
would.
Always !eep your harder +detail- pencils sharp. There is just no way that you can apply fine detail to
a drawing with blunt pencils. # 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.
Always wipe the end of your pencil after sharpening. &articularly 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
!itchen or toilet roll before using it on your drawing again. :ou will always get residual grains of
graphite that will stic! to the sharpened surface of your pencil, these can ruin a finely drawn line, so
wipe them off before using the pencil again.
Never use a %hard% rubber on your paper if you can avoid it. /ll a hard rubber does is effectively %rip% off
the top layer of your drawing paper, ta!ing your mista!e with it. This ruins the smooth surface of your
paper and whilst you may have removed your mista!e you%ve also removed your drawing surface.
8edrawing or shading over that damaged surface will be very difficult. #f you must use a rubber use
a putty rubber, but better by far is to use "lu Tac!. "lu Tac! lifts the graphite off the surface of the
paper without damaging it. The more times "lu Tac! is applied to a graphite line, or area of shading,
the lighter that line will get.
Always clean up your wor! once it%s finished. 1nce your drawing is complete clean any smudges on
the paper around your wor! using either a putty rubber or "lu Tac!, but do ta!e the time to clean up
your page before sealing your wor! with fi.ative. "y removing any unintentional smudges off of your
drawing, it ma!es it loo! cleaner, better defined and generally more professional.
Always seal your finished pencil drawing. 1nce
you%re certain that your drawing is complete
seal it. (raphite pencil will smudge if rubbed or
touched, so seal it in with a sealing or fi.ative
spray +/vailable at art shops-. /n alternative is a
%perfume free% firm hold hairspray hairspray
does e.actly the same thing as %proper% fi.ative
sprays and is cheaper too. $pray these
%fi.atives% on lightly though. Too heavy an
application can cause a slight loss of really fine
detail with graphite wor!. $everal light
applications generally wor! best. "e aware
though once your wor! is sealed you will be
unable erase any mista!es. $o ma!e sure it is
right before you seal it2
#f you draw yourself you will no doubt already be
well aware of most of what is written above,
actually much of it is just common sense really. #
certainly don%t profess to be any !ind of drawing
e.pert, these observations are based purely on
my own limited drawing e.perience..............and
lots of mista!es.
They do however, wor! for me, so hopefully there may be something in the information above that
may be useful to you.
'etail