Pencil shading rules. Correct shading technique

Lines are great if we know how to convey them. But not everything can be conveyed with just lines. For this reason, any draftsman must master the art of pencil shading.

Let's try together to get to know this very important tool in the draftsman's arsenal. The better you understand the basic principles of shading, the easier it will be to cope with other areas of artistic skill.

Basic principles of shading

So, let's start with the concept itself. What is pencil shading? What types does it come in? If we take the main purpose, then it can serve:

to give a certain shape to the surface;
creating the illusion of volume of depicted objects;
to convey the feeling of a certain material or substance;
to strengthen the ideas conceived by the author, his creative ideas;
finally, to create a unique, individual handwriting of the artist.

There are not so many shading techniques themselves, so a novice master should master each type. Any of them will be useful in the future. Here conditional division of shading techniques:

Straightforward. Very popular look from artists. Using short parallel lines, certain surfaces are filled. Using this technique you can sculpt the shape as if with brush strokes.
Contour or curly. Strokes are applied parallel to the contour or according to the shape of the depicted object. A very complex shading technique. Often used by craftsmen to make engravings.
Tushevka. Continuous filling of the surface with a certain tone without the visible presence of individual strokes.
Feathering. The use of smearing strokes to a monochromatic surface.

As you can see from this list, at first glance there is nothing complicated, however, each method requires certain skills and will not be achieved so easily. We need to train, get better. It will be useful for this some useful principles:

Immediately learn to hatch without rotating the drawing or rotating around the drawing.
Learn to hatch from top to bottom and from left to right if you are right-handed and vice versa if you are left-handed.
Start shading only after you have thought thoroughly about what type of shading to use and in which direction to shading.
Don't rush!

Application of these rules will help to avoid many mistakes that accompany inexperienced people.

What mistakes should you avoid?

To make fewer mistakes, you need to know where others make mistakes. Here are common mistakes newbies make:

Overdoing it. Many people immediately strive to become perfect hatchers, so they try to bring every stroke to perfection. They erase failed strokes or correct them. There is no need to do this. It is better to continue shading, trying to fill the surface so that it looks like a single whole. Any strokes will do for this.
Excessive sloppiness. There is another inflection when they don’t pay attention to how they hatch, where their hand lies, how they hold the pencil. Because of such neglect, the strokes get erased and lie unevenly - this becomes a habit. However, you can make this style your feature, then the problem will become your advantage.

Abuse of one style. Some types of shading are quickly mastered, while others are difficult to master for years. Some beginning draftsmen take the path of least resistance and do not practice more complex shading techniques, thereby severely limiting their creativity.
Stopping cultivation drawing techniques. Having learned the basics, someone may think that this is enough. However, great masters constantly improved and never stopped learning. Don't stop there! Always move on! Keep improving your skills!

By avoiding these mistakes, you will certainly achieve high level skill. It all depends on your hard work and desire to improve.

How to learn to hatch correctly

Now let's move on to the most interesting part - practice. There are many exercises for practicing shading techniques. Using the principle of the exercises given here, you can invent them for yourself. So let's begin:

Tone strip. A very simple exercise on the ability to shade with a certain tone. Draw a long rectangle. Divide it into equal parts, at least five. Then we shade them with increasing darkness. As a result, you should end up with a strip with the lightest cell at the beginning and the darkest at the end. To better understand the principle of tone building. Do this: first, pressing half-heartedly on the pencil, shade all the cells in one tone, then shade all the cells except the first one in the same way, then the third layer for all except the first and second, etc. to the last cell.

Tone circle. Using the same principle, we shade the sectors of the circle. This method helps you better understand the range of tonal capabilities of a pencil. As a result, the lightest sector will stand next to the darkest. The contrast will be obvious.
Drawing a large polygon with straight sides underneath different angles. We begin to shade parallel to one of the sides, then the other, and so on until we have shaded its entire surface. For greater efficiency, you can also hatch the surface around it with parallel strokes.
The simplest exercise which can be done in any circumstances. Take a newspaper and a pencil and start shading in different directions without rotating the paper. By doing this every day for 15 minutes, very soon you will be as good with a pencil as Leonardo da Vinci.

