Focus with hatching Pencil drawing

Hello, friends! I begin this drawing with sketching, that is, a very quick pencil work. I'm just outlining the basic silhouettes, roughly marking their key positions, contours. And then, as you can see, I erase all of this with a plastic eraser. In this drawing, those outlines seem to get in the way. I soften them, make them less noticeable, so that later they can smoothly blend into the hatching and not interfere. As for the tools, I wanted to say something about them too. I am using pencils, different pencils. I have a graphite pencil in my hand right now. A regular soft graphite pencil. 4, I think it's b, if I'm not mistaken. You can examine this on the screen. The only difference from a standard pencil is its diameter. That is, both the graphite core itself and the pencil as a whole. They are very wide, thick, so to speak. This is necessary in order to shade with the flat side of the pencil. I mean, not narrow, clear hair lines, but on the contrary, wide lines. So, you know, woolen lines, airy ones. In other words, you can create a cotton-like texture using the flat side of a pencil. Later on, in the second half of the work, I will have... I will be using a mechanical pencil with a very fine needle-like lead. Also graphite, for refining certain nuances, some hair lines, extremely fine, extremely sharp. Also, in addition to this, I will be using an eraser with a plastic casing. Retractable, and a little bit blended. It's a rolled-up piece of paper that allows blending. Let me say right away, getting ahead a little, that in academic drawing, In such a classical, traditional style, blending—that is, smudging the strokes—is not allowed. This is not allowed; it is considered a poor practice in academic drawing. In such a drawing, in an academic style, artists do not use blending. But there is a creative drawing, and there is a drawing using other materials. Perhaps some soft graphic materials, such as sanguine, wash, or pastel. They imply blending, smudging, Some types of graphite pencil drawing also allow for smudging. But this needs to be done very delicately, perhaps even to a minimum extent somewhere. Because some authors like to over-polish the hatching like this, and that's incorrect. The line, it must work, you shouldn't fear it, don't be afraid, On the contrary, you need to use its advantage in drawing. Today, precisely, I would like to talk about this key idea in this video. I called them shading tricks, stroke tricks. What kind of tricks are these? In a drawing, when an artist depicts something, every object has its own surface, texture, and tactile quality. Well, right now I have a landscape, I'm depicting trees of various species—this is pine, shrubbery, birch. And to convey the materiality of this surface form, I use varying hatching. As you've already seen, I've drawn quite a lot during this time while talking and commenting. You can see where there's a short, tiny hatch mark somewhere. That is, the strokes are very short, while in some places, conversely, the strokes are quite long. And thus, here such a summarizing effect is used. That is, on the periphery, where less important objects may be located, long dashes are generalized. Or conversely, there's some long grass there, perhaps wheat in the field. You can also render other elements in the landscape using long hatching. There are no rules here in principle—I'm just sharing my own findings, and this is how I use it. Yes, by the way, another eraser has just appeared on the screen, a different one—I forgot to mention that. It's somewhat like modeling clay, this doughy, rubbery texture. It's called funny; officially, in the store, it's sold under the name "klyachka." But quite an interesting eraser—it can absorb graphite like old-fashioned bread crumb. Not only wipe left and right with this motion, but also absorb and saturate the graphite, and soften the dark areas. I overdid the darkness of the shading; it can be lightened so gently, elegantly, subtly, and delicately. Well, I got sidetracked on that eraser; let's continue with the hatching. That is, we were talking about the length of the stroke, but now pay attention to how the hatching has sounded. When, on a sheet, as one might say, or put it, in a drawing, two types of strokes are used—blurred, broad and narrow, sharp. And somewhere I was shading the plane with a broad, thick pencil, somewhere with a narrow, thin pencil. The hatching lines turned out to be of different thicknesses. And plus, I added a bit more blending and smudging using an eraser. A regular eraser, only soft—this one let me slightly blur the hatching. That is, somewhere in the background, I slightly erased the trees, generalized them a bit, and the thick strokes became even more blurred. The foreground and outlines of the trees, where the contrast between light and dark is clearly evident. These