When talking about the nature of the actual lines that are used when drawing any freehand composition, there are to my way of thinking five clearly separate stages you go through to take your layout from a blank piece of paper to the precise and accurate linework drawing you need to achieve before any hatching (toning) is started.
Rough Sketch (fig. 1)
The initial marks made on the paper to decide the relative size and position of the largest identifiable shapes in any composition. Sketching (off the shoulder) with a blunt pencil is the only technique to use at this early stage. All lines are soft and speculative and quite often two or three (or more) can be laid down side by side to visually “home in” on the rough shape and position you really want. Lay down your lines not only looking at the composition as a whole but where it is being placed on the paper relative to the edges. Always leave yourself an extra inch or two of “safety margin” around the edge of the paper as developing drawings always seem to wander up, down, left, right, or just grow in size generally as proportional and positional adjustments are made.
Refined Sketch (fig. 2)
Once all the biggest shapes in the composition are roughly sketched in you have got all the visual information you need to start making the first refinements in a more localized and careful way. Existing largest shapes are refined in their relative position and shape and the first stage of smaller shapes within the larger ones can be sketched in and some of the superfluous initial sketch lines erased. The pencil can be sharper but sketching (off the shoulder) is still the only technique used at this secondary stage.
Rough Drawing (fig. 3)
More “shapes within shapes” can be added now as the lines of the developing drawing are refined further and the composition as a whole starts to be clarified. Both sketching (off the shoulder) and drawing (off the wrist) techniques are utilized at this stage, sketching for the larger shapes as the smaller shapes being added allow you to see how the larger shapes positions (and shape) need to be adjusted, and drawing on the smaller and more subtle curves and shapes that start to be apparent. You are free to chop and change between sketching and drawing at this stage, with practise and a suitably calm and relaxed attitude it becomes completely instinctual which technique is required for each linear adjustment without a conscious decision needing to be made.
Refined Drawing (fig. 4)
As the drawing develops further and the necessary adjustments become smaller and finer, the pencil needs to be kept sharper and sharper and the angle the pencil is held relative to the paper steeper and steeper. You are still shifting things around as required but with the fact kept in mind that every line on the layout will need multiple adjustments as the developing drawing reveals further proportional anomalies requiring attention. Always take the time to judge each new line added to see if it is an improvement (or not) before removing the line it’s replacing. All lines still need to be kept light enough to completely remove despite becoming sharper and more precise in this stage. Nothing is set in stone as the whole layout and every line in it continues to be developed proportionally. The sketching stage is over and only drawing off the wrist) technique is used in this stage and beyond.
Linework Drawing (fig 5)
In this last stage before initial hatching (tonal foundation) can be started, all the lines are carefully refined to a very (very) precise extent, using the opportunity (as you do at all stages) to not only the proportional accuracy of all the various shapes both big and small the composition consists of as you go. It will be necessary at this stage to “ghost out” each line you are refining (carefully erase almost entirely leaving only the “ghost” of the line) so you can replace it not only with a clearer and more precise line but also a more accurate one as far as its exact shape and position is concerned. This precise clarity of line is essential to allow the smallest of details (shapes) to be clearly represented as linework. The pencil has to be kept needle sharp and the angle between the paper and pencil very steep. It’s very important that the lines are still light enough to be able to be completely removed with a clean eraser even (especially) at this stage as the next stage of introducing a light tonal foundation of hatching to the darker shapes (e.g. shadows) will allow you to see the subtle but crucial proportional adjustments required which obviously will necessitate the moving of some of your precise lines, sometimes in areas of very fine detail.The sharper and lighter your lines are in this final stage of linework drawing, the more effective guides they will be for developing the drawing into the tonal stages.
The edges (start and finish) of the five stages I’ve described are not always crystal clear when actually executing a work in graphite, quite often your drawing will be “evolving” with areas of it in different stages of linework refinement. Sometimes you will need to make a certain part of your drawing more precise in order to learn that a whole larger aspect needs altering/moving. A lot of the time an area of your drawing will go back one or two stages when proportional errors become apparent. Don’t see this as annoying or let it break your heart but rather as a very good thing. For one thing it’s the result of your proportional judgement being honed finer and finer through practise, secondly the more proportionally accurate the drawing is in the early stages the better the finished result will be (by far), and thirdly it’s a natural and desirable part of freehand drawing so just relax and enjoy the process.
Remember the two golden rules. 1. No line is set in stone. 2. There’s no such thing as too fine an adjustment. If I had to nail down a third golden rule it would be to make sure in the first stage you have not only roughly settled on where the left, right, top and bottom extremities of the subject is going to be on the paper but have also left yourself at least an extra inch or so of “wriggle room” around the edges so as the initial sketch develops you have got room to make proportional adjustments without the annoying spatial impediment of crowding (or running off) the edge of the paper. You can always use the bit of room you left earlier but you definitely can’t add more paper to the edge no matter how much you wish you could. If you want to draw the subject larger than your piece of paper will allow there’s a very simple solution which always works like a charm. Start with a bigger piece of paper and give yourself room to move, you won’t regret it.
Make sure you avoid the temptation to develop any part of the drawing too far before it’s time to do it. A lot of time and effort can be wasted this way. Two things usually happen when this occurs. The paper surface becomes damaged when darker tones are employed far too early only to be moved later anyway or “compromises” are made and the proportional errors become set in stone when the artist decides they “like that bit” or “too much work has been put in to move it now” even though they can see it’s not right. The time wasted anguishing over such things is far better spent calmly and patiently developing the drawing with a lightly wielded sharp pencil and a regularly trimmed, clean rubber. Better to avoid the whole situation altogether by developing the whole drawing at once and moving things when you see they need moving (don’t live in artistic denial).
Remember that you always if possible add the new lines and judge them accordingly before removing the lines they are replacing. Because you can only move one or two lines or curves at once, sometimes it will be necessary to make some parts of the layout “look worse” in the course of refining it as a whole. Be brave and patient. Once you have moved the lines you can see are wrong you can move onto the next lines. They just have to wait their turn. These methods work right down to the most minute of details. Sometimes while working up a section of a layout you will find yourself at the opposite end of the drawing making adjustments without even thinking about it. All good, let it happen. You are free to range from one end to the drawing to the other and back again making adjustments as you go, you might set out to work on a particular aspect only to find yourself drawn to a different part altogether. Relax and let it happen, you are on the right track when this is the case. You will also find as you go along that the linear refining and development become tangled in tonal refining and development which is why it’s so essential to make your linework as light, precise, and diamond clear as possible.
This article deals primarily with the actual nature of the pencil lines you are employing, the proportional judgement skills you need to develop a freehand drawing are explained in detail in previous articles “Magic Pencil Tricks” and “More Magic Tricks”. Try drawing the exercises in this article and refer back to the 5 stages when you run into trouble. Relax and enjoy spending some quiet heartbeats with a pencil, rubber, and cup of coffee. Next article we explore tone but for now sharpen your pencil, put the jug on, and lose yourself in some linework.
“Every bit of practise you do will pay you back a thousand times over”.
Fig 6:
Develop the entire drawing in stages, each stage has its own linework style for good reason. Stages almost always overlap in different parts of the drawing as the whole project develops, don’t baulk at taking a section of the drawing back one or even two stages if necessary in order to advance the drawing as a whole. All 5 linework styles must be rendered lightly enough to be able to be completely erased so proportional adjustments can be made especially after initial toning stages are begun. Set nothing in stone for as long as possible.