Such simple exercises are quite enough. To become good friends with a pencil. To do this, all you need to do is tell yourself: “Don’t be afraid! You will succeed!”, take a pencil and start drawing.

Show the types of pencil shading on a sheet of A4 paper.

2. Cross

3. Contour

4. Spot

5. Random (zigzag)

Examples of poor-quality shading:

Example: Drawing made with various types shading.

Type of control: Demonstration of hatching.

Drawing a cube in perspective with chiaroscuro

Draw a cube in perspective with a pencil on a sheet of A4 paper.

Sequence of drawing a cube:

· First stage. Determining the size of the cube, its basic proportions, and perspective position.
· Second stage. Using perspective guide lines, determining the exact spatial position of all sides of the cube. Drawing is not visible edges cube with light lines.
· Third stage. Completion of the work - revealing the volume using light and shadow modeling of the form: the left plane is light, the top plane is halftone, the right plane is its own shadow with a reflex, on the right is the casting shadow from the cube.

The cube model should be illuminated with artificial light, the source of which should be located at the top left. In this case, the entire volume of the body and light and shadow gradations are clearly visible from the point of view you have chosen. The cube is placed at an angle to the person drawing, slightly below eye level, so that the top edge is visible. The background should be light, and the model should be placed on a gray drapery, spread without folds on a stand for life.

To get started, you need to remember the previous exercises on drawing frames of geometric bodies from life. You still have to solve similar problems now. True, now the cube appears before you in the form in which it is truly perceived as volumetric. The frame allowed us to see right through the cube, with all its faces and edges. Now some of them are not visible, but you need to be able to see them with the eye." see”, so that when constructing taking into account future reductions, it will certainly be shown. Only then do we talk about the structural structure of the form geometric body.

When working on the constructive construction of a cube, you need to carefully monitor its future contraction. To do this, it is necessary to mentally imagine the form from a given point of view in plan, i.e. see her from above. This representation makes it possible to better understand how the planes fit together and as a whole. In drawing from life, it is important to correctly convey not only the visible ratios of quantities, but also the magnitude of the angles between the bases of two visible faces, i.e. perspective angles.

For them correct definition a mechanical inspection should be done. Holding the pencil by the tip outstretched arm, you need to align the line of the pencil itself with the top of the front lower corner of the base of the object and determine by eye the angle of inclination of the object in perspective. Having remembered what you saw, draw a corresponding auxiliary horizontal line in your drawing. Comparing the magnitude of the slope ( angle) right and left sides of the model, check the drawing. If additional clarification is necessary, the check should be repeated. The figure clearly shows how to measure dimensions and check the perspective slope of the horizontal edges of a cube. Note that when drawing from life, there is no need to abuse the sighting technique, since it is purely mechanical in determining dimensions and does not contribute to the development of the eye. It is used at the initial stage of learning to draw from life, and it should serve only for auxiliary control and verification of work already completed.

When the cube is positioned with the front vertical edge shifted slightly to the right of the center, the horizontal edges of its left side in perspective will approach the horizontal, and the edges of the right, on the contrary, will deviate from it. Therefore, the more the right side is contracted, the less the left side will be contracted and vice versa. This is due to the mutual rectangular arrangement of the planes of the cube.

However, it is impossible to draw on paper without first placing an image. The general shape of the cube is drawn on paper so that the outline is not very large, but not small either. It is most appropriate to imagine a sheet of paper as a conditional space in which the cube model takes its rightful place. Of course, at first such an idea is difficult to achieve, but in each new exercise it is necessary to include this unique “ mechanism”, in order to eventually bring it to automaticity.

