CHA PT E R 4
Capturing Your Image on Paper One of the most challenging aspects of drawing can be creating an accurate line drawing. Being accurate with your shapes will always give you better results in the end. Artists since the beginning of time have created methods for obtaining accuracy in their shapes when drawing out their preliminary sketches. I will list a few tricks from the old masters. Artistic License Compare my drawing to its reference photo on the next page, and see how much liberty I take with my art, even though I started with accurate line drawing. Also note that it’s a combination of layering and burnishing. The plant is glossy, so it's burnished. The background is dull, so it's layered. The background was an exercise in patience, for it took hours of layering, and plenty of pencil sharpening to look gradual and even. To do this, I blurred my vision as I worked to see any irregularities forming. This helped me see where I needed to fill in, to keep everything looking smooth.
A Colorful Vine, Prismacolor on Stonehenge paper, 13" x 9". Colors used: Yellow Chartreuse, Lemon Yellow, Neon Orange, Neon Pink, Orange, Poppy Red, Scarlet Lake, Tuscan Red, Aquamarine, Spring Green, Grass Green, True Blue, Ultramarine, Lavender, Black, White.
