Most of my work is done using traditional art media: pencils, colored pencils, watercolors, acrylics, and gouache. However, I also like to use modern technology to help me do a better job with my traditional drawings and paintings. This post will explain a little bit about my strategy.
This is an *unfinished* pencil drawing of a silver maple leaf. I learned a while back to plot out my dark values first, no matter what media I am using. I don't trust myself to get beyond my initial love of color and on to value. It's a different process than traditional watercolorists use, but it's the only way I can work without producing something lacking a full value range. Incidentally, this photo is distorted- it was not taken directly over the drawing, but at an angle. That's ok for what I am doing with it, but if I were documenting a finished work, I would make sure the camera was level. You can tell it's off by the odd upward-looking angle of the leaf petiole. For what I am doing here, I'm also unconcerned about the light streak on the side.
I use a fairly soft pencil (2B or 4B) to plot in the dark values, and will have to go back later with a much harder pencil in the H range to smooth out the graininess. I have not yet done this in this drawing. It's still in a rough stage. I also have not yet begun to fill in the highlight areas you see here with a layer of 2H pencil.
When I get to this point in a drawing, I'll take a cell phone picture like the one here, and enlarge it on my screen. By doing this, I can find errant lines and inspect the margins of the drawing for stray marks. I'm finding this a lot easier than the traditional method of working with a magnifying glass. In this example, there are two stray lines that go over the midrib. I missed them when I looked at it with the magnifying glass, but caught it when I enlarged the photo on my cell phone screen. The drawing will look alarmingly grainy when enlarged this way, but I still find it useful. It reminds me that I have more work to do to smooth out those dark values.
Pencil drawings can be a slow process. I go back to these several times over the course of a couple of days to see if the picture is still working. I will also take several photos along the way to see if I can catch any more stray marks. In the case of this drawing, I know that the stray marks happened because I was working too late into the evening without my good lights turned on! My leaf was drying out, and I wasn't sure I could get another- but I am now on my third leaf specimen for this drawing.
Do you also use a cell phone camera to help you see areas to improve in your drawings?
It's the middle of summer here, and I am hearing the cicadas again. I don't know if they just started this week, or if I just became aware of them. There are years when I do a double take and smile when I hear them- but I don't know if they have been producing background music for weeks, or have just started. This is probably one of those years!
