23
votes
Accepted
What are the advantages of watercolour paper over sketch paper?
Watercolor paper is, normally, quite a bit heavier and made from cotton. Basic watercolor paper, 140lb, is okay for practice and will tend to buckle unless stretched. The expensive 300lb paper is ...
- 3,443
8
votes
What are the key disciplines of realistic drawing?
Definition of drawing
Drawing is the technique of putting marks on a surface to create an illusion of the thing or things to be represented. Drawing can be done with pencil and paper, digital drawing ...
- 2,812
8
votes
Accepted
Is the starting point in sketching important?
The starting point is important, but there isn't a single right answer. What will work best for a given person depends on how they visualize things, and the skills they have developed. Your result ...
- 11.5k
8
votes
Is the starting point in sketching important?
In my drawings, the starting point is determined by the largest area(s) that roughly capture(s) the basic shape and orientation of the subject. I often represent this largest area using basic flat ...
- 10.4k
8
votes
Accepted
What aspects of drawing should I focus on as a beginning artist?
There are some fundamentals that everyone who wants to draw needs to learn. (Not in order of importance).
#1 Control exercises
Make yourself comfortable with a pencil and paper, draw straight lines - ...
- 206
6
votes
Does grid drawing help with drawing from imagination?
Best way I know is just making a cross on both the original and lightly on the paper you will be drawing onto. That stops you getting too technical, and forces you to look at spaces and shapes, which ...
- 97
6
votes
What is the advantage of having an angled drawing desk?
A historical reason for having writing desks at an incline was that quill pens work better that way. If you ever tried writing with a quill and ended up with a blotchy mess instead of some nice ...
- 1,818
6
votes
Sketching paper for amateur artist
For sketching newsprint is the art school standard because it's cheap and it has a bit of tooth. Printer paper is very smooth, which makes it less suitable for drawing with graphite or charcoal. The ...
- 138
6
votes
Is the starting point in sketching important?
There usually isn't a right, or wrong way of drawing per say, but getting a rough idea of where you want to put it on a piece of paper(For instance if you want to draw a full human body, or a bike) ...
- 1,771
5
votes
Accepted
What are the key disciplines of realistic drawing?
The fundamentals of drawing begin with being able to draw a few basic shapes - sphere, cube or box, pyramid, cylinder. Once you master these - which is often done by composing still life exercises ...
- 318
5
votes
I am having trouble transitioning from sketching photos to live models
The big difference is that when you draw from a photo the image is already flattened onto a 2 dimensional plane, however when drawing from life you have to deal with translating 3D to 2D yourself.
...
- 1,979
5
votes
How to show depth and elevation using contours lines in sketches?
If it's specifically a topographic map, then for depressions you use contours with small lines pointing towards holes
- 151
4
votes
What are the advantages of watercolour paper over sketch paper?
That really depends on the paper itself. Usually, sketch paper will be too thin for watercolors to come out in a satisfactory manner. That being said, it all depends on what your final outcome is. ...
- 141
4
votes
Shading dark scenes
Remember that white only looks white when there is 'white' light (light containing a wide range of wavelengths, I won't go into details here) that it can reflect. Even snow can look dark.
For ...
- 1,999
4
votes
I am having trouble transitioning from sketching photos to live models
You are on the right path. You just need to take the next step and draw with a larger grid.
When people first start to draw the grid method helps the artist develop their ability to see what is in ...
- 2,956
4
votes
What are the key disciplines of realistic drawing?
Understand your subject: Depending on your subject and interests this
may include: perspective; colour theory; composition; human and
animal anatomy, etc.
Know your materials: Get familiar with the ...
- 41
4
votes
Accepted
Any White Pens/Markers To Write Over Black Pens?
I'd try a correction pen, there are now quite a lot to choose from.
This web page shows over a dozen kinds, and how opaque they are over black ink.
The best white ink pens
Matching the paper ...
- 422
4
votes
Any White Pens/Markers To Write Over Black Pens?
Personally, for purposes such as you have listed, I use the uni-ball Signa white gel pen UM-153. With a gel pen you will have more control over the lines you are creating, and can layer the markings ...
- 51
4
votes
Accepted
What kind of triangle / ruler is shown in this video?
It’s a ‘Brown + Sharpe toolmakers knife-edge #530’
In the video he was probably just referring to the second ruler he showed with the bevelled edge.
- 76
4
votes
How are sketches like this drawn?
One way I think is common among comic artists is through instancing*: after having drawn a few of the figures in different positions, you can copy instances of these individual figures unto the panel ...
- 10.4k
3
votes
How to tell when I have the right ribbing?
how will I know when I have found a good ribbing to be
both elastic enough to stretch when I change position
The waistband ribbing and the elastic both have to stretch enough to go over your hips. ...
- 396
3
votes
Any White Pens/Markers To Write Over Black Pens?
As I often write white text on top of black, I've been looking for a good white pen myself. A correction pen doesn't do it for me, as the correction liquid doesn't stick very well. The above-mentioned ...
- 51
3
votes
How to show depth and elevation using contours lines in sketches?
There are a couple of basic principles that define how contour lines behave. Let me start with that.
Say you hold a ruler vertically in front of your face. You see the full height of the ruler:
If ...
- 11.5k
2
votes
What is the advantage of having an angled drawing desk?
For me having the angle helps with fatigue and body aches after I’m finished working on a piece. I often get zoned in and lose time when I’m drawing, sometimes I sit at my desk and put on music and ...
- 21
2
votes
I am having trouble transitioning from sketching photos to live models
Working from a photo is easy. Working from real life is testing how well you can see. It is not easy to get past what you think something should look like and what it actually looks like. As someone ...
- 422
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