Rob Nevitte

Landscape Drawing With Color: Materials and Overview

This class is for anyone who wants to draw muted and colorful landscapes using any dry media, such as graphite pencil, colored pencils, charcoal and conte pencils, including black and white. Various kinds of papers will be used, such as smooth surfaced and tinted. Water media techniques will also be discussed, as pencil is often the basis for a watercolor work.

Drawing Materials

One of the great things about drawing is that so few materials are required - a pencil and a piece of paper. Have you ever created a doodle on that phone message pad?

Of course, a huge variety of drawing materials are available from the art store to the drug store - from sanguine to neon. And new innovations are appearing all the time - roller pens, gel pens, woodless pencils, markers, etc. .

Don't buy too many supplies at first. If you're not sure what you want to work with, start with a pencil and a pad of paper, and a few color pencils - pick a set of 16 landscape colors or some individual colors that you like, and take it from there.

I will bring a selection of many of the materials described below, and you are welcome to try them out.

Pencils and Pens

General/Mars or any good drawing pencils in #2 (medium hardness lead) and #6B (softer lead). Some art stores have a test pad next to the pencils and pens on which to try them out.

I like the General layout pencil (#555) because of the soft thick lead, which can produce a wide range of lines and shading effects.

Prismacolor makes woodless sketching pencils, which are solid graphite, water soluble graphite pencils, and color sketching pencils in a limited range of colors.

"Roller" pens

Use a gel pen or roller pen (basically, a ballpoint pen with a better-engineered point) for a pen and ink "look", without the messy dip pen. I use the Uniball and Pentel pens in black - they're inexpensive, easy to find, and great on smooth paper.

Color Pencils and Watercolor pencils

Prismacolor are some of the easiest color pencils to find, but there are many other good ones. I like the Koh-i-noor Woodless Colour Pencils - These pencils are a great way to add color to your pen and pencil drawings - made of solid colored wax lead, with a lacquer finish, they have a nice, weighty feel, and are long lasting, although a little brittle. Try not to let them roll off the table! (This is true of any pencil, as the lead can break inside the wooden sheath.)

Try out some watercolor pencils. They're great for use with pencil, black or other colored pens to add a "tinted" look to your drawing.

Marker Pens
You may also want to try some Prismacolor Markers for colorful illustrations. They have a beautiful range of colors, but they are relatively expensive, and my experience is that run out of ink a little too quickly.

Pastel and Charcoal Pencils

If you want to work with pastel chalk, try getting some charcoal and pastel pencils - they are clean and allow for detailed work, as opposed to soft pastels, which are more dusty and crumbly, but feel free to use them if you like, as the results are beautiful!

Papers

Almost any paper can be used for drawing - I learned to draw at age 6 on reams of used telegraph sheets (inexpensive 5" X 8" cream colored 20lb paper) that my father brought home from the office.

Drawing on a colored or toned paper can save you time, and help set the mood for your work. Start with a colored paper that is halfway between the lightest and darkest values in your drawing, and is a color that is close to the overall tone of the composition. Light creams, grays, and other neutrals are often best. Here are a few suggestions:

Watercolor papers (Arches, Canson, Waterford, etc)
Colored papers (Strathmore and Sanford Mi-teintes pastel)
Truly fine art quality papers include Rives BFK paper, available in cream and gray (try the lightweight version as well), which you can find locally at Plaza Art in Fairfax on Nutley St., along with a wide selection of other good paper.

The torpedo factory in Alexandria has an art supply store on the second floor. Ask to see the sample book (rather than touching the stock) - for drawing with pencil, try the Frankfurt Cream paper for that archival look.

Pads of smooth (Bristol) and vellum (slight tooth) white paper such as those from Strathmore and Canson are good starter papers.

You can prepare your own papers at home by toning the surface with watercolor, acrylic paint, shellac, coffee stains, etc., to add texture, age, etc.

You can even photograph your drawings and further edit them on your computer. Use your imagination - add figures, create a story line, even illustrate your friends' short stories and poems!

The evil queen of the Veiled Nebula exercises mind control over her legions of robot warriors, intent on destroying the earth...

Eraser and sharpener

Since all erasers abrade the paper surface, you might want to try a kneadable eraser, which is softer than your standard Pink Pearl. While the purist "never" erases, I'm not a purist!

I don't get good results with those small sharpeners, so if you plan to do a lot of drawing, it might be a good idea to invest in an electric sharpener, and it really helps if it has the capability to accept a standard and larger size pencil diameter.

Clear Plastic Ruler and other drawing tools, such as curves and squares, if you wish to use them.

Keeping a sketch book

A sketchbook is a good way to keep your sketches in one place. But if you haven't used one before, it's easier to start out with individual sheets of inexpensive paper for practice. The goal is to get comfortable holding a pencil and letting your hand and arm relax from that tight, writing grip.

Don't worry if your lines aren't perfectly straight and consistent - you don't necessarily want a mechanical-looking drawing. The idea at first is to see how you can use the point and the sides of the lead to produce different effects. The more you practice, the more fun you will have!

The public library has tons of books on the subject of drawing - just check them out, bring them back, and try a few others!