The outlined outline of the cube has taken its place on the paper, and you can step back a little to see the layout of the drawing from a distance and once again check whether it is correct or incorrect. in this case location of the image in the format. Of course, further work largely depends on how you first placed the drawing.

Begin clarifying values by visual comparison. By selecting a certain height the front vertical edge of the cube, subordinate the rest to it, but taking into account future changes in nature. First, determine the location of this edge closest to you in the intended silhouette of the image. Then mark the height of this edge, draw a vertical segment, and at its lowest point draw a strictly horizontal line, which will become auxiliary in construction. A little later you will need to imagine a horizontal line perpendicular to the base of the edge in real life, so that, together with the one drawn on paper, you can show the angle formed by the horizontal edge of the right side. For comparison, place a pencil or ruler at the base of the plaster model of the cube to see the angle in real life.

Further work on drawing a plaster model of the cube is carried out as a gradual identification of the constructive basis of the object. Using guidelines, construct the lower edge, trying to “ see» its outlines from all sides, i.e. show the invisible edges, as was done when constructing the frame of the cube. At the same time, mark all the other vertical edges, constantly comparing their size with the edge closest to you.

The cube is one of the simplest geometric bodies. To better understand the geometric shape of the cube, its spatial design ( structure), consider the frame of a cube. This makes it possible to clearly imagine the volumetric-spatial characteristics of its shape, allows you to see its structural nodes - points invisible on ordinary bodies. The cube is characterized by eight points on the corners and twelve lines of edges. The aspect ratio of the cube is 1:1:1. In order for a cube to look credible in 3D, you must determine a point of view that makes the object look convincing in volume. The image of the cube frame is made taking into account its proportions, according to the laws of perspective. When viewed from above (foreshortened), the base of the cube frame ( square) looks like a diamond. The perspective construction of a cube in accordance with its rotation should begin with the square of the base, i.e. from its plan, lying in a horizontal plane, going deep to the horizon line.

To get the lower base (diamond), you need to mark four points and connect them with four lines. Vertical lines - edges - are drawn from the base points. To complete the construction, as in the first case, four points are designated and, connecting them with four lines, the upper base of the cube is obtained ( rhombus). It is necessary to note one important detail regarding the nature of the lines when constructing an image on a plane. In addition to maintaining proportion and perspective, the lines defining spatial depth must be drawn in varying degrees contrast. The lines of nearby edges should be drawn in more contrast than those that are located at a perspective distance. Moreover, the difference between the lines should be extremely distinguishable in accordance with the spatial depth.

Knowing the rules of perspective, associate visible changes in the shape of the cube with the construction. The two vanishing points of the conditional continuations of the edges, located at an angle to you, remain guidelines for constructing all the remaining four upper ones.

A perspective drawing of a cube can be relatively easily constructed and verified in a variety of ways.

One of these methods are techniques that have long been used in practice by old masters - comparison and sighting. To determine the main large dimensions of an object in a drawing, their visible, perspectively changed ratios are important, and not the actual dimensions of the object and its parts. So, for example, the ratio of the width of any face to the height of the front edge is measured with a pencil at arm's length, perpendicular to the line of sight, aligning the back of the pencil with the edge of the shape of the object of the part of the model being measured. In this case, the visible dimensions of the parts of the object are noted with the thumb. Without changing position thumb at arm's length and turning the pencil in a vertical position, correlate this segment of the pencil with the vertical edge of the cube, visually determining their differences.

After you have built " skeleton"cube, compare the drawing with nature and think about what catches your eye first of all - the entire cube or the details of the shape. In this case, any inaccuracies will become visible. For now, they are easy to eliminate, because when constructing the shape of a geometric body, we hope you did not overdo it in drawing pencil marks on paper. Remember, when constructing the shape of the depicted object, all lines should be drawn easily and confidently.

