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Pencil Drawing: A Comprehensive Guide to Mastering the Art

At the heart of all great works of art is the humble pencil. Whether it’s a quick sketch or a detailed pencil portrait drawing, pencils are essential tools for artists of all levels. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll take you through everything you need to know about pencil drawing, from the basics of sketching to advanced shading techniques.

Getting Started with Pencil Drawing Before you start drawing, you need to choose the right materials. There are a few things to consider when selecting your pencils, paper, and other supplies.

Pencils There are many different types of pencils available, each with its own unique characteristics. The most common types of pencils are:

HB: A medium-hard pencil that’s great for general sketching and outlining.

2B: A soft pencil that’s perfect for shading and adding depth to your drawings.

4H: A hard pencil that’s great for fine details and precise lines.

You can also find pencils that are harder or softer than these grades, depending on your preferences.

Paper The type of paper you choose can have a big impact on the quality of your drawings. Look for paper that’s smooth and sturdy, with a weight of at least 70 pounds. Some popular options include:

Bristol board: A smooth, heavyweight paper that’s ideal for detailed drawings.

Drawing paper: A versatile option that’s available in a range of textures and weights.

Sketch paper: A lightweight option that’s great for quick sketches and studies.

Other Supplies In addition to pencils and paper, you’ll also need a few other supplies to get started with pencil drawing. These include:

Erasers: Look for soft, kneaded erasers that won’t damage your paper.

Sharpeners: A good pencil sharpener will help you keep your pencils sharp and ready to use.

Blending tools: You can use your fingers, a blending stump, or a piece of tissue to blend and smudge your drawings.

Basic Pencil Drawing Techniques Once you have your supplies, it’s time to start drawing. Here are a few basic techniques to get you started:

Sketching: Use light, loose strokes to sketch out the basic shapes and proportions of your subject.

Shading: Use soft, gradual strokes to add shading and depth to your drawings. Start with a light touch and build up your shading gradually.

Cross-hatching: This technique involves drawing a series of parallel lines and then drawing another set of parallel lines at a different angle to create a cross-hatched pattern.

Blending: Use a blending tool to blend and smudge your shading and create a smooth, seamless look.

Advanced Pencil Drawing Techniques Once you’ve mastered the basics, you can start experimenting with more advanced techniques. Here are a few to try:

Layering: Use multiple layers of pencil strokes to build up your shading and create a more complex look.

Burnishing: This technique involves using a hard pencil and a lot of pressure to smooth out your shading and create a polished look.

Texturing: Use a variety of pencil strokes and techniques to create different textures, such as fur, feathers, or wood grain.

Negative drawing: This technique involves drawing the spaces around your subject instead of the subject itself, which can create interesting and unexpected effects.

Conclusion Pencil drawing is a versatile and rewarding art form that anyone can learn. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced artist, there’s always more to discover and explore. By following the tips and techniques in this guide, you can create beautiful, detailed drawings from small sketches to grand pencil portraits, that are sure to impress.

Pencil portrait drawings from photos, dog pencil portraits, cat pencil portraits, people pencil portraits, children pencil portraits availab

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Horse Pencil Portraits

Horse pencil portrait drawings can make for a stunning piece of artwork, your beloved horse posed in its stable or out having a gentle hack around the countryside, can make a great subject for a fabulous pencil drawing.

Horse pencil drawings can sometime simply be a close up pose of the horses head, zoomed in showing every detail of your horses beautiful head, reflecting its beauty and personality.

An interesting pose often chosen by horse lovers is that of an action shot, a picture of your horse jumping or in gallop with a slight bit of motion to the picture can be an extremely vibrant drawing, reflecting your horses prowess, power and grand stature.

Most lovers of equine and everything related have more than just an interest in the subject, it is often a major part of their life. Due to the responsibility associated with owning a horse; the early mornings and late nights tending to the horses every need, make this a full time occupation that soon becomes a real passion in their lives.

This is the main reason why horse pencil portraits are a very popular request, as when the owners of a horse are not with them, they like to be reminded of the bond that they have between horse and rider and the special moments they share together.

Black and white drawings of horses are the first stop for people wanting a picture of their beloved pony. A soft visual reminder of there well loved horse. From a small A4 black and white sketch to detailed larger A3 or A2 portraits are all available as the perfect gift to the horse lover.

