Drawing Equipment and Materials for Graphite Drawing
In order to draw you need a supply of materials. What do you need? Is it expensive?
It depends on where you want your artistic endeavours to go. Essentially if you're just starting out a cheap set of pencils, an eraser, a pencil sharpener and a sheet of paper.
If you get to the stage however where you want to improve your skills and perhaps even sell your work then you will need some better quality equipment.
Hopefully you will find the following information helpful.
Free advice for aspiring artists by John Lazenby
I truly believe that anyone/everyone has the ability to learn to draw.
Whatever stage you're at let's take it back a few Steps. The end result depends on how well each stage of a drawing is applied.
Drawing materials
It's important to have the correct materials.
😀 Paper: There are hundreds of brands in a variety of thicknesses, weights, colours, sizes etc.
Go for the best quality paper that you can afford. It is important. I use: Fabriano Artistico 300gsm Hot Pressed Paper. I buy full imperial sheets and cut them to A4, A3, mostly A2 as most of my drawings are that size. They do sell Fabriano in all of those sizes but it's more cost effective to buy the larger sheets and cut them down.
There are several great brands but over time I've deducted that Fabriano Artistico is the one I most like to work with.
Fabriano also do a 640gsm option but in all honesty 300gsm is as thick as you need to go. It will withstand lots of pencil application, lots of erasing, embossing etc. A cheaper paper will not take as much punishment!
A cheaper but still high quality option is Bristol Board. I'd reccomended if you intend to do lots of layering and blending that you buy 300gsm as a minimum.
😀 Erasers: I use:
Tombow MONO Zero Round Tip Refillable Precision Mechanical Eraser Pen Rubber. Great for erasing fine detail such as light hair detail or the light reflection on eyes.
Putty Rubber - Faber-Castell Kneadable Eraser. Great all round eraser for small detail or removing or lightening large areas of Graphite and Charcoal. Incidentally, I don't use charcoal. I use 9B graphite powder. You can buy it ready made but I find that the quality is better if you use a 9B graphite stick and powder it by rubbing it on sandpaper and pouring in to a small sealable container. It will last ages unless you are doing lots of black backgrounds! Watch Jono Dry videos on YouTube. All of his drawings are very large and they all have black backgrounds. Watch this video to learn great tricks
😀Blenders: there are a variety of tools and if your fingers are dry and clean you can even blend using a finger. The tool that I use the most is a small soft makeup brush which is great for spreading the graphite and rubbing it in to the paper.
You can blend using a blending stick, quetip, cotton wool or a small soft makeup brush, even a tissue! I use all 5 techniques depending on what I'm drawing and what finish I want. Watch this video to learn
😀Etching: It does take time and practice to learn this technique but spending time practicing is definitely worth the effort. There are a variety of professional tools but I've used all sorts of ordinary household items in my time such as old empty pen nibs! Watch this video to learn amazing techniques
😀Fixing: when you're done with a drawing make sure that you spray it with fixative. Don't use hairspray. I've seen many people on art forums recommending hairspray. It yellows and will ruin your work. Art fixative is a bit more expensive but it will protect your are for hundreds of years! It will stop your work from fading, staining etc. Here's an educational video
😀 Graphite Pencils: People will tell you that you need a full set of pencils. You really don't. I use HB, F, B4, B6 and B9. In fact most drawings are B9 and F only! It's more to do with how lightly or hard you apply the graphite to the paper! I get all of my supplies from EBay but Amazon or any online art supplier would be able to provide what you need. Brand of pencil doesn't really matter. You'll work out which brand works best for you by using them!
Drawing with Graphite
Step 1: use the grid method to ensure that your proportions are correct. If you draw freehand you're likely at this stage to draw some of the detail slightly out of place, too small, too large etc. The grid technique will help you to ensure that everything is exactly where it should be.
You can even trace the outline if you want. No one is watching!
In any case the old masters used to trace or project outlines on to their canvases before painting. Some people will tell you it's cheating but it's not. Just don't tell anyone and then they can't criticise you! Just take your time and make sure that all of the detail is perfectly placed. I'd it's 1mm out of place it won't look right.
Here's a video about using the grid method
Step 2: once you've drawn your outline and you're happy with it, you can begin adding your medium. I am right handed so ideally I should work from the top left corner and across and back until the drawing is complete. I don't always follow the ideal. I tend to always draw my subjects eyes, nose and mouth first then work towards the outline of the face/head then I do the background using the ideal method whilst using a spare piece of A4 printer paper to rest my hand on so as to avoid smudging the artwork.
Pay particular attention to tone/light and shade. You should try to match the level of tone that you see on your source image. If an area is dark on the source then match the darkness on your drawing.
So that's the basics.
Finally here are a few artists that inspire me. Their work is hyperrealistic. I'm aiming at this standard in my work. Watch the linked videos and study their other videos on YouTube.
Good luck. Take your time and enjoy the massive improvement you will see in your art by employing these techniques.
