Drawing tutorial

Materials

Before we start with the drawing we need to take a closer look at the materials that we need. This variate from artist to artist but this is what I use.

Pencils

I’ve tried both ordinary wooden pencils and mechanical pencils. In my opinion a 0.7 or 0.5 mechanical pencil with 2B lead is what works best. With a wooden pencil you spend most of the time sharpening your pencil and even then you can’t get the same precision as with a mechanical pencil. I also use an 0.7 pencil with HB lead for the early sketch and outlines.

Erasures

As you’ll see when we get to the drawing part of this tutorial the erasures are something you’ll use VERY much, even if you never draw anything wrong. Therefore it’s important to get your hands on a bunch of those before you even start. I can’t say that I’ve found any different whether they are cheap or expensive. Try some different ones and you’ll find out what works best for you. Since you’ll use these to make light details in your painting, you need to cut small sharp pieces from your erasures. I use 3 or 4 at a time, one or two to cut sharp pieces from, one for bigger white areas as highlights and such and the last one to clean the paper afterwards.

Paper

This is very important and can make the different between a really good piece and a mediocre. What you want to look for is a stiff paper, with quite some “weight” and a low textured surface. When I started to do drawings I liked papers with quite much texture, it gives a certain feel to the image but makes it harder to make the grey and black areas even and it also makes it harder to get that sharp and precise look of contours. Therefore I never use this type of paper anymore since sharpness and smoothness is what I seek. Once again the best way to find what suits you best is to try some different papers and see what you like and dislike about them, then try to find a paper that has all the good things and few of the bad. Remember that the paper doesn’t need to be expensive to be good. A low price alternative can be as good to your purpose as a really expensive one.

Blending tortillions and kitchen roll

A tortillion could be described as a pen made of paper. This one is used to smooth the black and grey areas so you don’t see the pencil strokes, you really need at least one of these, I try to use different ones to different level of darkness. The kitchen roll is used in a similar way. Don’t try to do it with your finger you’ll only get dirty and mess up your picture; the lead will be unevenly dark because of the moist from your fingers.


This is what you need to get started.