The Elements of Drawing - Exercise 1

The Elements of Drawing - Exercise 1
Ink on Paper
18cm x 15.75cm (7" x 6.25")

I seem to be “drawn” to old art instruction books. John Ruskin (1819-1900) wrote "The Elements of Drawing" in 1856. It’s amazing to follow lessons written by a contemporary and friend of J. M. W. Turner (1775-1851).

I like that Ruskin is more interested in helping his readers to learn to love nature and appreciate great art than he is in teaching them to draw, but the book won’t be to everyone’s taste. The writing and overall tone is old fashioned and authoritarian.

The first exercise is to create blocks of smooth tone using a fine pointed steel nib. Ruskin recommends using “one of Gillott's lithographic crowquills”. Surprisingly, 170 years later, you can still buy these. I am using the 659 mapping nib which seems very fine and very stiff.

One of Gillott's lithographic crowquills

You draw boxes and fill them in with crossed lines “so completely and evenly that it shall look like a square patch of gray silk or cloth, cut out and laid on the white paper”.

If areas of the square are too light, you darken them by drawing more lines or dots. If areas of the square are too dark, you “use the edge of your penknife very lightly, and for some time, to wear it softly into an even tone”. 

This is all more difficult than it sounds. The nib and the knife are both difficult to master. Every time you darken an area by adding more ink, the overall tone of the square gets darker. Every time you try to lighten the tone with the penknife, the paper gets rougher and becomes more unpredictable in how it takes ink. Eventually the paper becomes so rough that further improvement is impossible. 

It is difficult to know whether you've successfully completed the exercise. Initially, I thought my efforts were relatively poor when compared with the example for the exercise. 

The Elements of Drawing - Exercise 1

But the example is a dark square, which Ruskin acknowledges is easier to achieve than a lighter one. I flicked ahead to Exercise 3 in which you create a greyscale. 

The Elements of Drawing - Exercise 3

Parts of this look rougher than my efforts, so I’m calling Exercise 1 done and I will reevaluate my progress when I try the greyscale in Exercise 3.

Illustrated Journaling

 

Rudolf
Watercolour & Ink
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
14.0 x 17.8cm cm (5.5" x 7.0")

An illustrated journal is a diary in which you record your life in both words and pictures. Liz Steel (SketchingNow) and Danny Gregory (Sketchbook Skool) both keep and recommend illustrated journals. 

No. It's a Pen Knife!
Watercolour & Ink
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
14.0 x 17.8cm cm (5.5" x 7.0")

Until now, I haven’t included text with my sketches because my main reason for sketching is to practice drawing and painting. I wanted to create perfect little pictures, not to document my life.

Doris Free Weekend
Watercolour & Ink
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
14.0 x 17.8cm cm (5.5" x 7.0")

This year, I’ve embraced the addition of text. My hope is it will make me less precious about creating pristine sketches. This will take the pressure off starting a drawing and result in me sketching more frequently. I also enjoy writing, so it is a welcome addition.

Pencil Full Of Lead
Graphite Pencil
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
14.0 x 17.8cm cm (5.5" x 7.0")

I’m using a small sketchbook; each page is only 8.9cm x 14.0cm (3.5″ x 5.5″). It’s smaller than I enjoy using, but the benefits are it’s small enough to fit in a pocket and to go unnoticed when it’s in use. The small size should also help me to stop fussing over details.

Icing
Ink
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
14.0 x 17.8cm cm (5.5" x 7.0")

 I’m also painting over the middle of the double page spread. This is another strategy to be looser and to reduce the expectation that each sketch needs to be faultless. You have to accept less than perfection when you’re drawing and painting over a fold.