Drawing Techniques

Lesson One
Materials and Contour Lines
Materials
There are lots of different brands of materials and the best way to find out which ones you like
is to try them. Over time your drawing materials will build up and you will start to notice that
you have favourites. Do not worry about getting all the mediums at once, this will build up
over time. For this course you will need lots of paper, preferably an A3 or A2 sketch book and

a selection of basic drawing materials – please see the materials list on the Drawing
Techniques course homepage. However, this list is not exhaustive so do feel free to explore
different materials. Above is an image of some of the recommended materials.

Exploring Materials
First, we are going to explore these art materials, making a chart of marks with each different
drawing tool. This is a great way to discover what each medium can do and which ones you
like, so will help to build up your drawing language. We will start with pencils; they are all
graded with numbers and letters on them. The B stands for black and the graphite in these
pencils are soft. The higher the number the softer and darker the graphite.

H stands for hard and the higher the number the harder the graphite is.

Tonal Chart
Go through your pencils one at a time and make 3 levels of tone with them – light, dark and
medium. With the dark, press as hard as you can and with the light see how light you can go –
the medium sits comfortably in between. Write down which pencils you use. This gives you a

very useful chart for future drawings, showing you the high key (light) and low key (dark) of
each pencil.

Blending
Choose one pencil at a time and create a seamless blend from the darkest tone to the
lightest tone across your page. Take your time with this – work backwards and forwards over
the tones, as you change the tones in response to other areas. Stop and evaluate regularly
and if you see a jump from one to the next work back into it. This is quite difficult to get perfect
but it a great exercise to practise your control of the pressure you are exerting. Do this with all
your pencils, making note of which ones you are using.

Smudging
Work each pencil hard into the paper and rub into it with your finger – make the smudge as
big as you can – see how dirty you can get the paper. You get some beautifully soft tones
with this technique. Draw lines in this smudge with your erasure – this is a fantastic way of
drawing with white.

NOTE:
Take notice if you find any of these tones more difficult to create than others. You may have
a strong hand and find it easy to make dark marks but more challenging to get the softer
lighter ones. Conversely you may have a very light hand and find it challenging to make the
heavier marks. Most of us find one easier than the other. There is no right or wrong in this, how
you naturally make marks becomes a part of your visual language and part of what will make
your drawings unique to you. I do ask that you take notice of any sticking points or
comfort/uncomfort zones during this course as I will be encouraging you explore and push
them to broaden your drawing style and capabilities.

Quality of Line
The next thing I would like you to explore is quality of line for each pencil. For this exercise I

would like you to create linear marks going in one direction going from dark to light. Try this
going in different directions – start from the top and draw down, start from the bottom and
draw up. Try going from light to dark. Make a note of the pencils you are using and any
observations about your experience of drawing like this.

Explore how this can be modified for different effects, the closer your lines are the denser the
area, the further apart the lighter the marks. Lines can be curved and can also hatch and
cross hatch. Play with these different marks, make up some of your own – keep remembering the
main point is to create areas of light and dark.
Rembrant was masterful at creating stunning drawings using line hatching. This image is a great
example of how line can create tone. Copy this image to practise line drawing – and then
have a go at creating a drawing like this from a photo.

Different Drawing Marks

Some traditional ways of creating drawing marks include scumbling – scribbling in an

ununiformed way and stippling – dots. These have been used a lot in etchings and along with
hatching, form the basis of many traditional book illustrations. I have included two other
techniques in the above example, alas without catchy names. The middle one is by dotting
the pencil down and flicking it off in one direction and the other is by creating small circles or
spirals. Make these marks in your sketch book using all your different pencils – and then see if
you can come up with your own marks which explore tone. As you do this see if the marks
suggest anything to you, any texture or object, it can be interesting to see what we connect
these marks too and this can help us make choices of which marks we choose to use in our
future drawings.
This drawing by artist Miguel Endara has 2.1 million dots made with a pen. This kind of process
creates a drawing that is a real testimony to the passage of time and patience.

Start combining these marks to make interesting little compositions.

Once you have completed all these exercises, repeat them all using different materials. Work
through them using charcoal, graphite stick, different types of pens …use any medium you
may have. Take your time, really enjoy exploring these marks and build up a study of mark
making. These exercises form a starting point for you so feel free to let your imagination and
creativity take you in different directions. Just remember to keep a note of what medium you
are using and to jot down any observations you have about the marks and your experience
of creating them – have fun!

Contour Line
The contour line is a line that defines the edge of a form of an object. It is an outline drawing
with no shading. For the first exercise choose a simple object and draw it multiple times on
one piece of paper from different viewpoints.
Experiment with different drawing materials and start choosing different subject matter. Keep

your drawings simple and just focus on the contour line. Do not worry if your drawings don’t
turn out perfect, this is about the process of looking and drawing and not necessarily the end
product.

The more you practise this the better you will get and the more you will enjoy it. Henri Matisse
made some lovely contour line drawings, like this one of roses. Search online for contour line
drawings and you will find some great examples.

Continual Line
Next, I would like you to look at continual line drawing – this is when you do not take the pen
off the paper at any point during your drawing. You put your pen or pencil down and
complete the entire drawing without taking the pen or the pencil off the paper. Whilst drawing
you are aiming at moving your eye around the outline of the object and your hand in unison.
This is great for your hand to eye coordination.

I decided to use a pen for this next drawing. Start with a simple object, I have chosen an
apple, take your time drawing it using the continual line technique. Remember that these lines
do not have to be limited to the contour of the apple but can also depict the contours of
the shadows and highlights.
As you draw like this you will have to problem solve as you may find you want a line to go
behind a previous line - how are you going to make this happen without lifting your pen from
the page?

Drawing the apple multiple times from different angles on one page makes a nice study of this
technique and the apple.
Explore different subjects and different mediums using this technique. I have drawn this celery
using a pencil. With pencil you can vary the pressure you apply to create a tone in your line –
just like we practised earlier. Try different pencils to see how they work.
I created this drawing of a plug with a biro. I have made it obvious where the line starts and
finishes. Moving from one plug pin to another I had to draw a line I did not see. I have
created shading in this drawing by looping the line close together, going over it a couple of
times to make the darkest bits whilst still maintaining contact with the paper.

Have a play with this technique, take your time – it’s a slow, focused way of drawing. Notice
how it feels to really look at the object, training your hand to move in unison with your eye.
Create lots of different drawings using different mediums and subject matter being aware of
things that you enjoy.

Blind Continuous Line Drawing

This next exercise is designed to really focus your hand to eye coordination – it is quite
challenging and very fun – it is blind continual line drawing. For this, choose a simple subject
matter and a medium to draw with and set yourself up in a way that you cannot see your
drawing as you are doing it. Drawing like this is a way to ensure that your full attention is on
the object, that you cannot watch yourself draw so your eyes are trained on the form and
textures of the object.

The drawings that come out of this can be very disjointed, looking odd or quirky. Do not get
hung up on the finished drawing, the aim is to fully immerse yourself in the process, establishing
a line of communication between your eye, your mind and your hand.

Take your time to explore these processes in lesson one. Drawing is about giving yourself time
to lose yourself in the process. Change mediums and subject matter, play with scale and
composition and don’t forget to keep notes in your sketch book – the types of materials used,
the process you are exploring and personal thoughts on how you feel and what you think
about it. This way your sketch book will develop into a rich source of information and personal
feedback as you take your drawings forwards.

Enjoy your first lesson!

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