Art Fun Cheap

When you make up your mind that you are going to draw a picture of a car you need to decide on the layout. In what way will your car be sitting, will it be a side view or a view of it from an angle? These questions need to be considered before you put [...]

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Someone commented recently that she had found the pencils that write a rainbow but could not find a supply of leads for them. I know how frustrating that is!
Those tricolor leads (red-blue-green in a pie wedge arrangement) are made in Taiwan, but you cannot buy them directly from the factory. They are sold to manufacturers.
Texas [...]

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By Kathleen Gresham
A year or so ago I wrote about Koh-i-Noor Magic FX pencils. The lead is a checkerboard pattern of three colors. The pencils come in several color combinations. They are great for making textured backgrounds on paper.
Since then I have found several other multicolor pencils that you may also want to look for. 
Magic FX [...]

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By Artfang, guest blogger
Posing your model surrounded by a few props can add much interest, dimension, and appeal to a portrait and goes a long way to describing your subject. A prop can add appreciably to the composition of the portrait. Sketching a portrait with a prop, such as a hat or even ear muffs, obliges [...]

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By Remi Engels, guest blogger
Once you have hatched the primary value masses of your portrait it is time to blend and “remove” the lights with a kneaded eraser.
A stump is a cylindrical tool tapered at the ends and generally made of rolled paper. Stumping then is to smear or blend your hatchings with a stump. [...]

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Tone is generally thought of as shadow. Beginners generally first draw an outline of the shadow and then fill in the shadows little by little. They usually begin with an eye and then grow out the shadows. Inevitably, the outcome is a chaos of disconnected darks and lights.

Applying, or more correctly, constructing tone should be approached with a sculptural sensibility. That is, think of your sketch as a block of clay that is to be carved.

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By Artfang, guest blogger
A strange thing about drawing the profile view is that novices find it much easier than the other poses. Yet, the advanced draftsperson can find the profile quite challenging. For the advanced artist the challenge lies in the struggle to affect a 3-dimensional sculptured look.
Looking at the arabesque in the profile view [...]

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By Remi Engels, guest blogger
Rendering hair is dictated by several factors: the type of hair, its color, texture, amount, the arrangement and styling of the hair, the character and disposition of the sitter or the photograph, and the light effect upon the hair.
The contour of the hair is part of the overall arabesque. A correct [...]

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By Remi Engels, guest blogger
A smile is the result of happiness. It lifts and extends the bottom of the face and the uplifted cheeks will often crease the skin just below the eyes, creating the so-called “crow’s feet.”
To recognize the makings of a smile in its numerous manifestations we must first appreciate the underlying anatomy. Below [...]

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Capturing the delicate, fleeting gestures of individual emotions in portrait sketching is a test for any draftsperson. There are basically six principal emotions: surprise, happiness, sadness, anger, fear and disgust.
The gestures of these key feelings are instinctual, the muscle interactions and actions are involuntary. In general, the facial muscles are fragile, finely in step and [...]

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