Learn how to Draw in Reverse

Learn how to Draw:

Have you seen the negatives of your pictures when it was just your camera and the film, before digital cameras came into use.....

You could almost call this sort of art the same.

But your the one that's going to be doing it, so let's have a look at how to go about it shall we.....

I have found some examples here for you to have a look at. It's always easier with art if we can not only explain these things in word form, as much as we can in picture form.

They do say "that a picture is worth a thousand words"...........

You can see here that only one color has been used.

So how reasonable is this on your pocket when you go out to buy supplies...

Your still using the white pencil or pastel.

What's happening here, is that your blending this color in such different intensities, that you are choosing just how much of the black background shows through your white pastel etc.

Have a look here at this tiger, then you learn how to draw, what is it that you learn over time? an instinctive feel in how much pressure you can apply to a surface that will give you a desired result, Right!

See how the grains come through on the tigers nose..... then, the in intensity of the white colour at the tigers temples and lower chin.

You could almost be mistaken in thinking that a black color has been used, yet it is a play of mastery in using the background to your own devices.

These are the different mediums that would be suitable:

• White chalk

• Dry pastels

• White pencils

All these mediums don't have any wax or oil base to them. I would be careful with the pencils though...... best to find out how much wax content they have.

As when you want to blend in the white color on the black background. You don't want the wax inhibiting its ability to smudge.

With dry pastels and chalk, you have tiny particles, that spread over a surface, leaving the grains mainly on the top of the paper. So you can see the black coming through.

Learn how to Draw Impressionism

The more you blend, the particles will fall down into the pits of the paper; thus giving a more creamy evenness and texture.

Whatever grade of paper you use, you will get different effects. Even with normal grade paper, such as what has been used with these drawings. If you look at them under a microscope, you will still see pits.

Photo Courtesy: eringlasse
Here we have a subject of a cat and person, you can see how the use of smudging has drawn out the extremities of these two subjects.

 When you learn how to draw, you can be precise in your drawing, or you can have an effect like "impressionism".

How would you best describe Impressionism?

This is where you are drawing an impression of a particular subject. See here how you have a loose use of strokes, the impression of the cat and face in the background, there are not crisp lines, you only have the impression of lines.

So what effect does this style of drawing give you? it's not as intense as the drawing of the tiger is it. It fades into the blackness of it's background.

Outer shapes are suggested, and some left to your imagination. It works, and it works well.

"As practice makes perfect, I cannot but make progress; each drawing one makes, each study one paints, is a step forward." Vincent van Gogh 1853 - 1890

You can use almost anything to blend and smudge your white medium. One thing I use is I get some paper, and roll it up, twisting it tightly, then I hit the end on a flat surface and roll the end of the paper in my fingers.

This gives you a good smaller edge to blend in the finer areas of your drawings, and you have to do this many times to keep the crisp edge, because as you apply pressure to the end, it flattens out again.

And change these often, as you want will want to have a clean stub. If you let it get clogged up with white, you open yourself up to just getting a smooth coverage and not having the black of the papers surface coming through

Learn how to Draw Fur

OK.... we have a wolf here as our subject, there is no smudging applied in this drawing.

We all need the ability to learn how to draw in precise movements when applying fur to a drawing such as this.

Otherwise you will end up with unrealistic fur, and what does that mean? an unrealistic drawing. Applying all these individual strokes of fur can be time consuming, but what a reward.....

Photo Courtesy: corvidae

You do see the darker areas of the wolf, here this effect is achieved by creating distance between the hairs and also by applying less pressure to your pencil.

This is where I would suggest, if you ever had to learn how to draw with colored pencils, that a white pencil would be great for this sort of drawing.

You are not going to be doing any blending or smudging.

And the sharpness of the pencil will reward you in your work. You only need to be concerned with the pressure that you apply to the pencil and your ability of getting the fur directions right.

When you have finished these sorts of drawings, and I am not so concerned with the pencil; as it's wax substance will adhere to the surface well.

But with chalk and dry pastels, the powders are laying on the surface, and it will be easy to transfer onto another surface, whether you accidentally brush against the surface or any other way. So you need to fix to the surface so that it stays where it's intended.

I have used hair spray in the past as a fixative, and found it just fine, you can also buy fixatives from art shops, the choice is yours.

If your going to sell your artwork, I would probably go the safe way, and get the proper fixative from an art shop.

Also, do be careful with your hand that is resting on the paper as you draw, as powder does tend to get in places that you don't want. And you don't want smudges getting on to your drawing without you knowing it.

You could use a piece of paper or paper towel to place under your hand to separate your contact with the black papers surface.

 Return from Learn how to Draw to Drawing Techniques