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Horse Pencil Portraits

It's the one thing most horse lovers will own, or love to own, a beautifully handcrafted pencil portrait of their adored horse. A constant reminder hanging at home of their beautiful horse in all its glory.

A horse portrait drawing can also make for the most wonderful gift to give to a horse owner. A unique gift that you literally cannot simply pick up on the high street. It will be more than just a horse pencil drawing, it will be seen as the person receiving it as a very well thought out, very special gift.

What type of Horse Portraits Are Available?

There is a huge variety of horse portraits available, from small head portraits crafted in black and white graphite pencil, through to large full colour multi subject portraits, showing a variety of different poses and settings. That said, one of the most favoured horse portraits is the one of the horse in action, doing jumps or in full gallop, reflecting its strength and prowess in its full glory.

Whatever pose or setting you are wanting for your horse pencil portrait, you can be guaranteed a beautiful work or art will be created, with a huge amount of detail and precision from Personal Artworks UK. At Personal Artworks UK we work to the finest of details capturing the most subtle of shapes and expressions, to ensure you get a horse portrait that is as close to real life as possible.

Black and White Horse Portrait Drawings

Black and white drawings bring their own style and mood to any portrait drawing, unlike coloured drawings black and white gives a very moody, atmospheric feel to the drawing that simply cannot be captured in colour, which is one of the main reasons people choose black and white horse drawings over colour.

With black and white horse portrait drawings, as it is single colour, the depth can often be slightly more shallow than colour, but the fine level of detail and atmospheric feel can make up for this lack of depth in other ways.

Coloured Horse Portrait Drawings

As with all coloured drawings the depth and tonal intensity can offer huge levels of realism that cannot be captured in black and white. The multiple tones coupled with the blendability can only be achieved with good quality pencils, this is key to a high quality coloured horse portrait drawing.

With coloured horse portraits, the level of realism can also be accentuated by the introduction of a background to the portrait. A background indicative of the horses natural setting, maybe a field or stable, will add a certain theme and style to the portrait drawing.

Whatever type of horse portrait drawing you are considering, make sure the reference photo is of the highest quality, reflecting great detail and a broad spectrum of tones, to make sure you get the best quality horse drawing possible.

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Realistic Drawings of People

Drawings of people can range quite radically, from small black and white portraits of an individual, right through to a large full colour drawing of entire families.

Whatever type of realistic drawings of people you favour, the detail captured and the reference used is crucial in getting the perfect portrait drawing.

Portrait Drawing Types

Pencil portrait drawings of children.

Pencil drawings of children can make for some of the most beautiful portraits. reflecting the innocence and purity of children is what makes this type of drawing so special. Every child has that one look that evokes such joy to the parent or relative, maybe a cheeky smile or a look of pure mischief, capturing this perfectly can make the portrait pure magic.

Pencil drawings of women

Women naturally have a more photogenic appearance and can make for excellent models when it comes to pencil portrait reference.

A lot of women used in pencil portraiture are placed in a setting that evokes a certain mood or atmosphere. A woman draped in a cotton sheet or snuggled under a duvet can give a very feminine, innocent appearance.

In history a lot of women portraits are very formal, in quite a regal setting, sterotypical types of drawings and painting done for queens and princesses.

Nowadays, a lot of people favour the more relaxed look for pencil portraits of women. Poses of women sat smiling in a relaxed setting or laughing in a very relaxed fun way. These types of pencil portraits are favoured mainly due to their association with the scenario of the original photograph used for the reference of the portrait drawing.

Portrait drawings of men

Men are more often than not shown in a more stern light within pencil portrait drawings. A reflection of their strength and masculinity is often what is wanted to be achieved in the overall drawing.

Even today, this type of pose is still favoured for men, anything more relaxed or slightly off the wall is seen as unusual and unpopular.

Drawings of men are more often than not done in a drawing combining both a man and a woman in a wedding drawing or romantic pose, reflecting an air of love and romanticism.

Whatever type of people pencil portrait drawing you would like please get in touch I would love to hear from you.

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Portrait Drawings

Black and White Portrait Drawings 

Throughout history, black and white pencil portraits have adorned the walls of homes, galleries and grand palaces, featuring all manner of subjects from animals, through to kings and queens.

