Ellipse Stencil Drafting

The Key to Realistic Drawings   by Enigma Valdez

Contrary to what you may think, the key to realistic drawing doesn't lie with the movement of your hand. The way you apply pressure and the way you move your hands is very important, but the most important things are;

1. Your tools
2. Your mental attitude

Some of the tools you'll need for realistic drawings include, rulers, T-square, 2B pencil, HB pencil, 6B pencil, kneaded erasers, horsehair drafting brush, pink pearl eraser, blending tortillions, paper stumps, cotton, tissue paper, drawing board, templates or stencil guides with circles and ellipse, smooth Bristol board (two ply or heavier).

Once you have the tools, you'll need to see things differently than what you're used to. The first thing is to begin to see only shapes. Throughout the world, you can boil down everything into simple shapes. For example, your computer monitor is really a cube or a square in terms of seeing shapes. When you're looking at a model for your realistic drawings, you'll need to identify shapes. Fingers and legs can be boiled down into cylinders. Human noses can be boiled down into triangles. Human heads can be boiled down into egg shape.

After you've gotten the basic shapes down, you'll go back and refine things a little until you have something similar on paper as what your original is. Next, you'll define shading. Notice where lights and darks are. For darker areas you'll use a softer pencil lead, such as a 6B or 2B. Be sure to apply adequate pressure. For lighter areas you'll use a harder pencil lead, such as an HB with a little less pressure.

For textures such as drawing fur and hair, you'll use a harder pencil that is sharpened, such as a 4 H or 6 H. Next, you'll want to smooth and blend these shades with your paper stump, tortillions, tissue and cotton balls. Experiment with them on a separate sheet of paper to see the effect each has. You'll need to be comfortable in using these and know the end result before you use them.

Another important component to realistic drawings is knowing your proportions. For example, the adult human is about seven to eight heads tall. Children are a little different. For example a little toddler's head is larger in proportion to his body than the heads of adults in proportion to their bodies. This is why when inexperienced artists attempt to draw children, they come out looking like shorter adults. Proportions also rule the animal kingdom. There are different rules for drawing horses or lions than for humans. You'll want to know the proportions before you render something.

Again, the main key ingredients to successfully drawing realistic art is preparation and how you see things. Preparation by way of having all the necessary tools as well as knowledge about proportions and seeing lines, shapes, and contrast. Be sure to practice these concepts on a regular basis. Some of the world's most successful and established artists still practice these basic concepts on a regular basis.

About the Author

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