Still Life Study 1 - Watercolour pencils

I found this a good exercise to help to study things closely when drawing. 'Getting your eye in' is the phrase used to describe the process of looking ever more closely at an object to observe all aspects of it's appearance -  tones, light and shade, texture, form etc.

The idea here is NOT to use a rubber (eraser) but to fade out pencil mark mistakes using water on them. This produces some interesting effects in itself so that the piece becomes a mix of two techniques.

You can use watercolour papers (which are expensive) or pre-stretch cartridge paper so that the paper will always dry flat once dry.

How to Stretch Paper

Wet your paper thoroughly but running it under a tap. The idea is to ensure every part of the paper is wet but not soaking. Carefully lay the paper on a completely flat and smooth board, gently smoothing out crinkles and air bubbles as you do so. 

Using gumstrip (available in most stationers and Art Shops) tear off four strips, each longer than each side of the paper. Damp the sticky side of the gumstrip with a sponge and stick each side of the paper to the board. Ensure there are no air bubbles or crinkles as you do so. Leave to completely dry out before beginning your artwork. 

So long as you never completely drench the paper when working the paper should always dry flat again. If your work does get soggy, leave it to dry before resuming work. Even watercolour papers have their limit so if you are overly generous with water you will need to stretch your paper regardless. You may require patience too!

An exercise in observation

With your paper pre-prepared you are ready to begin. Select 3 or 5 objects for your study. They can be organic (fruit, flowers, etc) or man-made or a mixture of the two. Pictures tend to be more instantly appealing if things are arranged in some sort of triangular arrangement.

For this exercise I would recommend a range plenty of contrast between size and shape of the objects you choose as it will force you to really start to look at things closely. 

TIP: Always stay in the same place each time you look at your still life arrangement. If you sit up straighter or begin to slouch it will alter the angles of everything you see.

You Will Need:

* Paper

* 2 x watercolour pencils in contrasting light colours

* 2 x watercolour pencils in contrasting darker colours

* Jar of clean water

* 2 x soft watercolour brushes, one broad, one narrow

STEP 1: With a very pale coloured watercolour pencil begin your drawing. Hold your pencil lightly so the marks you make will also be light. Roughly sketch what you see in terms of broad shapes... are your objects roughly rectangles, squares, triangles, ovals, round, circular etc? 

As you work bear in mind the relationship between the shapes i.e. how big are they compared to one another. How much taller or shorter is one object to another, how much wider etc. 

As you explore these things begin to correct your original marks by pressing a little harder with the pencil.

STEP 2: Using clean water and a brush lightly fade the marks you're not happy with by washing them away. If you end up using a lot of water, let the piece dry before you continue. It's a good idea to take a break between each colour you use anyway.

STEP 3: Pick a slightly darker coloured pencil and this time try to be even more accurate. By taking a break you look take a step back and see things with a fresh pair of eyes. Be warned you may find you're horrified by what you've done, but stick at it. 

If you think you've made a horrendous mistake, good!  That's what this exercise if all about. Don't go back on it... move on to the next step.

Look closely and you will start to see if you've got the comparative sizes and shapes of objects right. You may need to make something much bigger or much smaller. Ignore your previous marks made with the first pencil now and draw over the top. 

This is why you're using a slightly darker coloured pencil. It makes for an interesting piece of work and remember, this is a study; studying is all about learning and we learn best from making mistakes so enjoy making them! 

At this stage also try to look at the shapes within the shapes and start to suggest them.

STEP 4: Using clean water and a brush lightly fade the marks you're not happy with by washing them away. If you end up using a lot of water, let the piece dry before you continue. Have another break!

STEP 5: Pick a slightly darker coloured pencil and be even more accurate. This time you're looking for a bit of detail and tone, where it's lighter, where it's darker.

Notice here is where my jar tops started to go a bit crooked!

STEP 6: Using clean water and a brush lightly fade the marks you're not happy with by washing them away. If you end up using a lot of water, let the piece dry before you continue. Have another break!

STEP 7: Pick your darkest coloured pencil and be even more accurate. This is where you tighten the whole piece for those finishing touches and finalise those details.

With a lot of practice, patience and perseverance you can end up with a piece that's like a photograph. 

If anyone can identify the organic items are in my picture... well done! And if someone could straighten the neck of the bottle and... and...

A wise person once told me: "All art is a process of correction. The fun is in the doing."

Final Tips

It's best for learning and to help with concentration to choose very different colours for each of the drawing stages of this exercises. It's also a good idea to try out the colours first on a scrap of paper. Try them against each other, over the top of each other and try them each out with water. 

Some colours go a lot darker than you might expect when wet, so it's best to be prepared for that and use it to your advantage. 

The pencil colours I used for this piece were: 

Step 1: Light Blue

Step 3: Light Orange

Step 5: Medium Dark Blue

Step 7: Dark Orange/red

Variation to this exercise

1. Try repeating this exercise without the use of rubber with ordinary coloured pencils i.e. no water.

2. Try using watercolour paints to do the same exercise.

Aside from anything else has helped me to learn a little bit about watercolour and pencils. There are no rules on how you may wish to vary and experiment. Enjoy!