The Humble Pencil

I usually take students of eight years and older. Because I allow free expression, all the media from pencils to sepia and black pens and all water based colouring media are available at all times. Yet, something strange occurred: the older they are, the more they prefer pencil work. I have nothing against pencil work as it is an excellent way of making them very aware of tonal differences.

 

Out of curiosity though, I turned this into a discussion topic. Why do the older students prefer to work in pencil or sometimes pen only, thus mostly in monotone? I am still getting answers. A strange one was that they were provided with coloured crayons from an early age. I think I can see the budding little artist feeling that not everything in life could be red, blue, green or yellow! All could not be expressed in primary colours! More subdued media make them feel "grown-up"!

 

This is how I teach pencil drawing:

 

1. You work on thick paper that cannot tear too easily.
2. You do not have one pencil only, but a range of B pencils namely B2, B4, B6.
3. Your pencils are sharp so that you can see past the point of the pencil and you make good marks.
4. You start your drawing very softly... assertive kids tend to start with very hard marks, which 9 out of 10 times, they want to rub out again!
5. "Fuzzy" colouring-in with the side of the pencil and rubbing with fingers is only one technique that can be used here and there but not all over the work and cannot be your main technique.
6. I always use some of my own completed works to inspire the class, pointing out the various techniques and variety of pencils used.

This is my own work and one of the examples I
use to demonstrate the multiple uses of pencils.

Another of my pencil sketches. I included
watercolour pencil. I hope I can soon encourage
the class to add some colour to their pencil work

A teacher cannot be more pleased! The marks and
tones in this student's work show an
understanding of pencils. No fuzz and
blending, lots of marks, great shadows!

Knowing that my student was only 9 years
old, made me appreciate the directional
brushstrokes and original slogan!
And that is a perfectly round cork stopper which 
 makes the bottle seem round too.



I am excited about the discovery of their own "mark"! And by showing my work in the beginning of the lesson, we avoided the boring pencil blending which young students often do!

 

Young Artists Expressing Themselves

Introducing my students to journals was one of the best ideas ever. I wonder why I have never thought of it before. There is such pride in working in the journals and in having their drawings together in one place. I must add this: my students' work is not much like the popular craft hobby known as "Journaling"! We rather concentrate on a drawing of the day, and then, afterwards, the work can be embellished with affirmations and even half a page of writing.

 

Over time, the journals quickly became the students' pride and joy. Often they take them home to show parents their progress or to work for hours more at home. I started handing out small moleskine journals too, so that they have pocket drawing books to take on holidays and weekend trips. 

 

This young student of mine wanted to conform, by trying realism and rubbing out, rubbing out, trying to get it realistic and perfect. To my great joy, I could eventually guide her to relax, to forget about realism and about what others were doing, and to do her own "thing", which turned out delightful!  Here are two self-portraits brimming with joy and expressionism:

 

Self-portraits full of personality!

From a formal point of view, I was happy with the

placing of the eyes and other features, and with

the clever use of charcoal for the hair.

 

As her confidence grew, the student would say:

" I like animation!" Well, why not...and I thought drawing a violin from memory like that was quite an achievement!

 

And then came the  discovery of Manga eyes on the Internet!

To Google when they are at home and then draw from

the cell phone is something that I am not going to forbid.

 It is also a handy reference tool when they travel.

 

Let there be eyes! Anime eyes! 

 I now have my two large books of  Manga art by Christopher Hart available for reference in class. The opportunity is there to practice anime if my students are so inclined. It is not easy! I know, I tried and have a full sketch book to show for it! My reasoning is that anything we do in class, portrait, landscape, anime, etc, can in a few years' time become careers for my students.

 

Nothing gives me more joy, than realising that each student is developing in a natural way, doing what he/she does best.

There will always be great diversity and never a row

of identical projects coming out of the workshops!

If they want to do portrait....

If they want to do portrait, let them! I remember when one of my daughters was about sixteen, she loved to draw faces even for her school art portfolio. Brook Shields and the celebrities of the day were drawn so well, really, really good!  As her art teacher I was ordered to discourage the "frivolous habit of drawing celebrities"! This was so ridiculous when we look back today. She is a  talented portrait artist and is invited to prestigious art shows.

One of my students last year wanted to do more portrait work. Her pencil work showed promise, so I made sure that she knew how to use various soft pencils and a lot of tonal variations. This coming year sepia pens, oil and watercolours will be added to her materials and I plan lots of challenges.



A live portrait of a young girl done by a 13yr old . Early beginnings!

And now at 14, there is so much growth!
The model is instantly recognised!

It is great when family members are willing to pose!
Wonderful texture in the hair!

Practicing the freedom of charcoal on blank newspaper

A wonderful selection of portraits by the same student, sometimes doing family members live, and sometimes using a cell phone to find suitable faces and poses. Providing small notebooks means that students can draw on weekends and everywhere they go.

 

The children in my class are so diverse. " I really like cartoon style portraits", said another girl. Like the rest of the class she does exercises in realism, but she also gets the opportunity to go into the fantasy realm. More about that in the next post!