Category: drawing

Flags should be in color!

This little gem was fun! Seems to me that any time there is a flag, color should be applied. On the last commission, the customer and I discussed adding color to the flowers. We concluded that there was only one place it would work, and then the front door would no longer be the main event. With this drawing, the color is conveniently located next to the front door, so that is not an issue. (Ick, that word really bugs me. However, note its proper usage here.)

And here is an admission: I am getting old. I know this, because 8×10 feels very very small. Much of this drawing happened under a giant lit magnifier. Those diamond shaped windows next to the front door took an alarmingly long time to get right – no pencil point can be sharpened small enough. This used to be normal work for me, and now it is so very very tiny that I can’t believe I used to draw this way! And to any of my drawing students who are reading this, please please forgive me for expecting the same from you if you are over 45 years old!!

All About Drawing Pencils

I use three different brands of pencils. None is particularly better than any other, but my current favorite is the red one, Stabilo. I can’t find them anymore, but being someone who dislikes shopping, I haven’t tried very hard yet. The blue ones, Staedtler, are pretty good, quite dark, but not as dark as the Stabilo. Turquoise, made by Sanford, are the ones I used in college, so there is a weird sense of loyalty even though they aren’t as dark as the others. Besides, they are very easy to find. There are other brands, but these are enough for me. You can see colored pencils in the cups in the background, but that is for another entry.

That little black and silver dealie on the end of the three pencils in the lid of the box is a pencil extender. It used to be a bit of a game to me to see how short I could get a pencil and still use it. Then carpal tunnel syndrome kicked in, and it became clear that the longer the pencil, the less the pain.

For years I drew without understanding what the H and B actually stood for on those drawing pencils. With some reading, I finally learned that H is for Hard and B is for Black. The higher the number with the letter, the more there is of that particular quality. So a 5H is harder (and lighter) than an H (which is 1H but the 1 is assumed). A 6B is blacker (and softer) than a 3B. An HB is exactly in the middle, and is the equivalent of a #2.

And get this: the lead is a combination of graphite and clay. The more clay, the harder and lighter the pencil. The more graphite, the softer and blacker the pencil. Ever used a pencil that scratched? It probably had a rough piece of clay in it. (Don’t you just hate that?)

Sometimes students ask why the pencils don’t come with erasers. EASY answer! Because we would use the eraser up long before the pencil, and then we would automatically flip the pencil over to erase and scratch our drawings. By forcing us to develop the habit of picking up the separate eraser, the pencil manufacturers are sparing us some unnecessary pain. (And for that,we thank you, lovely Pencil Manufacturers.)

All this leaves me with some questions: 1. Who decided that hard is the opposite of black? and 2. What in the world does F stand for? 3. How does this all fit with the school-type rating of pencils, 1, 2 and 3?

How splitting wood is like drawing with pencils

Sports are not for me – in fact, I’ve been known to say that I have only two sports: walking and splitting wood. I love to split wood! That is the axe my dear husband gave me for my birthday, and this weekend I was thrilled to get to try it.

As I was splitting wood, it occurred to me that there are many parallels between splitting wood with an axe and drawing with a pencil. Look at these:

1. Neither require electricity.

2. Both require a sharp edge – blade or point.

3. For best results, start with the large and move to the small.

4. They both make wood bits – shavings from the sharpener or splinters from the axe.

5. Lots of strokes are required for results.

6. One has to start with good stuff to get decent results – great scenes make great drawings, and good clean-grained wood makes good shaped pieces.

7. Both require paying close attention to what one is doing, unless one doesn’t mind wasting time and energy.

8. The terms “hard” and “soft” are always being flung around, both with wood and with pencils.

9. Cedar makes the best pencils and also the best-splitting wood.

I’m sure there are more parallels; can you think of any?