November 24, 2013

Drawspace lesson J01:

Wow! It's a mile stone!!!

Today not only do I start a new section of the program, I also move one from the Beginners (A-I) level to Intermediate (J-S).

Lesson J01 sums up most of the things were discussed in sections A-I. Artistic tips and tricks that are supposed to help the artist to utilize the process and to become more productive, more efficient and more comfortable in his or hers work.

It is a list of 130 items and I will introduce and summarize here those that I use now myself. Some of these tips became habits in my everyday work and affect it greatly.

# 3. Always put your pencils somewhere so they don't fall. Pencil with a broken graphite is a very difficult to sharpen. - My pencils are placed in a blue wooden box with a cloth inside it. I put the cloth and place my pencils sharpened part down so I easily see the grade of the pencil.

#10. Don't draw on a flat surface, it could distort the proportion and twist the sketch, thus make the sketch less realistic. - I never worked on a flat surface; it was just uncomfortable to me. At this point, as I do my sketches on A4 paper, I find it comfortable to use a simple clipboard. I believe that if and when I will change the format of my work/paper size my working habits will change too.

#14. Don't press too hard on your pencil, it can ruin the sketch and make it very difficult to retouch. - This is something I had to learn how to do. In all, only after beginning the Drawspace program, did I start using pencils of different grade. Last year when drawing flowers I used simple 2HB pencils and always wandered, how come my sketches get to be so messy. Now I know. It's all about the pencil's grade.

For some reason one of my favorite things that I adopted big time is to place a tissue paper under my hand while shading. It is to avoid smudging the sketch and finger -oiling the paper.Or maybe I just missed it while reading.

As I read through the given list I've noticed that some things in it are simply irrelevant at the moment and that is for several reasons. One - I didn't get yet to the level when I could use these tips. Like those in drawing a person - tips 67-83 - or signing my name - tips 98-101. Some of them are a general knowledge and recommendations - 122-130. Or a Perspective drawing - tips 84-91.

Because of these reasons I believe I will get back to this lesson in several months when I'm done with the Intermediate section (part J-S).

And how about you? Have you read the article? Do you have any drawing tips you could share? Please do!

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