Autumn Still Life in Pencil

A great way to build your drawing skills is to set up a collection of objects you find appealing and then draw or paint them.  I'm currently teaching Beginner's Pencil Drawing at the Community College of Beaver County, where each week we set up still life scenes like this one and draw them. 

The subject of this still life is texture. With only graphite pencils, we can express the shiny texture of a teapot, the woven sides of a basket, the grainy nature of wood, the papery husk of an onion, and the grooved surface of a pumpkin, all with mark making.

I used a 4B and a 6B pencil, a tortillion, also called a blending stump, and a kneaded eraser.  The tortillion is simply a pencil-shaped blender made of rolled up paper.  It has no lead of its own, but when you rub it over pencil marks, it smudges them to create a smooth, uniform area of value.  It's a little like painting with graphite.

Sometimes, it's hard to discern the values in a scene.  I "cheat" and take a photo, then edit it using the filters on my phone to turn the scene into a black and white image.  This technique helps me to see the relative values in an orange pumpkin, a brown teapot, and a burgundy onion.

I encourage you to set up your own still life scene and draw it.  It might feel more challenging to draw from life, but you'll get a more vibrant drawing.  And it's great practice to help you with seeing values, and observing shapes, depth, & details. 

When you set up your still life, place it by a window or find one single light source.  Otherwise, you'll have a confusing array of shadows -- one from each light source.  I happened to be lucky enough to have a sunny day and a south-facing window.  A desk lamp will serve if you don't have any sun!

Happy Creating!