Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: 8.

7
Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease: 62.2
Drawspace Curriculum 1.3.R1 - 6 Pages and 7 Illustrations

Welcome to Drawing
from Line to Life
Exploring the process of creating art, choosing
drawing supplies, and preparing your
pencils for drawing

This tutorial has three sections:

Enriching Your Life with Drawing
Equipment and Paper Required
Preparing Your Pencils

Enriching Your Life with Drawing

Im assuming you have a little experience, a lot of desire and probably at least a few bad
habits! I believe its possible to split the act of creating art into two:
The technical ability to draw line and tone, and the manual dexterity required.
The mental ability to understand what you are creating by drawing from your
imagination and mental store of images.
The second is greatly improved by learning the rst which is fortunate, because the
second is usually the rst we strive for! Without that desire to recreate an experience, or to
allow others to view our own experiences, we have no need of the technical know-how.
As you learn to draw, building up your arsenal of techniques, youll nd yourself looking
ever deeper into the world around you. Where you once saw a tree as merely a
recognizable organic object, youll begin to wonder how you might draw it.
For the rst time youll notice how the foliage forms rounded masses; that each mass is
three-dimensional with bright and shaded sides, and casts a shadow on the masses below
it; how the light appears through gaps, throwing the internal structure of branches into
silhouette.
ISBN: 978-1-77193-064-2
Copyright 2014 Mike Sibley (http://www.sibleyfineart.com) and Drawspace Publishing (http://www.drawspace.com). All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transferred, or transmitted in any form or by
any means, including electronic, digital, mechanical, recording, photographing, photocopying, or otherwise, without the purchase of an educators licence from drawspace.com or the prior written consent of Mike Sibley and Drawspace Publishing.

Drawspace Curriculum 1.3.R1

Figure 1

ISBN: 978-1-77193-064-2
Copyright 2014 Mike Sibley (http://www.sibleyfineart.com) and Drawspace Publishing (http://www.drawspace.com). All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transferred, or transmitted in any form or by
any means, including electronic, digital, mechanical, recording, photographing, photocopying, or otherwise, without the purchase of an educators licence from drawspace.com or the prior written consent of Mike Sibley and Drawspace Publishing.

Drawspace Curriculum 1.3.R1

In brief: youll learn to see instead of look. And over time that newly acquired information
will be stored away waiting the day you need to draw on it for your landscape study.
Persevere you will learn to experience the world as you have never experienced it before.
Its been my experience that the technical skills have to be learned rst, and that takes
practice. But that practice will pay dividends, as your hand and eye co-ordination will
gradually improve until you are nally able to draw without having to think about technique
at all. Youll nally reach the stage where your thoughts will travel down your arm, into your
hand, and through your pencil onto paper.
Practice is essential. Regular practice is even better. If you dont already draw regularly, I
suggest you set aside a time, daily or weekly, that is your time. Explain to your family and
friends that you need isolation in order to concentrate.
Figure 2

You may have heard of artists entering another state? Its true and wonderful! The
world ceases to exist, time stops, hearing shuts down, peace reigns. Think of it as super
concentration and youll understand why you wont want to be disturbed.
You should allow four to six hours a week during this course, and it doesnt really matter if
thats an hour an evening or all day Sunday although if you decide on a single hour youll
quickly nd it becoming two hours without you realizing it!

ISBN: 978-1-77193-064-2
Copyright 2014 Mike Sibley (http://www.sibleyfineart.com) and Drawspace Publishing (http://www.drawspace.com). All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transferred, or transmitted in any form or by
any means, including electronic, digital, mechanical, recording, photographing, photocopying, or otherwise, without the purchase of an educators licence from drawspace.com or the prior written consent of Mike Sibley and Drawspace Publishing.

Drawspace Curriculum 1.3.R1

Figure 3

Many years ago, here in the UK, I

was an Amway distributor.
That business taught me a lot
about self-discipline, but it also
taught me one very important
lesson.
It showed me where the off button
was on my TV. To this day I watch
very little TV and prefer to live my
own life instead of living it through
the ctional lives of others. As I
write its 11:13 p.m. I could be
watching Big Brother. No contest!
You can and should make time,
because this and the other lessons
here at Drawspace have the
potential to change and enrich your
life. So lets begin

Equipment and Paper

Required
You will need the following for the
lessons in this topic:
4B, 2B, HB, 2H and 4H pencils (H = hard; HB = neutral; B = black). Any make will do
but Staedtler, in my opinion, contain the least impurities and the best consistency.
Vinyl art eraser
Kneaded eraser or, if possible, Blu-Tack
Staedtler, Pentel, Alvin, or similar click eraser (with cylindrical vinyl core)
Pencil sharpener
Craft knife, scalpel or safety razor blade (not essential)
Toilet tissue and paper kitchen towels
Paper about A4 or letter-size. Almost any medium to heavy weight paper will do but
it will assist you if the texture is not pronounced. Watercolour paper is about as heavily
textured as you might wish to use. Personally I use Mellotex a very smooth white
card.
ISBN: 978-1-77193-064-2
Copyright 2014 Mike Sibley (http://www.sibleyfineart.com) and Drawspace Publishing (http://www.drawspace.com). All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transferred, or transmitted in any form or by
any means, including electronic, digital, mechanical, recording, photographing, photocopying, or otherwise, without the purchase of an educators licence from drawspace.com or the prior written consent of Mike Sibley and Drawspace Publishing.