A black and white portraits in pencil has a certain style, looks and evokes a certain atmosphere that cannot be captured with coloured pencil portraits. Black and white pencil portraits allow the viewer to focus solely on the subject with its singular tones, creating a very moody ambience that gives presidence to the subject and pose.

Mediums used for Portrait Drawings

Charcoal

Charcoal is the oldest of drawing materials, stemming back to cavemen times, when drawings were etched onto cave walls. Nowadays charcoal has become much more refined as a drawing medium but still retain its natural raw qualities when used for pencil portrait drawing.

The raw finish and application of charcoal is the main reason artists use it. Creating a loose sketch with flair and almost primitive style is what makes charcoal so popular.

Nowadays the medium of charcoal comes in many forms, stemming from the initial creation of charcoal sticks, you can now buy different grades of it in many different forms from pencil charcoal, to blocks and powders. 

Pencil

The artist medium of pencil has also been used for many years to create works of art. Stemming back to 1795 when it was first discovered, pencils came in a very singular and simple form. Nowadays pencils, both graphite and coloured pencils have extensive colour ranges, finishes and blend-ability, making it a favourite for a lot of professional artists, purely from the angle of control and accuracy. 

The range of pencil grades as well as the vast amount of colour tones now available is a valued attribute that artists love and use with great skill creating monumental works of art that have become world renown.

Oil Paint

Oil paint is the artist medium most associated with some of the greatest artists and works of art of all time. From Leonardo Da Vinci, to Van Gogh to the more contemporary artists of our time, Francis Bacon and David Hockney. Oil Paint can create a very beautiful finish allowing multiple layers of colour to be used adding a huge amounts of depth and atmosphere to a painting. The workability of oil painting is a favourable attribute by artists as it takes a long time to dry so can be worked a lot until the exact finish required is achieved.

The modern day medium of oil paint has come on a lot since the early days of its inception. Nowadays the ranges of colours and the brushes available give artists a huge amounts of flexibility and styles that can be achieved.

Watercolour

Watercolour has and always has had a huge following, from art clubs to hobbyists, this medium allows even the lesser skilled amateur to achieve a simple piece of artwork that has atmosphere and beautiful flow with very little effort. That said, when wanting to achieve professional levels of artistry with watercolours, it can take many years to refine the skills as the medium is very loose and to achieve a detailed piece can take many hours of practice.

From its initial creation of solid block pallets, nowadays you can buy very high quality watercolour paints in tubes, with vast ranges of colours for the budding artist.

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Styles of Portrait Drawings

Loose Sketch Pencil Portrait Drawings

A loose sketch style portrait drawing is a favoured choice of many artists when undertaking pencil portraits. The loose style can add a certain atmosphere and ambience to the drawing. The loose style will just highlight certain key details of the piece to denote certain aspects of the drawing making the subject easily recognisable, but the peripheral elements of the drawing/subject such as the hair and possible clothing can be a lot softer with less detail, where more artistic license can be used.

Face Study

A lot of portrait artists choose the face study as their signature style, a close up drawing detailing all aspects of the face and hair, to create a very personalised detailed drawing. This type of drawing, if the reference allows, can,  and often is, the style used in hyper realism drawing as the close up position allows the artist to capture the most intricate of detail within the drawing, down to even skin pores and tiny facial blemishes.

As mentioned this is very much the subject pose for hyper realist artists, but maybe not the favoured choice for people commissioning a drawing of themselves or a relative, due to the fact it can pick up every tiny detail on the face, both good points and bad. 

That said, pencil portraits of babies or small children can be perfect in this type of pose, due to the fact young children have very pure looking, unblemished complexions which is perfect for this type of close up pose.

Photo Realistic Portrait Drawing

This style of drawing is one step down from hyper realism, the look and feel of the drawing is extremely realistic, but not to the level of hyper realism which looks identical to a photograph in terms of realism.

This style of drawing is favoured by most people ordering a drawing as it has a huge element of realism about it, showing the subject in a very realistic light. That said it also has a certain artistic flair to it, making it easily identifiable as a piece of artwork, which a lot of people want with any piece of artwork.

