Painting & Drawing - Pencil & Graphite

Drawing: Pencil & Graphite
- INTRODUCTION: History begins with drawing. The oldest human records are the vividly lifelike images of animals drawn on cave walls between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago. Drawing has been present in all cultures throughout history--sometimes in the form of naturalistic representation, sometimes as stylized abstract symbols.
- HISTORY OF TECHNIQUES: Young art students began drawing from plaster models of ancient sculptures in early Renaissance times. Their teachers made them copy exactly so they would learn about proportions, shading, lines, shape, and form. In the 16 th and 17th centuries, artists began to keep their drawings as a sort of source book for later work. Some even made drawings to record trips they made in an art diary or journal. Their sketches help us to observe how they saw the world around them. When art returned to classical principles in the 19 th century, drawing was the most important subject taught in art schools. Young students spent hours trying to show nature or sculpture exactly as it appeared. Other artists, however, began to use drawing as an exciting means of expression.
	In the late 19th and 20th centuries, drawing became a more personal means of expressing ideas. Artists began working in their own ways--just the way they saw things.
	Today, drawing can go off in all directions. Some artists work in a detailed and traditional way. Others use drawing tools to experiment and produce strong individual statements. Contemporary artists might combine drawing with collages, paintings, or even three-dimensional forms.
	There are many drawing styles and techniques that today's artists use to communicate what they see or feel and their interests. However, tools and papers have remained much the same since the 18 th century.
- TOOLS AND MATERIALS: PENCIL: The pencil has been an important and versatile drawing medium since the end of the 18 th century. It was one of the most commonly used implements for drawing and sketches outside the studio.
	Pencils are available in a variety of materials such as graphite, charcoal and carbon; and are found in a wide range of colors, both soluble and insoluble. The common, so-called "lead pencil" actually is composed of graphite, a crystalline form of carbon having a greasy texture. Lead (or graphite) pencils are available in a variety of sizes (large, thin and flat) and intensities or hardness:
Soft pencils range from 6B to 2B (6B, the softest and darkest, possesses the highest graphite content) Hard pencils range from H to 6H (9H, the hardest and lightest, contains the greatest proportion of clay)
SOFT PENCIL:
	Soft pencils (6B to 2B) are particularly well suited for contour drawings and other linear notations. It is possible to use them to produce a wide range of tones using various techniques: direct application smudging with a paper stomp or rag, dissolving with solvent or brushing water over a drawing done with water-soluble pencils.
	Mistakes in pencil can be erased with several types of erasers. However, some erasers will also chew up the paper, making it difficult to hide corrections. Erasing should be kept to a minimum in all drawing, and a soft eraser (gum) is recommended.
	Contour drawing is simply a line that follows the way your eye moves over the edges of objects, like your hand.
HARD PENCIL - THE MODELED LINE:
	The clean-cut and silvery tone of hard pencil (H to 6H) can yield effects of great elegance, used either as pure line or augmented with light shading to convey a fuller sense of form than can be suggested by outline alone.
	The delicacy and sensitivity with which forms can be modeled and rendered is nowhere more evident than in this figure study of Auguste Rodin, the acknowledged master of sculpture.
Since some pressure is necessary when using hard pencils, a firm, not too thin paper such kid-finish Bristol board is recommended to avoid any excessively engraved surface. Drawings in hard pencil are best kept small; if they are too large, the pale lines and tone do not carry well.
- GRAPHITE: Graphite is available in other than the familiar pencil form. Stick graphite, available in gradations B to 6B, lends itself to drawing in an open, sketchy manner on a large scale. Graphite in either stick or pencil form can be powdered on sandpaper and applied with a finger, soft cloth, or paper towel to provide a smoothly textured tone hat contrasts effectively with sharply drawn lines. It also can be dissolved with benzene or turpentine for special effects. STICK GRAPHITE:
	It can be manipulated like conté crayon or square chalks. The point of the stick produces soft, rich lines; the flat sides deposit broad areas of gray; while the corners create sharp, dark accents.
POWDERED GRAPHITE:
	Finely ground, powdered graphite, packaged in squeeze tubes for purposes of lubrication, can be purchased in hardware stores such as Home Depot. Harder than stick graphite, it produces a pale, even, silvery tone of great beauty when rubbed onto a kid-finish Bristol board with a soft cloth or paper towel.

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