Famous Artists Course Famous Artists Schools, Ine., Westport, Connecticut The artist’s materials and how to use them = «+» Albert Dorne Fred Ludekens Norman Rockwell AlPorker Ben Stahl Stevan Dohanos Jon Whitcomb Robert Fawcett Peter Helek George Giusti Austin Briggs Harold Von SchmidtPencilThe artist's materials and how fo use them All your life as am artist — no matter what kind of pictures you make, or how infinitely varied they ate in sje or technique — ‘one thing wil alvaye remain constant: you will have to te a rateials and the arti’ cools to make your pictues. “The love ofthe arts for his materials i a old a at ill Behind every good picture you xe — whether ii an illustration in a magazine, a simple creative drawing for a booklet, or 4 major masterpiece of painting in a museum —there sands an fart with an expert knowledge of materials and. methods Without the srtiw’s devotion to his materials, and his skill in sing them, these picture could not exist. ‘That is why, all through history, the arst as worked to perfect hi materials and his methods I you area complete beginner, you may find your materials somewhat strange and confusing 3 frst, Dont et that worry you ~ every beginning artist has had the same experience, Nor man Rockwell, AI Parker, and all the other men who erated your Course make pictures that command high prices and de light millions of people — yet sehen they fist took pen or brash iinhand, they didnot know hove to eontrol these coos any bet ter than you do now. The fest stokes they put dawn on blank Duper were hesitant and uncertain, The fist pietures they drew ‘were crue and unprofessional, These artists had to experiment with their materials and find owt what they could do with them, ‘They encountered many dificulties and frustrations, and had to Aigeard much of what they did inthe begining, But some dificult is part of any exciting avenue af exper iment an discovery. Before long, these ats felt more at home with their materials. Their penis, pens, brushes, and paints no longer seemed 10 have a will of their own, but behaved like faithful, helpful fiends. Soom these sien were painting and drawing pictures 36 good as they had ever dreamed of doing and better than they lad ever dared to believe they really oul This is only the beginning ‘You are about o embark on the ste wonderful voyage of ds covery that these famous artists did when they stared out. On that voyage do not look for shortcuts Don’t try to force the natural time it takes your hand to get accisonie to handling there new tools and materials. Be patient — very patient — with yourself. Noone i looking over your shoulder to embarram you. We, your teachers, do not expect perfection ftom you, and we know from personal experience what your problems are. We ill never judge you fo lack of speed or peection So, co begin with relax. Lowe yourself in what you are doing, and have fun. Remember, thie just your fist lesion ~ you ate ‘only beginning to learn the use of materials All chrough your ‘This lesson is essentially « handbook of the for besie mediums, end was designed will be enough, for this losten, if you ‘nly acquaint yourself with these sie me- diums and loern the simple fundamentals of handling them. You wil have plenty of ‘opportunity to Improve yours work with them throughout your Cours. Course, at well as forthe rest of your lie, you willbe working at perfecting yoursell in the techniques to sehich we introduce you here, We do not expect you to become a master craftsman fone fewon, No artist ener di Experiment with your materials In this Teson you wil find not only new knowledge but a new love as well the Tove of the artist for his materials. Ay you ‘experiment withthe tools of your chosen craft, you will discover 4 great joy in handling them Like every ther arts before you you wil respond with pleasure co the postive, clean directness of the pen... che spirited, sensuous stroke of the brsh the Aeticacy an speed of the penal, that marvelous "thinking tol of ingnive capabilities. You will find drawing in transparent wash a wonderful way to express vigoroay,caelte feeling, And the myriad benutifl ellecs you wil praduce with opaque water coors will il you with delight. Experiment with thse materials and effets, play around with them. Disover what they ean do for you and what you ean do with them. Above all, enjoy them. And remember that this Bes lesom is only the beginning. As you learn more about your materials, you will gradually become better able to expres your ideas and achieve your artistic goals. You can eventually maser these methods and materials a8 well as any other artis, no mat ter how distinguished he iy AIL i takes is practice and exper mentation ~ plus the improved skill and better judgment that Youlearn to draw by drawing AAs your skill with your tool nd materials advances, you wil be in to develop your own personal sive as an artis. You wil nd ‘hich medians give you the most pleasure to Work with, and hich techniques ae best suited for the pete kes Yon want fo draw and paint Av you get further slong in your taining ve wll explatn more ally the things you mae knw an dof ‘sing these materials and techniques i yor drasings are tore produce wel in newspaper, books, and all ther forms af print ng. We wil give you all the knowledge yow need 1 bexeme = sucesil practicing commercial arctan strato ‘Now you are on your way. We have made that way as suaight and direc as we could. I wll be far uraighter than our own way wns — bot sili will not be easy. In at, even with the fies guidance in the wor, you mus sil "or yoursell.” Vou ist experiment and practice and you must accep and over. ‘ome the frustrations that wll contront you. Every artist worth his alt has done so — and 50 can you. Always remember: You lear oda by drFamous Arts Coun = ‘The artist’s materials and how to use them. Pencil drawing The most valuable tool you will ever wie ay an arts is your pencil 1c is your “thinking” tool. Whether you finish your pleture in ik, wash, color or any other medi, you will tart by planning or thinking it out on paper with a pencil “The pencil isthe most venatle ofall drawing tools. With