Pencil drawing, tips and equipment

The use of any art medium requires a little knowledge. This article focuses on the tools you should use, and some of the techniques of pencil drawing.

Firstly, consider the pencils themselves. In my experience, paying more for a pencil merely buys a better quality casing; the performance of the leads is pretty similar across the price range.

The import thing when buying graphite pencils is to have a range of different grades. “H” pencils have hard leads. “B” pencils have soft leads. The higher the H or B number, the harder or softer they are; so an H9 is very hard, and a B9 is very soft.

In terms of drawing, pencil “harness and softness” equate to lightness and darkness. A hard pencil will make a very faint, sharp grey line, while a soft pencil will make darker and less sharp mark. Pencil drawing is a matter of recording light and shade, so you need to use a range of lighter and darker pencils to capture tonal variations.

The range you choose is up to you, and dependant on the style of drawings you wish to make, but the “Bs” are suitable for most drawings. I would recommend the minimum of an “HB” (neither hard nor soft), B, 2B, 4B, 6B, and 9B.

The choice of paper again depends on type of drawings you wish to make, but generally, the best type of paper will be very smooth (e.g. cartridge paper). Paper quality is important. Imperfections in the surface of a smooth paper have a nasty habit of filling-in with graphite, and forming blotches.

Pencil work can require a fair amount of blending and reworking, so it is advisable to use a paper that is reasonably robust. My personal recommendation is that you use the heaviest weight paper you can – something that will stand-up to a bit of a battering.

Always apply pencil very lightly, and never press hard. The aim should be to float the graphite on the surface of the paper, and not to produce an engraving. Pressing hard will make the pencil mark darker, but it will also deform the paper. Far better results can be obtained by using a darker (softer) pencil lightly, when you need to draw darker areas. Altering the angle of the pencil to the paper can help if you tend to be heavy handed. Briefly, when the pencil is vertical to the paper, it’s easy to press down hard. Leaning the pencil reduces the amount of pressure than can be applied to its tip, and the least possible amount pressure is achieved when the pencil is leaned so far that is almost horizontal.

When shading an area, don’t randomly scrub the pencil back and forward in all directions. Try to apply pencil strokes in a uniform and specific direction. The best direction is often one that describes the shape of an object, so if shading something that is round, used curved strokes.

The hardest thing to do with pencil is lay down and area of flat and even shading. The problem is often that the pencil strokes overlap, with the result that the overlapping areas are darker. One way to avoid this is to always shade an area two or three times to achieve even coverage. So long as you use the correct grade of pencil lightly and consistently, you will not end-up with darker shading as a result. For example, three layers of B should not be as dark as one layer of B2 (but it should be smoother). 

The usual approach with pencil is to work from dark to light. The reason for this is as described above, but this additionally acknowledges of the properties of pencil. Graphite is a lubricant. If you lay-down a very light shading first, you will find that this effectively lubricates the paper, and subsequent shading goes on more smoothly and fluidly. So, if you want to shade an area to a “B3” depth, don’t go straight in with the B3; build-up through two of three steps, say a B, a B2, and then a B3. If you wish to shade an area to B8 or B9 depth, similarly go through a few steps, but start with say a B6.

If you want to record really dark shades, it is possible to buy specialists’ pencils, darker than B9, or you can use a little charcoal. Graphite is shades of grey, and never black.

Time for a quick word about sharpening pencils. Most pencil drawing is a matter of recording areas light and shade; it’s not about “lines”, unless technical drawing is your thing. My advice is therefore – don’t sharpen your pencils too often. Shading is easier to do with a blunt pencil, so only sharpen when you need crisp detail (usually the finishing touches).

Blending is a vital pencil drawing technique. Blending is fundamentally smudging.  Smudging can be used to smooth-out shading, and blend different pencil grades to produce a smooth tonal graduation.

Pencil smudges very easily due to the lubricating properties of graphite. You can do it with your fingers (although a little messy), Torchillons (paper stumps), and “Q-tips” (cotton buds on sticks found in most bathrooms) are very good for blending. Whatever you use, make your blending strokes directional rather than random.

An eraser can be very useful. It isn’t there to correct mistakes; it is necessary for cleaning-up (because pencil smudges so easily). The best type is a putty eraser. These are very soft and can be pinched into points or thin edges to take out tiny dots or thin lines of pencil from your picture, without doing any damage to the paper.

The final bit of equipment you like to use is a fixative spray. This stops the drawing from smudging once it is complete, but can also be used mid-drawing to prevent unwanted smudging. Don’t use hair spray (except on your hair): use a purpose made fixative, and don’t over do it (a light spray is enough).

Portraits by John Burton

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View Binder Finder Helpful Tips Find The Right Office Supplies Online

Buying office supplies online is so convenient, and can save you time and money. However, finding the exact office product right for your needs can be difficult, especially when looking for products with thousands of choices. View binders and ring binders for the office are perfect examples. There are different styles, sizes, colors, etc. so sorting through the mass of items gets confusing. Read on for helpful tips to help you become an expert Binder Finder.

