Artist's Drawing & Inspiration
Drawing for Pleasure
Paul Evans uses the same techniques to create three different results
STEP 1
The first step in producing a good drawing is to start with a good drawing, working carefully to get proportions right and everything in the right place. Mistakes in the beginning usually lead to a drawing ending up in the bin.
This has happened to me many times and while it may be disappointing l have learnt much from those disappointments and l continue to learn.
If you choose to use this method and hope for a quick result, you have chosen the wrong method.
For this demonstration l have chosen a pelican, a leaf with shadow, an orchid.
STEP 2
Once l am certain that the drawing is correct, l start to apply ink and this is done in a dot process, one dot at a time applied by a old fashioned pen and nib. l prefer to use pen and nib as l have collected many over the years and l find that different nibs deliver different amounts of ink and hence the size of the dot. l use a mapping nib because the dot is very small and while this makes the process longer it produces a subtle effect. l start applying ink to the darkest area o f the drawing, in this case the wing feathers of the pelican, the leafs shadow, the black tip of the orchids petal.
STEP 3
Continue to work the darkest area of the drawing because that grounds the image, stay patient, it sometimes takes quite a while before you see a form take shape, if you try to shortcut the process it will usually end in failure. At some point you have to start to work on the lighter areas of your drawing as in the shadows of the pelicans white feathers, the leaf itself with veins and the patterning of the orchids petals. When working on the light area, l find it useful to dilute the ink slightly with a drop or two of distilled water which softens the black to a grey. This l do in a shot glass which allows enough ink for the day, avoids wastage and as l have done in the past, prevents the knocking over of a full bottle of ink.
STEP 4
One very important thing that l have learnt is never to try and finish any part of the drawing in one go but to work over the whole drawing, this stops the paper absorbing too much ink in one
area and by slowly building the degree of darkness, it allows for subtly of shading as well as allowing for as much detail as you require. At all times refer to your reference material whether it be an actual object or a photograph, remember that art is about seeing not looking. At this point the pelican, leaf, orchid have taken shape but there is still a lot of refining to get on with. If at some point, heaven forbid, you find that you have applied too much ink to any area, when dry, you can gently apply a very, very fine sandpaper to this area and as long as you are careful you can remove some of the ink and not disturb the surface of the paper. Gently remove the excess ink dust with a soft rubber, try this on another piece of the same paper before trying on your drawing.
FINAL STEP
The thing that l do a lot whether l am painting or drawing is to stop regularly and look at what l have been doing, it is amazing how good goes to bad in a blink and when using this method of drawing you can get lost in concentration and this can be dangerous. Also at this point in the drawing it’s the subtly and blending
of light and shade or the intensity of the black over the white that makes the difference between ok and good.
As the drawing nears completion l find it necessary to go over the whole area of the drawing and carefully darken areas to sharpen the effect but l personally never draw a line as l prefer the black and white areas to merge.
If you want to give this form of drawing a go, please do, sometimes you will fail and sometimes you will do good work but remember nobody was born an artist, it’s hard work, persistence and you have to love it……..enjoy.
WORK IN PROGRESS
Slowly building the degree of darkness allows for subtly of shading as well as allowing for as much detail as you require.
Using this method of drawing there is no quick results, it’s time, patience and concentration.
Using a mapping pen allows for finer detail as in the orchid flowers.