Preliminary Drawing Practice

Position of the Drawing Board – The drawing should be held as near as possible at right angles to the direction at which it is seen.

Position – The student should assume an erect, easy attitude, neither inclined to the right nor the left. She should face the desk. In individual cases, the teacher can exercise some latitude regarding the latter rule, though it is generally a good practice.

Measurements – In free hand exercises, from copy or objects, actual measurements before completion of drawing should be avoided. Otherwise, the entire object of free-hand drawing is defeated. This objection does not refer to the pencil measurements made by holding the pencil at full arm’s length, referred to in the next paragraph.

Eye Measurement – The best aid to eye-measurement is to hold the pencil at any angle required, the pencil meanwhile being parallel with the erect body and at right angles to the extended arm. Then raise or lower the thumb to the point required. The angles of objects to be drawn can be obtained also by the extended pencil.

Guide Lines – Guide lines as an aid to writing are prepared in advance and are used in schools throughout most, if not all, of the grades. In drawing, owing to the complexity of form used in the exercises, ready-made guides would be manifestly impractical if not impossible.

There is as good a reason to teach a child to draw with the aid of guide lines as there is to teach him to write that way. And there certainly is a good reason for the little blue lines in the copy books in the schools that keep the pupils from writing like this:

instead of like this:.

Hence the guide lines-and long may they flourish.

Elementary Practice in Form – Children should be taught to control the hands before proceeding far. It is best to begin with straight lines. The next step is to draw curved lines and, from this, to proceed to draw angles, circles, squares, and other such forms and outlines until the muscles of the hand become fairly under control. The foundation of technical skill in drawing, whether with charcoal, crayon, pen and ink or pencil, depends upon the ability to make lines with correctness and dexterity. Later the pupil is taught to see form rather than the lines themselves, yet the early training of the hand is responsible for firmness and surety of touch in the future.

The Point of the Pencil – This is a very important point. The point, including the lead and wood, should be fairly long and tapering, not short and blunt, as in Fig. I, or ragged, as in Fig. 2, or too tapering, as in Fig 3. The right point is shown in Fig. 4. The lead should not be sharpened to a fine point. By holding the pencil at an angle without turning it, making broad lines, the pencil wears away to a chisel point, as in Fig. 5. By a slight twist the angle A can be brought to play for the purpose of making a fine line. Illustrate this by making a number of broad lines, holding the pencil rigidly, and then giving the pencil a half turn.

Tagged as: guide lines, measurements, pencils