It\'s unbelievable that searching on many office supply websites for binders will bring up 1700-1800 products, so the first thing to do is pare them down. There\'s really only 3 primary sizes for binders, standard letter, 14 inch legal size binders, and 5-1/2 x 8-1/2 small size binders. 95% of the time you\'ll need a standard letter size binder. Next, sort by the color of binder you need and the possible product choices will shrink considerably.

There are two distinct types of binders. View binders which have clear overlays covering the vinyl of the binder so you can insert cover pages into your binder or spine, and regular \"non-view\" binders which have no overlay covering. View binders outsell regular binders 5 to 1, and are actually less expensive many times, so most people go with view binders. Next, you\'ll need to determine the ring capacity for your binder. Ring capacities vary from 1/2\" all the way up to 5 inch binders, and the higher the ring size, the more sheets of paper a binder holds. The most popular sizes are 1 inch and 2 inch binders, but more and more people have large filing needs, so 3 inch binders, 4 inch binders and 5 inch binders which can hold as many as 1050 sheets are growing in popularity.

The last feature to sort by before getting to brand and price is the ring \"style\". Not long ago, most all binders were either round ring, the rings used in typical school binders, and D ring binders designed more for office needs. Today there are as many as six different ring styles all with various price points. The premium priced ring style is EZD ring binders which have \"easy open\" one touch rings, and the D shape style which holds more paper and allows the sheets to turn easier. Next are slant rings, then gapless rings, standard d rings and then round rings from a price hierarchy standpoint. I recommend the D ring binder for a good combination of durability and value.

After sorting by size, color, ring capacity and then ring style, you should be down to only 10-15 choices - much more manageable than 1700! Now it\'s about brand and price, which are somewhat tied together. The best known national brands for binders are Avery, Wilson Jones, Samsill and Cardinal, and all make quality binders at reasonable prices. However, I recommend Universal brand binders if you are value conscious as they make excellent quality binders at prices that are 25-35% less than the national brands.

Finally the question I hear most often is where is the best place to buy binders online? My advice is to stay away from the office superstores who no longer have the best prices, and have huge corporate structures that create poor customer service. I buy office supplies online at smaller independent office products dealers, and look specifically for companies that do good work in the community as well as offering low prices and free shipping. There are even new office products companies out there that work with great charities and donate half their profits to worthy causes. I feel good buying from companies like that, and you will too. Enjoy today and happy hunting looking for that perfect binder!

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Tips On Choosing The Best Culinary Arts School

You may be a great cook already, but if you want a future in the culinary arts world you'll need training and education in order to succeed. And that's where culinary schools come in. They are educational institutions that are designed for one simple purpose, to teach you what you need to know in order to pursue your vocation in the culinary arts field.

So if you want a career in culinary arts, you need to start considering which culinary school you should attend. And a lot will depend on what kind of job you wish to pursue after you graduate. Perhaps you want to be a restaurant manager or owner, maybe a chef, or even a food writer. In order to qualify for almost any of these positions, you'll need the education and training that are provided at a quality culinary school.

So what should you look for when searching for culinary schools? Perhaps the first thing you should look at is whether a particular culinary arts school is fully accredited or not. This is very important to your future employment opportunities as only accredited culinary schools provide the kind of education degrees that are really valuable in the workplace. So do your best to avoid any school that is not fully accredited by a review of its educational peers as being well worth your educational investment. There are many education scams that are out there, and you want to be sure to stay far away from these.

You also want make sure that the particular school you are interested in will be able to teach the specific courses that apply to the career you are pursuing. Some schools will specialize more in certain fields of the culinary arts, whereas others will pay attention to different kinds of courses. So narrow your field down from the accredited schools that you found to those that offer the kind of courses that will benefit you most.

The next consideration is how important is it for the school to be close to where you live? If you are able, do they provide dorms and living quarters on campus where you can stay? If at all possible, it's a good idea to visit the college campus and tour the facilities, perhaps even observing a class if you can. This will help you get a good feel about whether this particular school will be a good fit for you.

You'll also want to consider the kind of qualifications that they require for acceptance, and whether or not you meet these qualifications at this point. Then review the length of the course program, as this can vary greatly from one school to another.

Finally, education costs should also be considered, but keep in mind that the education you receive will provide for a lifetime of solid income. So is usually best to make your decision based more on the quality of the education that you will receive rather than the costs of the school instead. And if costs seem prohibitive, there are many scholarships that are usually available to those who are willing to work hard and apply for them that can help offset these expenses.

So whether your interest is in being a baker, a gourmet chef, a restaurant owner, a food writer, or some other field in the culinary arts, following the suggestions provided above should help you get the culinary arts degree that you really want.

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