Why did you see inaccuracies in the drawing? Our vision, as it became known thanks to experimental data from psychologists, first grasps general shape subject, on short time as if fixing it.

Having eliminated construction errors, check the image again with nature and make sure that the design of the drawn cube matches the visible model. Since the cube is drawn on paper relatively quickly, when correct construction you should not outline the volumetric shape of a geometric body with light shading, thereby showing the shadow side of the object, because it suggested itself - it is known that we draw the likeness of an object, and what our eye sees in nature, it “wants” to see in the drawing.

Light and shadow relationships in the drawing must also be built. We speak in relation to visual arts different words, for example, "scale of construction", "tone scale". In the first expression, you need to keep in mind the definition in the drawing of the sizes and ratios of the parts of the object in comparison with nature.

When drawing from life, you quite rightfully try to convey the image as you perceive the object. By shading or shading, you simulate the volume of an object, showing in the image the illuminated, transitional from light to shadow, and shaded areas observed in nature. Finish this work only after making sure that the light and shadow relationships are correctly conveyed in the drawing. By doing this, you have maintained the tonal scale in the image, i.e. managed to find proportional relationships between the darkest and lightest tones.

Tone patterns are created by the skillful distribution of light, penumbra and shadow using line art.

When modeling the shape of a cube with tone, do not rush to immediately lay out the shadow face of the geometric body. Firstly, this will not work, and secondly, just as they don’t draw, they don’t apply the tone in parts. The point here is the difference between natural light and the whiteness of the paper, the materiality of a natural object and the surface of a sheet of paper shaded with a pencil, etc.

It is possible to achieve the correct (and not exact) tone by intelligently constructed relationships in the drawing that are proportional to nature.

Type of control: Demonstration of a drawing of a cube.

This article will focus on drawing with a pencil. If you want to learn how to draw, but can't get started, now is the time to start learning. Take a sheet of paper, a pencil and try it :) Let's start with drawing techniques.

Pencil drawing technique

There are two main drawing techniques - shading and pencil shading.

Hatching

Using strokes (short lines) you can very successfully convey the tone of an object. Depending on the number of strokes drawn, you can get different levels tone saturation (the fewer strokes, the lighter the tone, the more strokes, the darker). By the direction of the strokes you can convey the texture of the surface of the figure. For example, horizontal strokes will convey the surface of the water well, and vertical strokes will convey the grass.

Basically, shading is done with short, straight strokes with approximately the same distance between them. The strokes are applied to the paper with a pencil torn off. First, one thin line is made, then the pencil returns to the starting line, and in this way all other strokes are applied.

Cross hatching can be used to enhance the depth of tone. For example, horizontal shading is applied to the oblique shading, darkening the tone, then on what came out, you can apply oblique shading in the opposite direction to the first - this will darken it even more. The darkest in this case will be the tone where shading in all directions is combined.

Feathering

Shading is one of the main techniques that can be used when drawing for beginning artists. Using gradation of tone, you can add volume to your figure. In general, shading is a special case of shading. After applying the strokes, using the properties of pencil graphite and a special shading tool, they are shaded (smeared) until a uniform tone is obtained.

However, the implementation of shading itself has a number of features.

Shading of strokes must be done along the strokes, but not across. By shading along the strokes, you will achieve a more natural toning.
For shading they are used not only simple shading, but also zigzag strokes.

With the help of such techniques, you can depict anything on paper.

10 common mistakes that beginners make

Most people who like to draw take their first steps on their own. And even if it's just a hobby, they still make various sketches. We want to write about 10 possible errors, which all aspiring artists probably encounter.

1. Wrong pencil

If your shadows aren't coming out well, check the markings on your pencil. Most likely it is too hard. It is recommended to draw shadows with pencils marked B, 2B and 4B, but not HB.

