Читать книгу The Complete Guide to Drawing for Beginners - Yoshiko Ogura - Страница 14

Getting Ready to Draw

Organize your tools before you start!

As with beginning any athletic activity, you need to warm up and get ready before drawing. It is import-

ant to get everything ready to use to reduce distractions while you are drawing. Here are some tips to

help you prepare.

Sharpening your pencil

Use a craft knife to sharpen your pencil

Use a craft knife to sharpen your pencil by hand—don’t

use a pencil sharpener for this task. The point of the pencil

should be trimmed to be longer than it would be if it was

being used for writing. This allows you to produce a finer

line. It also makes the side of the lead available for shading.

The only way to achieve this is to sharpen the pencil by hand.

You can also sand the point into shape using a fine grade of

sandpaper.

1

When sharpening your

pencil, hold it in your left

hand, and hold the razor in

your right hand. Support

the blade by pressing on

it with the thumb of your

left hand while you whittle

away from you with your

right hand. (If you’re left

handed, reverse the hands

described in the procedure

above.)

2

Rotate the pencil with your

left hand. Shave away at

the material, and try to

keep the shape of the point

acutely conical. Pare away

both the lead and the wood

as you go.

Tips on sharpening

the pencil

If you are too aggressive when sharp-

ening, the shape of the pencil will be

negatively affected, and the wood

portion will become asymmetrical.

You might even scratch the paper

when drawing because of the uneven

angles of your pencil. When you

sharpen the pencil well, it will be easy

to use. Put effort into sharpening

your pencils well.

If there’s too much unsupported

lead sticking out, it will easily snap.

If there’s too much wood and not

enough lead, you might scratch the

paper, so give plenty of attention to

the tip of your pencil.

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