Pencil Extender

Whether or not your pencil portrait proves to be a masterpiece depends to a large extent on the type and quality of your drawing tools. It is, of course, true for any craft. In this article I will give you an overview of the tools professional pencil artist uses when drawing a portrait in pencil.

What you need to draw portraits in pencil? The bare minimum is a pencil and a sheet of paper. Needing just one equipment is an advantage but also a disadvantage. The drawing is to art what boxing is the sport. The tools you are under the most qualified people, you must stand out. Therefore, as a pencil artist, it is especially important that you use the tools of the desired quality.

Below, I present to nearly all parts of drawing materials that you will ever need. Study the list and then choose according to your style and ambitions:

Pencils *. Pencil drawing, in general, are of varying degrees of softness and hardness:

9H, 8H, ..., 2H, H, F, HB, B, 2B, 3B, ..., 8B, 9B

Where 9H is the hardest and 9B is the lowest. The F pencil is the odd duck in the line. It provides very fine and soft lines and is often used to draw the hair. The HB pencil crayons separates the hard H pencils B sweet.

For starters, you can try the 2H (hard), HB, 2B, 4B and 6B (soft) pencils. Later, with some experience, you can always re-evaluate your choice.

* Paper. Try a number of different textured papers. For portraits, I prefer a 2-ply Bristol, acid free, heavyweight, smooth surface. But your choice should be dictated by your own style or simply by whether or not you enjoy a particular paper size.

Drawing board *. A 1 / 4 inch tempered Masonite or Plexiglas board of at least 16 x 20 inches will do.

* Clips or masking tape. You use them to set the paper on your drawing board and is practiced in all sorts of other situations. I use a lot of them.

* Maulstick. This stick is used to stabilize the hand and to avoid smudging of your work.

* Broom. A broom office is used occasionally brush debris from your work. This also prevents stains and saves time because you have to delete less.

* Sheet of heavy paper. You put this sheet under the hand drawing, again to avoid smudging your drawing while you work.

Sharpener *. You'll need a sturdy little for road and industrial electrical resistance for a studio.

* Fixer feasible. It is a spray to fix the painting is complete. This protects the design and makes it safe for future cuttings.

Erasers *. You need two types: 1. One and vinyl 2. a kneaded. A vinyl eraser is the usual hard rectangular kind. A mixed gum is the kind of gray that acts like putty.

* Sovereign. A metal ruler 12 inches will be common. Make sure you can easily read the divisions on the rule.

* Tortillons mixture. These cones are wound into a spiral of paper used to mix a dark area in a lighter.

* Tissue. You use tissue paper as another blending tool.

Upon this subject. As you practice (yes, practice), you should try some of the above tools and see if they suit your way of drawing. Be flexible, but try to work towards a final style of pencil portrait drawing that feels comfortable for you and includes a subset of the tools mentioned above used in a practical way and almost unconscious.