2. Drawing from photographs

Every artist begins to draw from photographs. But very often photographs do not convey enough facial features to good drawing. When a person's face is positioned from the front, it will be difficult to correctly model their face on paper, since the perspective from behind the head disappears. Try taking a photo where the person's head is tilted slightly to the side. This way the portrait will be more realistic and with best transmission shadows

3. Wrong basic proportions

Very often, people begin to immediately pay attention to details, drawing them completely without sketching the entire drawing. This is wrong because you are not planning the correct proportions in advance. First, it is advisable to sketch out the entire drawing, and only then draw in detail the details.

4. Crooked features

We are used to looking at a person directly and aligning them when drawing. As a result, the portrait comes out quite distorted. When drawing complex objects, first try to outline guidelines along which it will be easier to build the drawing later.

5. Drawing of animals

Usually we look down at our animal. This makes the head seem larger to us than the whole body, and normal proportionality is lost. Try to distract the animal so that it turns its muzzle to the side, then the drawing will come out more truthful.

6. Strokes

If you draw each hair or blade of grass separately, the drawing will come out disgusting. Try to make sharp sketches, going from dark to light.

7. Trees

Do not try to draw trees, flowers, and leaves with the correct shapes. Use outlines and penumbra for realism.

8. Wrong paper

Before you buy paper, test it on a sample piece of something light. The paper may be too smooth and the design will be faded. Also, the paper may be too stiff and the design will be quite flat.

9. Volume

When conveying volume, try not to use clear lines for the edges. They can be outlined by light lines of different tones.

10. Shadows

Very often it is not possible to apply shadows evenly. Try to use the full color range of the pencil, going from lightest to darkest. If you are afraid to overdo it with the dark, place a piece of paper under the edge, and all the black will be on it.

At first it may seem that pencil drawings are too ordinary and dull. But with a pencil you can convey huge amount emotions.

A small selection of video channels based on pencil drawing:

From the author: If you are interested in painting, drawing, composition, and art in general, then this is the place for you! By profession I am a Painter-Monumentalist. Graduated from MGAHI named after. Surikov. On the Art Shima channel you will find videos in which I draw and paint in oils, and videos with tips. Since I know many techniques, you can feel free to ask questions, and I will be happy to answer them. By subscribing to my channel, you will be able to see all my new videos.

Interesting video lessons on any topic.

The work is more complicated, but with good description. If you really want it, it will happen.

When I was doing a task on a bunch of textured spots, I was looking for types of shading with pencil and ink. Maybe it will be useful for someone else.

top left: hatching called lamb. It is performed with circular movements of the hand without lifting it from the paper.
top right: cross hatching.
bottom left: chaotic shading is done without lifting the pencil from the paper. It is created without any standards, just move your hand as it moves itself
bottom right: basket shading. First of all, make a few short strokes at a short distance from each other, then do the same only in the other direction and so on until the end.

What is your favorite type of shading?

bonus:

You can rub the lines with a piece of cotton wool wrapped around a match.
Old masters made special “shadings” from suede or soft leather for these purposes. The suede is cut into a trapezoid shape, the base dimensions are approximately 10cm. and 6 cm., height 6 cm.. Spread on the smooth side with skin glue, the plane is within the small side of the trapezoid. After this, it is rolled tightly into a roller, starting from the large side of the trapezoid and bandaged. After drying, the pointed ends of the roller are sanded with sandpaper. This “shading” will be enough to work for many years.

Nowadays such shadings are made from paper in the factory.

Exercise 1.

Take a piece of thin paper and, starting from the top, draw straight horizontal lines. Trying to leave a small, equal space between the lines, fill the entire sheet with these lines. Draw quickly, in one long stroke; the slower you draw the line, the more crooked it will be. Most likely, the lines will be very crooked at the top of the sheet and much smoother towards the bottom. It is clear that it is far from ideal, but if you get one or two straight lines, This good start. Now on the same sheet of paper, draw straight vertical lines from top to bottom, diagonal lines from right to left and from left to right.

Exercise 2.

