Art and Design A comprehensive guide for creative artists - Aaltodoc

d) Charcoal is good and it is an abundant medium used
for drawing. It can be found everywhere around us,
especially from burnt wood or where bonfire has been
extinguished. Its sizes and strength varies according to
the type of burnt wood or sticks. In spite of that, today
it is possible to buy some special types of charcoal from
shops for sketching.
e) Drawing-chalk is well distinguished from chalk
used on chalkboards. It contains a binding material,
which makes it stick fast on papers. Buser (2006, 156)
says, “chalk can be rubbed and blended, it is very
permanent—natural chalk makes soft, fuzzy lines ... not
very dark and chalk lines have transparency.”
Such drawing chalk is not meant for chalkboard use,
because it is difficult or impossible to erase completely.
On the other hand, chalk used for drawing is in general
produced in very many types of colours. According to
Buser (2006, 156) “... red, white and black chalks” can be
made out of “earth and then cut into sticks. Warm red
or blood red is derived from hematite (iron ore); natural
black chalk is from shale and a mixture of clay and
carbon.” Here we see that locally the learner can as well
make his/her drawing chalk. Meanwhile, as the learning
process continues to progress many more chalk types
such as pastel chalk, pastel crayons and chalk crayons
will add to your list of drawing tools and materials.
In Constable's (1995, 41) The Painters Workshop: “As a
material, pastel is to be distinguished from the harder
chalk crayons, much used by artists for drawing, in
which the pigment is mixed with an oil or wax and
moulded into sticks. Confusion is apt to arise, since
pastel is sometimes called crayon.”
f) An eraser is a rubber or plastic substance used for
rubbing away-unwanted pencil markings created on
a paper during drawing. Nonetheless, very competent
drawing artists mention directly that a rubber is
impractical. “As a learner you are expected to adopt a
problem solving approach.” (Digolo et al. 1988, 50) For
the reason that unnecessary use of erasers may put an
end to the learner's imminent skill, competence and
creativity. Ashwin (1982, 89) notes, “many teachers of
the old school used to forbid the use of the eraser on
the principle that, drawing should be additive.”
Obviously, then, using an eraser for a beginning artist may
not be of any significant importance. Apart from describing
the learner as a timid artists with low self-confidence.
Drawing nature and still life
The two areas of drawing; nature and still life necessitate
different approaches intend to convey a successful artistic
work or design. Ssegantebuka (2003, 16) reminds us that
“still life and nature studies should be visualised in terms of
their forms, shape, texture and tonal values.” Clearly, then,
drawing nature and still life must present learning aims like;
acquiring skills of observation as well as learning to sketch
contrasting shapes.
Nature drawing regards the practical study of objects
in the physical world. These may be living organisms
and their environments—for example plants, animals,
landscapes, human beings and very many other aspects of
God's creations. Whereas, still life is depicted by sketching
inanimate—not alive objects, which are for the most part
known to be manmade. Occasionally, in drawing; nature
and still life studies are combined.
Some educationists propose that nearly all learners who
draw nature shapes easily accomplish their drawing tasks
for the reason that set objects or specimen are frequently
remarked as irregular shapes.
In Lidwell et al.'s (2010, 36) biophilia effect; “... children who
experienced the greatest increase in nature views from their
windows made the greatest gains in standard tests ... ” In
other words, from nature study or studies, learners sketch
more in a satisfactory way.
Without going beyond the scope of our subject matter;
from nature drawing learners have a greater potential
of reinventing designs necessary for painting,
making graphic design artworks and other
useful study artworks.
According to Wood (1994, 12), “Never attempt
to draw such a perfect and neat specimen
that it loses its naturalness. None of nature is
“perfect,” and to draw it perfectly denies its
inherent nature.”
This tells us that during drawing, even with
less, the artist can provide absolute interpretation
or meaning of the subject matter required.
Nature drawing
arranged to
show a filled up
basket carrying
bananas and eggs
Materials: Pencil
on A4 paper
46 47