This is why it is favoured over hyper realism as a hyper realistic drawing can be so life like people argue, why not just use a photograph and save the hundreds of hours to achieve the same with a drawing. This argument can bounce back and forth forever as advocates of hyper realism see being able to achieve this level of realism in a drawing as hugely skilful reflecting great talent.

Colour Portrait Drawing

Colour pencil portraits make some of the finest pieces of artwork available when done well. The detail and coloured layering that can be achieved with coloured pencils is amazing. Unlike mediums such as traditional oil paintings that are very stylised, and reflect the medium in which they are created, coloured pencil drawings can have an extremely realistic appearance simply down to the detail that can be achieved through the detailed medium of pencils.

The medium of coloured pencil has huge variations in terms of quality, blend-ability and finish. Obviously the more expensive coloured pencil reflect the finest quality and finish, making their usability and overall finished appearance extremely vivid and highly realistic.

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Portrait Drawing

Portrait Drawings

Portrait drawings have been a mainstay in the art world for hundred of years, from kings and queens commissioning the royal artist to do family portraits, through to the more contemporary artists like paul cadden adding his unique twist on contemporary pencil portraits, creating hyper-realism as an abstraction of reality.

Whichever styles of portrait drawings are of the moment, each of them will add to the rich and varied selection of 

portraits that make up the global portfolio of portrait drawings around today.

Types of Portrait Drawings

There are many different types of portrait drawings, I have selected a few below to cover in a little more detail, that for me cover the 4 fundamental types and more popular portrait drawings subjects.

Portrait Drawings of Children

Going back in history, pencil portraits of children have been represented on various levels, from the simple analytical studies done by some of the greatest artists ever like Leonardo Da Vinci, to some of the most famous art pieces in the world like little boy blue by Gainsborough. 

Portrait drawings of children are an extremely popular subject type in the world of drawing today. Quite often the most popular subject type for parents who want to have their favourite photo of their little cherub immortalised in graphite to adorn the walls of their home. 

Children portrait drawings quite often capture the true nature of children, their innocence, purity and cheeky personality. These traits are probably what make portrait drawings of children so popular and one of the more favoured commission requests in the world of art today.

Portrait Drawings of Couples

A perfectly captured pencil drawing of a couple can be a beautiful thing, evoking such warmth and romanticism. The key to this type of pencil drawing is the subject pose. A pose of the couple holding each other, looking into each others  eyes or simply holding hands can all add to the overall atmosphere of the drawing, adding subliminal elements that make the piece very personal to the couple.

That said a lot of couple prefer to have a drawing that brings back memories of fun and joy, maybe a moment when you were laughing or joking around, both smiling happily, can make for an infectious picture that brings a smile to the face of  people viewing it.

Portrait Drawings of Dogs

Dog pencil portraits are one of the most popular types of pencil drawings commissioned nowadays. The UK are well known for being a nation of dog lovers, and to be fair we are generally lovers of all animals big and small. 

Dog pencil portraits can make for a fabulous piece of art, from a traditional pose to a leaping action shot, there’s a multitude of different poses to make for the perfect dog pencil portrait. When you are a dog owner, your adored hound is a solid member of the family, playing an active part in everyday family life, so just like people would traditionally choose to have a family portrait, they are now even more keen to choose a picture of their well loved pet to adorn the walls of their home in the perfect pencil portrait drawing.

Portrait Drawings of Cats

The favoured feline, cats are a hugely popular choice of pets across the UK and the world. With over seventy different breeds registered with The International Cat Association, there’s every colour, shape and size of cat breeds now living in domestic environments around the globe. 

Pencil portraits of cats have a very specific style and look to them when done well. The natural flow of their fur, and the natural sheen highlighted with delicate pencil tones and strokes can enhance the appearance of the cat portrait, giving it a photo-realistic finish. There is no one-size fits all for the perfect pose to make for ideal drawing reference. This can be a very personal choice and what shows of the cats best features, that said a 3/4 sitting pose is quite often the best choice as this shows the head perfectly and a great angle to show the full body of the cat, highlighting any markings or fluffy fur. 

Capturing the cat in a pose that will be suitable for a portrait drawing can be the tricky part. In trying to capture a good photo of a cat, its best to be as natural as possible, just click away without being too formal as cats can often get spooked and just decide to leave the room.