Are You or Your Students Pressing Too Hard While Drawing?
Draw Your Portrait Art with Non-Photo Blue Pencil
I taught a self-portrait art workshop to kids in grades 1 through 5. The first time I taught it, the kids liked their “Before” instruction pictures better than their “After” instruction pictures. (Big fail on my end.) When I had taught portrait drawing to a groups of similarly aged students, I had already been teaching them drawing for a few weeks and they knew to draw light in order to erase. Unfortunately, most of the students in my workshop were pressing too hard with the pencil. The additional lines I had the students draw to mark the facial proportions were still visible even after erasing. For example, there is a line from the center of the eyes to the edges of the mouth so the artist knows not to extend the mouth wider than the pupils.
My solution was to buy 7H pencils because harder lead is usually lighter, but even those lines were hard to erase when using too much pencil pressure. Another solution I found was to use mechanical pencils. I felt that would probably be frustrating for the kids and not an immediate help since this was only a two day workshop. I was talking to my friend and artist, Cherylyn Gnadt, about it and she recommended I use non-photo blue pencils as a solution. Genius!! They are so easy to erase and the lines are very light even when using a lot of pressure.
Here are some other tips to try:
- Have the student steady the paper with their non-dominant hand or arm.
- Use mechanical pencils.
- Have the kids practice by filling in a drawing with different values. They’ll need to press lighter for the light value.
What is a Non-Photo Blue Pencil?
Photo blue pencils were originally developed for the cartooning and illustration industries. If you take a photo of a drawing with non-photo blue pencil with old film or scan with an old scanner, the blue lines won’t show up. Artists drew first with the blue pencil, then traced over the outlines they wanted with black or another color. Not having to erase saved them time. (New photos and scanners will pick up the blue now.)
Drawing Proportions in Portraits
When drawing proportions in portraits, often we draw in guidelines. Guideline lines should be erased so they aren’t visible in the finished artwork, but it’s hard to erase them if you are pressing too hard with any pencil. Usually you start with an oval shape for the head, but adjust it later based on the shape of the face you are studying. These first lines need erasing. The second time I led a portrait workshop, the kids used photo blue pencils and were much happier with their results.
Why Are Your Art Students Pressing Too Hard While Drawing?
Some kids have an impaired proprioceptive sense which makes it hard for them to tell how hard they are pressing. If you are an art teacher and only seeing your kids once a week, gentle reminders to press lightly with the pencil may not be enough. It’s so hard seeing a child get frustrated and not be happy with their artwork. I’m so happy that my friend gave me the easy fix solution to use non-photo blue pencils! Thanks, Cherylyn!
Instead of “Draw light ’til you have it right”, my new motto and art class poster will be “Draw first using blue, so it doesn’t show through.”
Supplies:
- Amazon link to the Prismacolor non-photo blue pencils I used.
- Thicker 90lb at minimum paper is also important because it is stronger when erasing. Here is a link for 90lb paper.
- A nice, white vinyl eraser is a must as well.
Contact me for online or in-person portrait drawing workshops and classes. Or, check the art classes currently enrolling.
