Various drawing techniques (line, tone, texture, perspective)
Line Drawing Techniques
- Contour Drawing: An exercise focusing on edges of a subject, creating an outline. It promotes careful observation and awareness.
- Cross-Hatching: A method using intersecting lines to create areas of tone. Use different lengths, distances and angles to achieve diverse effects.
- Stippling: A technique employing dots to indicate areas of shading. The density of the dots conveys darker and lighter tones.
Tonal Drawing Techniques
- Shading: An essential skill to add depth and volume to subjects. Using darker tones to indicate shadow and lighter for lighted areas.
- Blending: Perfect for creating smooth transitions between different tones. Use fingers or blending stumps for this effect.
- Graded Wash: Similar to shading but mostly used with watercolour or thin acrylic paint. Starting off with a dark tone and getting gradually lighter.
Texture in Drawing Techniques
- Rubbing/Frottage: Technique used to capture the texture of a surface. Using pencils, chalk or charcoal on sheet of paper over the surface.
- Impasto: A technique using thick applications of paint to create texture. Mostly used in painting but can be adapted with pastel or charcoal use.
- Sgraffito: A technique often used in painting, where the surface is scratched to reveal a different colour underneath, creating a textured look.
Drawing Techniques in Perspective
- One Point Perspective: Drawings have a single vanishing point. Used primarily for roads, railroad tracks, hallways or direct views of square objects.
- Two Point Perspective: Drawings have two vanishing points. Often used for buildings viewed from a corner.
- Atmospheric Perspective: A technique of creating depth by modifying colour to suggest distance. Distant objects are often faded and less detailed.