areas are practically almost the compositional center, and I emphasize them with sharp, fine, distinct lines of hatching. And this creates an illusion of space, something seems to sink into the depth behind, something else rises forward instead. And it turns out quite interesting as well. What other types of hatching are present here? Somewhere there's a clumsy stroke, like this mess of little scribbles. They mimic the leaves of shrubs and such leafy trees. And somewhere a stroke in the form of elongated lines. He somehow creates an image, an illusion of a birch tree and the way leaves grow on it. Such long, flexible, hanging, slender branches of birch trees. And on them, in the form of garlands, it's as if the leaves grow like garlands, hanging down. And to convey this illusion, I simply make such strokes long and vertical. And the direction of the stroke changes. You can't just stroke it however the hand happens to move in all directions. But the direction of the stroke is also changed. Although at the beginning of training, beginners, students, and children are taught first what? The stroke must be in one direction. Yes, that's right—in classical drawing, when people begin learning to draw on a thermos, that's how it is. But in the landscape, in creative drawings, one must already consider texture, the surface quality here. More precisely, the objects you depict. In landscapes, you rarely use such a monotonous, single-direction, long stroke. Here is a short stroke, a dot stroke. The stroke may be in different directions. Now you have seen me beginning to draw a rugged shoreline. It's so layered there—soil, sandstone, pebbles, fine sand. And all of this is layered one on top of another. Somewhere, caves, water has eroded, depth, dark, holes in the bank, in the bank. And somewhere the opposite—a pebble or some kind of airy, sandy mound. And all of this is illuminated by the sun. The shape is somewhere hidden in the shadows, somewhere peeking out into the light. And shading. I change not only the tone, light, and shadow, but also the direction of the stroke. To show the texture of the earth, the cliff. Such a layered, somewhat rough texture. I am changing the hatch pattern, the line thickness, the direction, and the type of hatching. Well, it just comes spontaneously, you know. There are certainly some accumulated insights of one's own for every author. As I've just explained, this is how it usually turns out for me. Something new may come up spontaneously during work. That is, the stroke should convey the materiality of the form, as if it were actually made. These are man-made objects, things created by human hands. If this is nature, then what is this place? The surface of the grass is loose. The structure of the tree crown consists of leaves, and it is also loose. That is, it's not concrete, not gypsum. And thus, in order to convey this loose surface, the hatching must correspond to this surface, its structure, its texture, its tactile quality. Somewhere the strokes are vertical, somewhere they bend like grass in the wind, in curly loops like commas. Somewhere the stroke is laid horizontally, somewhere else diagonally in another direction. Sometimes a rare stroke, sometimes a dense, broad, narrow stroke. And all this creates precisely the illusion of the texture of the surface, the natural form that the artist depicts. I would also like to note the accents. I have an article on my website dedicated to these accents, that is, the compositional center. What is a compositional center, how can it be highlighted, and what means from the artist's arsenal can be used? If anyone is interested, feel free to visit the "Textbooks" section on my website; the link will be at the bottom of the video description. There's an article about the compositional center; by the way, this article will also resonate with this video regarding the illusion. So you can come in and read. Thus, the compositional center, that is, what is the main element in a composition, in a drawing, in painting, around which everything revolves. Right now, in this drawing, what stands out most for me is the dark spot in the center and these trees. On the left, a shrub; on the right, a birch tree, and slightly left of center, a pine tree. And there, in the middle, that shrub in the background, a slender trunk in the shade, dark. This entire group serves as the compositional center. Here, nearby, is the most contrasting, distinct spot on the sheer cliff, in the steep bank. So it's also all such a contrast there. And I highlight this compositional center using contrast, tonal contrast. That is, when very dark and very bright areas are adjacent. This contrast between dark and light creates such a sound, such a contrast. Plus, sharpness is also used. That is, all the edges, the lines, are very clear and sharp. And thanks to this, the drawing comes to