it you can make lines that are thick oF cin, dark ot light. You ‘in create subele graye or the richest blacks ‘Thete i almost, fo end to the exciting variety of textures and shading you can ‘create with a pencil It you wish to make a change in your ‘raving, pencil line are easy co erase. Ad to these advances the fact that pencils are cheap and can be bought anywhere, fund you can atest once why pencil ean ideal mediom for the git a well ae the profesional ‘Commercial artiste and illustrators we the pencil almost every day of theit lives. They make preliminary sketches and fudles for their pictares with i, No matter in what medium they finish the picture, they Best draw icin pencil. Sketches submiwed w a dient for approval ate often drawn in pencil 1 ie equally good for making loose, sketchy studies oF the most meticulous, detailed finished drawing. Many outsanding Pietares in the history of art have been pencil drawings You and the pencil are old (ends. You may never have done any drawing belore, but you have been using a pencil to write with since your childhood. A few pens, some sheets of paper, a sharp Knife and an eraser, and you are ready 1 ‘draw anywhere. Your materials For this leson, you will need an HI, a 26, and & 4B pencil bu they are not exential, You will need some sheets of bond paper for practic, a sngleedge razor blade or knife, a exible soft rub ber eraser, a kneaded eraser a piece of Artgur and a sandpaper block for sharpening your pencil. A few thumbtacks ot 3 tll of masking tape wil be useful for ataching your paper to the Arawing boar You tiay find one or two other grades. hep‘Lesson 1 ‘Famous Artists Lourse The artist's materials and how to use them The pencils you will use the most are shown an the let. These are ordinary drawing pencils and they come in dierent lends lasifed from hard to sol, The solr the pencil the thicker the lead —and therefore the breader the line you can draw with ie The softest pencils make a black line, and the point Js soon used up, so that it tends frequent sharpening. The hhaer the pencil the grayer the line It makes. Hard pencils can be sharpened to a very fine point, aid Bold helt point Tonge. Becstne they ate hard, they are ikely to dig ino your paper when you apply presre. So, if you want a darker, Ficher line, don't bear down on your hard pencil ~ instead tse a softer one. Naturally, you cam vary the darkness of your Tines with any pencil by varying the presure ‘There are thirteen grades of pencils commonly wed. Six are hard ranging from HI, which is only slightly ad, 4 GH, ‘hich is extremely hard. Six ofthe grades ane sft — ranging ‘tom B. whieh is moderately soft, to GB, which i extremely soft. In between the hard pencils and the soft ones dere fs 2 medium one, the HB pencil Examples of the lines these pencils will make are shown below. At a profesional you ill Seldom use more than four or fve diferent grades, Gi ¥¢ Sharpening your pencil A regular pencil sharpener sil give you comistentty sharp, feyen points quite suitable for much of your pencil diswia IF you prefer, you ean sharpen your pencil with a singleedge razor blade ota sharp knife an finish by shaping the point on ‘sandpaper pad. Roll the penel beeween your fingers 4s you move it back and forth om the sandpaper, If you want a chisel point (explained later), 6st sharpen your pencil with the rafor and ten rule your penal on the ‘ndpaper without rolling i Mae Mi Hi on Erasers and erasing “There ate three good sypes of erasers for pencil work: the Aneaded eraser, the Arg eraser, and the Rexibl wfe rubber craser. All are popular with aria, and each is better chan the rest for certain clea up jobs. Knead erator. Tihs emer has two special festures (I) It picks up and absorb the lend of your pencil work, Ie does not Tike the other wo types leave tiny particles of rubber on your drawing. (2) It can be moulded into point to clean wp oF pick our” even the tiniest area or detail in your drsting (You can make this emer pliable by kneading it with your Fingers fora few seconds) These ae the reasons so many ast find the kneaded eraser ‘deal for cleaning their dascings and making erates while they work, ‘As you work on drawing, you will occasionally get pencil smudges on it. You will need to remove these stmdges without erasing any pare of your picture. In such eases rub your neal eraser gently over the surface. Ic il pick up the light Sloe of ditt and only slightly lighten your penal Hines. Hf you ‘ub too hard the lines willbe ered AL times you will find it neesary to erase» heavy black ine for tone (hading) that you have made by presing very hard on a solt pencil, To do this, fist pres a soft pieee of Knead fraser repeately on the line or tone. Bie by bie you wl Hi ‘off the looser particles. When che erser will absorb no more of the lead, you can safely start erasing, but be sine co ise a gentle motion Because the kneaded eriser is sft i will not always com pletely erase heavily drawn lines, In ach ease, finish off with the feaibe ole rubber erase. Floxible soft rubber eraror, his kind is often called the “nuh” eraser, though Tt albo comes in pink, gray and other colors and has many diferent ede names Wei silat to the feraier on the end of the common writing pencil, is main purpose isto enable you to erase completely lines mae with heavy presre. For erasing small ares, you can easily cut the eraser toa sharp, slanted point To avoid damaging the surface of your paper, erse slowly and cavelully, with 2 gentle circular motion, Alter you fish always remove any particles of eraser and grt by Wicking oF dusting of your drawing with repeated ight strokes of 4 clean Inandkerchiel or a piece of similar material, Don't rub or you ff eraser and grit, they Will jterfre seth your pencil, and it will be imposible for you to add neat, clean lines) match the others in your drawing. ‘rtgum, This solt eraser is favorite for cleaing up a éaw ing after itis Goished. You will find it especially good or removing all the pencil lines when you ave fnishet a pen and ink oF brush snd fok drawing. Arggum is fim enougft > remove the pencil ines but not har enough to injure the ink tines,