Sketching in the Basic Shapes and Shadows:
- Start by lightly sketching in the basic shapes with a piece of willow charcoal.
- Use a mixture of lines and roughly shaded areas.
- As you add more objects to the composition, you can see if the relationship between the placement and proportions is correct.
- If anything seems wrong just use the eraser to remove and redraw until you’re happy overall.
- It doesn’t have to be perfect – you will have lots of opportunities to make corrections as the drawing progresses
- Lighter areas and objects should be left blank for now if possible – as it will make adding the highlights easier later on.
- You should eventually get to a point where everything is loosely blocked in – with an evident difference between the parts of the drawing that will end up dark and those that will be light.
Course Materials:
- Paper
- Compressed charcoal
- Vine charcoal
- Charcoal powder
- Graphite pencils (from 2B – HB)
- White Gouache or Acrylic paint
- Various brushes (whatever you have lying around)
- Drawing Board
- Tape
