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The Cindy Wider Method

Complete Drawing Certificate Course Title: Unit One ‘Outline Drawing’ Medium: Drawing in graphite pencil Level: Beginners Week: Three Course Code: U1-OD-wk3

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© 2003 Cindy Wider. All Rights Reserved. The contents of this course are distributed under licence and may not be used, sold,

reproduced or distributed without written permission from Cindy Wider.

Week Three: General overview Last week you learned six different pencil strokes beginning with how to prepare your pencil, then how to hold it the correct way to achieve a variety of different strokes. You discovered that both of these important skills of preparing and holding your pencil the correct way are crucial to the success of the individual stroke. This week you are given the opportunity to put those wonderful new strokes into practice as you create a completed drawing of the ‘Old Hayshed’ by filling in an outline drawing with the six strokes learned last week. We will do the drawing this week in two stages; first of all we will be transferring the drawing from your notes (see Fig. 3) then filling in the outline drawing with the six pencil strokes that you learned during your course last week. Art Materials: Use your quality drawing paper as recommended in your art supplies list for this exercise as well as all of the equipment from your art materials list in week one. The ‘Graphite Transferring method' will be explained during this exercise.

Fig. 1. Drawing of The Old Hay Shed, final stage of the project

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The Old Hay Shed There are two major goals for this exercise; to learn how to transfer an image and have an opportunity to see how all of your new pencil strokes can come together in the one image. Please see the completed drawing you will be creating for this exercise (see Fig. 1.) This drawing was inspired by an old hayshed that still sits on a small sugar-cane property at the base of Mount Coolum, Queensland Australia. Rosemary Johnston from Queensland Australia kindly took this photograph to share with us (see Fig. 2.) Imagine the stories that this creaky roofed old tin shed would share with us if it could speak. It would probably tell us tales of heroic men and women who worked so hard for years to maintain their family farm and home through many trials and tribulations. Succeeding through sheer determination and commitment they would have worked away under its shelter day and night. Old and dilapidated, this beautiful hayshed still sits there faithfully watching over the crops as though it is the Grandfather of all the land.

Fig. 2. Photograph of the ‘Old Hayshed’ courtesy Rosemary Johnston of Queensland Australia

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Fig. 3. Outline drawing of The Old Hayshed to transfer to good quality paper

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Stage One: Transfer the old Hayshed outline drawing to quality paper Transfer the image onto quality drawing paper by using the following instructions. Important Note: You will not be drawing a teapot, the images in the notes are for general instruction only. Use this process shown here to transfer the outline drawing of the ‘Old Hay Shed’ at Fig. 3 General information about transferring your image: It is much more professional to have clean, neat artwork. Often during the process of decision-making in the early stages of creating an artwork, there are many smudges, lines, erasing marks and measuring devices that we use to achieve the final drawing. It can be difficult to erase all of these initial working markings and so it is often easier to transfer your initial rough copy drawing onto quality paper ready for the final drawing and shading stage. During this stage of the course I have prepared some step-by-step instructions demonstrating how to transfer your image to quality paper using just a pencil to shade the back of your image with.

Tip; You can use graphite transfer paper instead of rubbing the back of the image (such

as Saral or Trace-down) which you can by from a stationary store, art store or online; that is

ready-made for you. All you do is slip a sheet of the graphite transfer paper between your

beautiful new clean piece of paper and the image you are transferring. You have to make

sure that you stick the image that you are transferring along the top with three pieces of tape

before slipping the transfer paper between the two sheets. The graphite transfer paper

should be face-down.

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Fig. 4. Rub the back of your drawing using a 4B pencil.

Step One:

First of all, collect the outline drawing of the ‘old hayshed’ provided for

you (see Fig. 3.) Flip this image over so it is image side down on your drawing

surface. Use a smooth hard surface to work on. You should see a blank page with

a slight vision of the printed image showing through, but if not, position the image

onto a window with a light shining from behind the window. The sun shining

through the image is great during the day. This will help you to see the printed

image shining through from the reverse side of the paper.

Rub the back of your drawing with a 4B graphite pencil (see Fig. 4.) Make sure

you are placing the graphite over every part of the back of the outline drawing

in the image. Remember, the image is face down on the window and you can

see the outline shining through the paper because of the sunlight coming through

from outside of the window.

IMPORTANT: if you miss any area, that part of the drawing will not show up later

when you transfer the image onto your quality paper. Make sure you don’t miss any

areas.

Tip: Before you move to the next step, be aware of this; don’t press too hard! It

will create unsightly indentations that are hard to fix afterwards.

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Fig. 5. Flip your drawing back over. Tip: Press just firmly enough for the image to come through onto the other side.

Be very careful not to indent your page by pressing too hard. Use a HB pencil.

Step Two:

Flip your image over (see Fig. 5) it should contain graphite on the back of this

image and the printed image from your notes of the old hayshed on the front.

Place this image onto a fresh new sheet of high quality drawing paper with the graphite-rubbed surface placed flat against the fresh sheet of paper. The image side should now be facing up. Attach the image to the top of the new sheet of quality paper with just three pieces of masking tape; one on either end and one in the centre at the top of the page to make a flap. This is very important so that you can lift the page like a flap; up and down without it moving. You can check the image along the way to see if it is transferring through to the sheet of quality paper.

