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!