Basics of Pencil drawing!

So, Pencil drawing is one of the most basic and used medium in Art, to create a painting whether in Acrylic's or Watercolour. You will always need to draw out the basic composition of your picture.
I love to draw as its so much easier than setting up paints, palettes and water. Especially with a young child around. Its also easy to travel with, I often take a small sketch book and set of pencils with me wherever I go, and have been known to sit and sketch on the bus and even in the pub!

So what materials do you need?

There are so many brands of drawing pencils. And to be honest some are over priced. I love Derwent, which you can buy locally from WH-smith. I have also used WH-smiths own brand.
Art shops can be pricey. But it all depends on taste. Poundshop's do their own brand which aren't too bad too! For starting out its well worth not paying out too much.

So HB! does anyone actually know what it stands for?

H = Hard and B= Black So this pencil is basically half and half. The H's go up to around a H9 which is the hardest pencil and will give a nice thin line for detail work.
The B's also go up to around a 9B which is the softest and darkest.

In sketching you will most likely use a 2B, 4B, HB, H2 and an F=Fine point!

Make sure you have an Eraser, pencil sharpener and paper.

So you get the idea, the B's are good for loose free movement and to add in dark and shaded areas, and the H's are good for details and lightly sketching stuff out.

In this picture I am holding the pencil in a different way. This is good for lightly sketching and shading.

This is the effect it gives, once you've shaded, use your finger tip to rub the shaded area, and it will blend it altogether nicely. You will end up with a nice black finger tip! so make sure you have some baby wipes to clean it before you touch other parts of your work. If you do smudge in an area you dont want, an eraser should remove it. Erasers are great for adding a highlight to a picture aswell, So if you want a light reflection, you can add this with an eraser. By lightly rubbing the pencil away!


In this picture I am holding the pencil normally, And this is good for adding strong lines and details.

Here I've added a strong outside line to the right hand side of the curve!!!! Remember to always keep the pencil sharpened, as it loses its point, it will give a thicker and different type of line.

Sketching is great fun and very relaxing, its a great way to quickly take down the composition of a pretty area, or an animal, and to take it home and work fromit  to make a painting or another picture from.
Its all for good fun and enjoyment, Does'nt matter how old you are or whether you are left-handed or right-handed. Everyone can have a try! Just go for it and dont be afraid. The Eraser is always there so a picture cant be spoilt by one wrong move!

Thanks for reading!

Happy Drawing!