Using your HB pencil, begin the transfer process by drawing over the outline

drawing of the ‘Old Hayshed.’ Press gently but hard enough for the image to transfer without indenting your page. Follow around the lines of the ‘Old Hayshed’ drawing. Test a small area first and check to see that it is working. It should be barely visible, just enough to see it. This process will transfer the image onto your new page ready for adding the pencil strokes to it. You can use a ball-point pen or coloured pencil to do this if you wish. That way you can keep track of where you have been going over the image.

Note: It is inevitable that occasionally you will see some indentation marks as a result of transferring your image. These show up as thin white lines once you begin to shade an area. They can be corrected by gently filling in the white area with a very fine tip on your HB pencil. Press super softly and stroke the area with gentle feather-like strokes. The graphite has to only sit inside the indentation, if it rubs either side of

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the indentation it will appear as a double line with a white space. You can gently putty this back out and have another go. Make sure your HB pencil has a very fine tip. The indentation marks pose more of a problem in the shadow shape areas. As you become more confident with your drawing skills, it’s much better to avoid transferring the shadow and highlight shapes and instead just sketch them directly onto the newly transferred image (you will still have to draw super-softly.)

Fig. 6. Your drawing transferred. Your image will not be as dark as this. It is only this dark here so that

you can see it clearly in these course notes.

Step Three:

Lift up your drawing to expose the transferred image underneath (see Fig. 6.) It should

be very pale, much paler than seen above, as this is only for you to be able to see the

demonstration more clearly. If your image has come through darker than you wish,

you can erase it back to barely visible. Use your putty or kneadable eraser (if needed)

for this.

Stage Two: Fill in the drawing with the six pencil strokes you have just learned It is time to fill in the drawing using the pencil strokes;

Shading Blending with the cotton bud Broad Strokes Chisel point

Fine lines Hatching Cross-hatching

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Fig. 7. Old Hay Shed with names of pencil strokes

Step One: Take careful notice of where each pencil stroke has been used in the drawing above (see Fig. 7.) You will also see a number alongside some of the strokes. The number indicates how light or dark the area should be drawn. Different levels of light and dark When we draw we not only have to consider the outline drawing and the pencil strokes, but also how light or dark the drawing must be in certain areas. We call this area of study the theory of light and shade. There are five major areas of light and shadow that we can learn about to help us create three dimensional illusions on a flat two dimensional surface (the page.) This is a large area of study that is taught separately in unit two of this course.

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For the purpose of your instruction, however, at this point in time you will be given some very basic knowledge on light and shade to enable you to draw the picture with a little more depth which helps to make it appear a little more three-dimensional. When we are working with graphite pencil, we talk about varying levels of grey ‘tones’ ranging from white (as the blank page) to the darkest dark you are able to achieve with your graphite pencil. Each level is allotted a number. This helps us to make sense of the many different levels of light and shade within a drawing. For now we will just work with three tones (see the image at Fig. 7) and number them as 1, 2 and 3 in this order;

1) This is the lightest level. It is left as the white of your page (no pencil markings at all.)

2) This level is a medium level of tone (use either a HB or 2B pencil in these areas.)

3) This is the darkest level of tone (use either a 2B or 4B in these areas.) Press quite firmly but not so hard that you indent your page. You will not be able to achieve a level of tone with your graphite pencil that is as dark as the computer screen.

Tip: If you squint (look with your eyes half-closed) you will find it much easier to see different levels of tone in the drawings you are working from. Step Six: 1. Take another look at Fig.7 and notice the number that is given to some of the

strokes. These have been placed on the drawing to give you just a general idea of the different levels of tone you should be aiming for in your drawing.

2. Begin filling in the strokes in the various places and take a look at the larger drawing to use as a guide (see Fig. 8.)

Voila! You have completed your drawing! You are welcome to frame this image and give it as a gift or keep it as a memoir of your newly acquired skills.

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Fig. 8. Old Hay Shed

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Student Artworks Here are some examples of excellent student artworks after completing this exercise. These people have kindly given permission for their artworks to be reproduced here for your enjoyment and inspiration. I hope these drawings encourage you to create your version of the ‘Old Hayshed.’

Artwork by Scott Kunkle Artwork by Ivor Doherty

Artwork by Tanya Brown Artwork by Yana Buzby

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Artwork by Frances Green

Artwork by Angela Deck

Artwork by Jo Knox

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Assignment To Complete This Week: 1. The Old Hayshed Drawing: The transferred drawing of the ‘Old Hayshed’ with

all of the pencil markings in place to demonstrate your ability to successfully transfer an image and to be able to use the six pencil strokes in an image.

Final words

This is a very exciting phase of your drawing journey. During this week of the course you are given an opportunity to create your first fully completed artwork. It’s amazing how a pencil can be prepared in so many different ways to create this variety of markings. As you draw your ‘Old Hayshed’ image this week and while you are adding the pencil strokes, relax and have fun with it. Rather than creating your image exactly identical to the one in your notes mark-for-mark, do yours with the strokes in he same areas but put some energy and expression into it. Make it your own! This is a fun drawing and a time for you to stake your claim of the pencil mark. Have a fabulous week and remember to just show up at the table, the rest will take care of itself! The joy is in the journey, not only the destination.

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