Vertical and horizontal line Divide the sheet into four equal parts. Fill these parts with horizontal, vertical and diagonal (right to left and left to right) lines.

Exercise 3.

Draw a square approximately in the middle of the sheet. Don't try to draw it with four perfect lines, you should draw the sides of the square right through, drawing additional lines until the square turns out to be a square. Write a circle in the square. Move the pencil loosely in a circle, from one point of contact with the side of the square to the other, the more additional lines you draw in search of the correct shape, the better. Shade the circle with diagonal lines from right to left and left to right.

Exercise 4.

Draw a series of small squares, approximately 3x3 centimeters. Try to keep the squares the same size and at the same distance from each other. Below, draw a series of circles of approximately the same size. Alternate rows, trying to get even columns of figures.

You can come up with such exercises yourself and alternate them as you like.

: put two points on a sheet of paper and connect them with one movement with a straight line. Gradually move the points further apart and place them at different angles, but make sure not to rotate the sheet. over time, move to three points, etc. Usually they end with five points to draw the correct star.

Do these exercises daily and also before you start drawing. Your movements will be more confident and professional.

Today I will tell you about several pencil drawing techniques. In the previous lesson in this series, you learned " ". And now we’ll take a closer look: where to start drawing?

What is important when shading pencil drawing? Try to avoid a “ragged” stroke, when the impact of the lead on the paper at the beginning of the stroke produces a noticeable thickening. Make sure that the stroke line is uniform in color and thickness. It is very important to sharpen the pencil well for this. (find out) Stroke in one direction only, do not lead the pencil in reverse side on paper.

There are also other techniques. Strokes can be superimposed on each other at different angles, in several directions, for example, at an angle of 30.45 or 90 degrees. But don't crosshatch it with a lattice. Such shading evokes associations with the lattice itself and will distract from the design itself, but it also does not look very aesthetically pleasing.

First, you need to develop a little hand motor skills and get your hand “accustomed” to drawing. Suitable for this simple exercises. For all these exercises, the sheet position is portrait. Beginners often ignore these exercises, because they really want to start creating as soon as possible, but then you will most likely be faced with the fact that the pencil will not obey you.

Let's do a few exercises together that are done in:

Exercise 1.

Take a piece of thin paper and, starting from the top, draw straight horizontal lines. Trying to leave a small, equal space between the lines, fill the entire sheet with these lines. Draw quickly, in one long stroke; the slower you draw the line, the more crooked it will be. Most likely, the lines will be very crooked at the top of the sheet and much smoother towards the bottom. It is clear that it is far from ideal, but if you get one or two straight lines on the sheet, this is a good start. Now on the same sheet of paper, draw straight vertical lines from top to bottom, diagonal lines from right to left and from left to right.

Exercise 2.

Using a vertical and horizontal line, divide the sheet into four equal parts. Fill these parts with horizontal, vertical and diagonal (right to left and left to right) lines.

Exercise 3.

Exercise 4.

Draw a series of small squares, approximately 3?3 centimeters. Try to keep the squares the same size and at the same distance from each other. Below, draw a series of circles of approximately the same size. Alternate rows, trying to get even columns of figures.

You can come up with such exercises yourself and alternate them as you like. The main thing is to do at least one similar exercise before each drawing lesson at the beginning of your studies. I often start with the first exercise, after which my hand moves the pencil more confidently. The hardest part for me is the diagonal lines from left to right.

Learning to draw is quite possible, you just need, as in any other business, to acquire the necessary skills, a little effort, and then it will not be difficult for you to express your ideas on paper or canvas.

I was taught another way: put two dots on a sheet of paper and connect them with one movement with a straight line. Gradually move the points further apart and place them at different angles, but make sure not to rotate the sheet... over time, move to three points...... etc. Usually they end up with five points, to draw the correct star, again the eye develops.

Do these exercises daily and also before you start drawing. Your movements will be more confident and professional.