life. Everything else blurs. Either with such a slightly careless hatching, using broad lines and a thick pencil. Or it may be blended, if the drawing technique allows it. I would like to remind you once again that academic drawing does not imply blending when using a graphite pencil. That is, the hatching should remain there. And any rubbing ruins the design. Traditional approach to academic drawing instruction There is no blending used there. Blending is acceptable in more creative drawings. But again, only minimal parts of certain sections, fragments of the drawing. In this work, I am precisely using blending either at the periphery. Either in the background, where the small trees are in the distance. They blur for me. And also the surface of the water, which I am currently shading. I'll also blend it, slightly rubbing and smudging it. By the way, I will do this in two ways. You see, I'm shading in several layers. The first layer is a bit too sharp. To eliminate this sharpness, reduce it. To create the sensation of a blurred water surface. I'm applying the second layer of hatching. The stroke is already wider. Thick graphite, thick pencil. This second layer is the generalizing one. Summary layer. It generalizes, softening the excessive sharpness of the previous layer of stroke. And then you'll see me blending it further using a blending stump. A paper tool for this. Right now on the screen, you can see that I am highlighting the shore in the foreground. It's sandy, sunlit, and bright. And to bring it forward, I slightly emphasize the contour of its dark pencil line. This must be done with great care. It's like emphasizing in text. If all the words are underlined, the meaning is lost. Then why highlight at all if everything has already been highlighted. That is, you need to select the key words in the paragraph and highlight them. This is how text markers are used when highlighting a sentence or a word that is particularly important in the text. The same applies to the drawing. That is, underlining enhances sharpness, resonance, and contrast. But that's just a trick. There should be no excessive emphasis. Only some accents. And in general, ideally, as theory says, in drawing, as they say, there are no outlines. There is only a difference in tone. A light silhouette, a dark silhouette. We see only the boundary between them. But the contour itself is not being drawn. But in actual artistic practice, artists employ techniques and effects to enhance sharpness and contrast. A small accentuating line is drawn, which enhances this clarity. Therefore, be careful with outlines. In a sketch, outlining should not exist at all, especially in such a classic style. There should be few underlines. A little bit for sound and to highlight certain compositional, sonic spots, compositional center, accents. Of course, there are drawings in the form of creative graphics, where the artist abundantly incorporates outlines and contours into the drawing. But this is not a traditional classical drawing. Therefore, outlines should not be present at all here, and underlining should be used in moderation. Now I'm going over the water's surface once again with a stippling stroke. That turned out to be quite a complicated moment for me. You shade, you shade, and some kind of dirt, darkness, spots appear. It must be a reflection. I often say in my landscapes and videos that when the water surface is calm, with a slight ripple caused by a gentle breeze or even just still water, there are still microscopic fluctuations within it. This micro-ripple, these micro-waves, they create a blur, a reflection in the water. Reflection in water—what is it? It's essentially a mirror. Everything that is above the water is reflected in the water. But when there is such ripples on the water surface, the reflection blurs from top to bottom. I often talk about this; maybe some people are already tired of hearing it. But this is important in the present drawing. I'm trying to blend it from top to bottom using strokes, blending, and so on. Somewhere I'm blending with an eraser, somewhere with this soft eraser called a "little mare." Now I'll go over it once more with a paper stump and smooth out the excessive sharpness of the hatching, using vertical motions as well. You will see how the water surface will become even more expressive, creating just such an illusion. This blending will create a generalizing effect of a mirror-like water surface. And everything above the water will be sharp, clear, and textured. On my website, you can see various drawings; they are also available in the "Drawings" section. In the "Textbooks" section, you can find several articles that resonate with the theme of this video. And if you'd like to subscribe to my channel, don't forget to click the bell icon so you don't miss any new videos. Well, I wish you creative success and all the best!