Olive - Grid Drawing

My granddaughter "Olive" 8 1/2 x 11 graphite

 

This one is in my handmade sketchbook - the kind where you can't really tear out pages.

I did a grid drawing, both to make it easier on myself, and to share a little about the grid drawing process.

I printed off a copy of the photo at the same size as my paper. The grid I drew in white gel pen on the photocopy is the same size as the one I drew (very lightly in graphite) on my sketchbook page. Then it's a matter of copying what you see inside each individual square. 

Here's the beginning. I erase the grid as I go. Remember to draw the grid as lightly as possible to make this step easy on yourself.

I am the most comfortable with my simple mechanical pencil which is a medium graphite, halfway between the soft, very dark graphite (like 6B or 8B) and the hard graphite which doesn't make marks beyond a soft gray color (like 6H). I do, however, switch back and forth between harder and softer graphite pencils as needed. You can see at the top of the photo. 

Notice that my drawing hand is resting on a piece of scrap paper. This prevents my hand from picking up graphite and smearing it around, making a mess on my hand and the paper. It also keeps any of the oils from my skin off the paper.

You also see a couple types of erasers, including the very important kneadable eraser just at the top of the photo, and a brush to wipe the surface after erasing (again keeping my hands off the paper as much as possible).

Lastly, the blending stomps! I don't know what I would do without them for those soft gradations. They hold a lot of graphite from blending the darker areas, and then become a drawing instrument themselves.

Information on blending stomps, erasers, and varying degrees of graphite hardness can be picked up in nearly any beginner's drawing book. I just wanted to share my workspace with you.

A closer look

These next two photos are simply progression shots that I take at the end of a setting. I usually work about an hour at a time. This isn't a commission so I go at a leisurely pace for the joy of it.

One more supply to mention - black colored pencil!

A book passed through my hands recently, and I learned that you can get the really dark blacks that make a drawing pop by switching to black colored pencil for the heavy shadowed areas and places like the eyes. It goes smoothly over the graphite. I use Prismacolor colored pencils.

You can also see that rich black in her hair at the top of the page.

Thanks for stopping by!