Humble
The humble pencil is so often overlooked in a fast, techno driven world where digital art has ruled supreme for at least a decade now. However, I do still love picking up a pencil and creating art with it. I am sharing many pencil drawings at the moment (none are from current projects I’m afraid). As you can see, pencils can be used to create the finest, most delicate drawings right through to very dramatic pieces. I call it humble, because it is a little overlooked by publishers, mainly because there is no colour, so I do understand. However, wouldn’t be wonderful to create a picture book in pencil that just works and manages to magically enchant and capture a child’s imagination. I’d like to think it’s possible… do you?
Checkmate!
Now this illustration is really quite old and was done just as a bit of frivolity and not a commission. I have always enjoyed drawing animals and (don’t tell anyone), but I think I’m a wee bit better at drawings animals than people. I find them far more interesting really (but, as I said, tell no one). This drawing was created using only one pencil, a 2B. You can use a range of soft and hard leads to create different effects but in a way, if you want to really learn to get the most out of this medium, try creating an entire image using only one led grade. Go on, challenge yourself.
Scribbly does it
Of course, it’s equally fun to be very scribbly with a pencil too. Scribbly, quick helps to capture a gesture or movement. I have often found that if you work freely and quickly, you get better results. Agonise too much over detail and making everything look ‘nice’. I think one illustrator who is a good example of this is Quentin Blake. Strangely enough, I found myself sharing a lecture event with him once. It was at a small library in Sidcup, London (of all places) years ago. He walked in, a little stooped, as he was really quite old even then. Despite is diminutive build there was a cloud of people, surrounding him. A cloud billowing with excitement.
Here are some sketchbook scribbles for some personal projects I have worked on. Some are wobbly and that is because I have been known to draw in trains, planes and buses!
See more pencil art here.