Drawspace Curriculum 1.3.R1

Preparing Your Pencils

You will need, as I mentioned, ve grades of pencil, from the softest 4B grade through 2B,
HB, and 2H to the hardest 4H grade. Why those grades?
Well, every grade is perfectly capable of overlapping the tones achievable by those either
side of it. So, a lightly applied HB can reproduce the darker tones of its neighbouring H
grade, and heavily applied 2H will supply the remaining lighter tones of H. In reality I use
2B, HB and 2H extensively. Harder grades, such as 6H are available to me, but I reserve
these for specialised tasks.
Why dont I suggest you use 6B or even 9B? I dont personally use grades softer than
2B, because they are too coarse. Graphite pencils obtain their different grades (degree of
hardness) by being mixed with clay the more clay, the harder the grade and the lighter the
achievable tones.
For example, 6B has a far greater graphite content than 6H, which contains much more
clay. This means 6H has a very ne composition but 6B possesses large grains of graphite
too large for my purposes. 6B and softer grades blunt easily, crumble under pressure,
and usually fail to ll the tooth of the paper the holes and troughs in the texture of your
paper that hold the graphite in place. There are ways to x this but well cover that later.
So, you have your 4B, 2B, HB, 2H and 4H pencils. Well sharpened? To a good conical
point? Excellent! Except that if you begin drawing with that point it will quickly blunt and
may even snap.
Figure 4

Heres the solution:

1. Take a pencil lets start with your middle-of-the-range
HB and a scrap of drawing paper. Hold your pencil
vertically and place its point on the paper.
2. Rotate your pencil in your ngers until the writing or HB
grade mark comes into view.
3. Then lower the pencil until its at your normal handwriting
angle.
4. Now begin to rub the point on the paper. Youre
attempting to wear a at face to make a chisel point
which Ive exaggerated in Figure 4.

Figure 5

If you always pick up and hold your pencils with the

writing visible, youll know exactly where the at face
on the point is. I use the pocket clip on my clutch
pencils in the same manner.
Do the same to your other points too the
advantages are worth the effort.

ISBN: 978-1-77193-064-2
Copyright 2014 Mike Sibley (http://www.sibleyfineart.com) and Drawspace Publishing (http://www.drawspace.com). All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transferred, or transmitted in any form or by
any means, including electronic, digital, mechanical, recording, photographing, photocopying, or otherwise, without the purchase of an educators licence from drawspace.com or the prior written consent of Mike Sibley and Drawspace Publishing.

Drawspace Curriculum 1.3.R1

You now have a point that will

Figure 6

Not snap (unless you apply really

excessive force)
Allow you to apply at tone without a
hint of hard edge.
Permit the drawing of ne, sharp lines
without constant re-sharpening.
and all this without having to let go of
your pencil. A simple rotation is all thats
needed to switch from the at face to the
sharp edge.
Happy drawing!
Cheers.

Drawing from Line to Life

by Mike Sibley

Figure 7

Foreword by renowned artist David Shepherd

Over 280 pages of pencil drawing tips, tutorials,
demonstrations and much more...
More than 625 illustrations
Tools, techniques, methods
Step-by-step instructions
For the Novice and Advanced student
From pure line drawing through to near-reality
Based on Mikes experience of over 30 years as a
professional artist and graphite pencil specialist.
www.SibleyFineArt.com/pencil-drawing-book.htm
If youre a graphite artist or an artist who wants to learn more about how to construct a drawing, a
book like this is a jewel. This is the book I have been waiting for... a book where a life-long artist
performs a magical brain-dump into a format where you can reference it your whole life. So, if you
were on the fence about this book think about it this way: this book can help you perfect your craft
for a lifetime and amounts to a night out to a restaurant and a few drinks. Now ask yourself, which is
going to stay with you after you wake up the next day?
>Rich Adams<
ISBN: 978-1-77193-064-2
Copyright 2014 Mike Sibley (http://www.sibleyfineart.com) and Drawspace Publishing (http://www.drawspace.com). All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transferred, or transmitted in any form or by
any means, including electronic, digital, mechanical, recording, photographing, photocopying, or otherwise, without the purchase of an educators licence from drawspace.com or the prior written consent of Mike Sibley and Drawspace Publishing.