Collection Publications: Drawings and Watercolors

Drawings and Watercolors: Media and Techniques

GRAPHITE PENCIL

The most common tool for drawing is a pencil. The "lead" in pencil is actually made from graphite mixed with varying degrees of clay to provide differing hardness or softness: the higher the proportion of clay to graphite, the harder the pencil. Several techniques can be used to create a variety of tones in graphite drawings, including hatching, cross-hatching, shading, and shading and rubbing. Hatching is created with parallel graphite lines, while cross-hatching employs two or more layers of parallel lines that cross at an angle. Shading uses the natural motion of the arm or wrist holding a pencil to build tone on paper. Lines created through shading can be rubbed with the fingers, a paper stump, or an eraser to produce a softer gray tone. The texture (smooth or rough) of the paper used for graphite drawings creates different results with shading techniques.

PASTELS

Pastels come in two varieties, soft and oil. Soft pastels are made from powdered pigments and a gum solution, loosely bound in a dry crayon. Oil pastels are mixtures of pigment, hydrocarbon waxes, animal fat. When rubbed on paper, the pastel crayons disintegrate and the pigmented powder adheres to the surface. A soft fusion of tones and colors can be created by blending the pigment with fingers, stumps, or brushes. A pastel painting has the most friable, or fragile, surface of any painted or drawn object: it must be protected immediately after it is completed to ensure it remains intact without smudging or other damage. Spraying pastels with varnish fixatives prevents smudging, but at the risk of damaging the delicate surface.

CHALK AND CONTE CRAYON

Chalk is made from colored earth or synthetic equivalents. Black, white, and sanguine (a moderate to strong red) are all naturally occurring chalk colors. Blending these three, a broad range of tones can be produced. Even with black and white chalk alone, the medium's ability to blend smoothly can create a richly shaded and tonal drawing. Conte crayons are colored synthetically rather than with natural pigments.

CHARCOAL

Charcoal is made from twigs of willow or vine that are charred, leaving sticks of carbonized wood. Today, specific willow plants are harvested and processed expressly for this purpose. Another option, compressed charcoal, is made by mixing lamp black with a binder and condensing it into square or round sticks. Charcoal sticks create blackish marks that are easily erased by rubbing, making them ideal for preliminary sketches for paintings on canvas or walls. It is also a popular medium for works on paper, as charcoal marks can be made quickly and then easily manipulated, allowing for bold and expressive drawings.

PEN AND INK

Up until the nineteenth century, only three types of pen-reed, quill, and metal-were used and just four main kinds of ink: carbon, iron gall, bistre, and sepia. Since the twentieth century, however, a larger range of pens and inks has been available. Unlike charcoal or graphite lines, pen lines are difficult to erase or adjust once they are set down on paper. The texture of the paper, the sharpened point or nib of the pen, and the supply of ink determine the kind of mark an artist can make. Flexible nibs, such as those made of steel, allow for a variety of line widths. Ink can be used at the fullest intensity of color or diluted to create different tones. The paper support can also be dampened to allow for a "bleeding" effect. WATERCOLOR Watercolor paints are created by grinding powdered pigments into a water-soluble binding medium that is made primarily from gum arabic. The paints are produced in pan or tube form; moistened with water, the resulting thin film of pale color or wash is then brushed onto white or tinted paper. Complex surface effects can be created in various ways. Dry pigment can be applied to the paper and then washed off, or sponges can be employed to wipe up or manipulate paint at varying degrees of wetness, to give a soft, tonal effect. Wet-into-wet techniques involve applying watercolor to paper that has been dampened with water or another color.

GOUACHE

Gouache, or body color, is manufactured from the same ingredients as watercolo rs, but with a higher proportion of pigment to make the medium opaque. Despite this opacity, gouache can still be applied thinly in washes. The medium can also produce effects similar to those achieved in oil paintings, but with less difficulty. Unlike oils, however, gouache dries to a much lighter tone than what appears when wet.

Further Reading:

Cohn, Marjorie B. Wash and Gouache: A Study of the Development of the Materials of Watercolor. Cambridge, Mass.,1977. Shelley, Marjorie."The Craft of American Drawing: Early Eighteenth to Late Nineteenth Century," in Kevin J. Avery, et al., American Drawings and Watercolors in the M tropolitan M useum of Art. Vol. 1, A Catalogue of Works by Artists Born before 1835. New York, 2002. Stratis, Harriet K., and Britt Salvesen, eds. The Broad Spectrum:Studies in the Materials, Techniques, and Conservation of Color on Paper. London, 2002. Watrous, James. The Craft of Old-Master Drawings. Madison, Milwaukee, and London,1967. Weekes,Ursula. Techniques of Drawing from the 15th to 19th Centuries with Illustrations from the Collection of Drawings in the Ashmolean Museum. Oxford, 1999.