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Achieving A Shiny Metal Look In Your Drawings

Mar 23 / by The Wanderlust Collective /Art Class, Drawing, Values

History

Drawing styles have been developing since the 1800’s. Pencils became popular by artists in the early century. There are many famous masters that used graphite such as Leonardo da Vinci, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, and Francisco Goya. Edgar Degas experimented with many drawing techniques such as oils on paper, crayons, and pastel.

Introduction

Looking into the history of these incredible artists led me to write this blog. There is no one-way to do things. We just need to be inspired to think outside the box. Why not mix medium’s together to achieve the look we envision? Today, I want to show you how I achieved this fun look. It’s not as hard to do as you might think.

I achieved this grey look with a grey cardstock I purchased in an art craft store. I love working on cardstock because it not only comes in many different colors, but it’s also not flimsy. It allows you to be more aggressive with your work, without ruining the paper. To be honest, this drawing of an Egyptian cat was done years ago. Instead of using cardstock I used Strathmore Toned Grey paper. This worked just as well as the cardstock. The materials used for this drawing are Zebra .05 mechanical pencil, General’s Charcoal pencil 2B medium, General’s compressed charcoal stick, General’s Charcoal White pencil, kneaded eraser, stump, General’s White compressed charcoal stick, Gray Scale & Value Finder, and 05 Prismacolor Premier Marker in black.

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Here are a few techniques for the absolute beginner. I love that you can take each one and experiment in your own way, on your own time. I totally encourage you to take out your acrylics and get dirty! Go ahead and play with impasto, textures, flower effects, and make your own masterpiece.

"The principles of true art are not to portray, but to evoke."

Jerzy Kosinski

I began to block in the form of the Egyptian Cat with the mechanical pencil, shading in dark areas, and leaving the light areas alone. Continue this by paying attention to the shadows and shapes. Using the stump I softened the shadows, and used it to blend other lighter shade areas in the drawing.

With my white chalk pencil I began to lighten up the areas where I see that the direct highlights. Again, paying attention to the shapes of the highlights as I go along. As I do this, I pay attention to the surrounding values. This is also where my value finder comes in handy. It doesn’t look very metallic yet, that is where the black charcoal compressed stick comes in.

I want to go in a bit darker in areas within the drawing and the outline of the drawing, so I used my marker to achieve this look.

I wanted my piece to pop, so I blocked in the whole background with my compressed charcoal stick. You don’t need to do this part if you are happy with your results. I just wanted that extra oomph in my piece! To blend the tighter spaces in my drawing, I used my tortillion to blend. Great tip, I used a packing peanut, these are great to shape, and blend in tight or large spaces.

"Where Do We Go From Here?"

I hope you enjoyed this quick lesson, and got a bunch of great tips from it. For more fun tutorials, subscribe to my blog. Don’t miss out on my free Master Class. Sign Up Here! Leave a comment below, and let me know what you think.

Happy Drawing!