Use A Hard Lead Pencil To Draw Distant Detail

“Use A Hard Lead Pencil To Draw Distant Detail”

By Michael Dale

When drawing a landscape some artists find it hard to distinguish foreground detail from the distant horizon.

Part of this results from the amount of detail an artist can see…

If you are short-sighted, far distant detail is invisible… all you might see are the general forms of background hills and woodland.
If you have long-sight you may be able to see far-off detail

In many ways a short-sighted artist has an advantage. You will not draw detail you cannot see. If you are drawing a mountain scene, the background peaks will be seen as a general shape. This simple outline can be represented by a simple line or curve.

When you are long-sighted you can see something of the roughness of the rocks and crags… you might even be able to see individual boulders. This means that you will see the ridges and gullies, snowfall and mist.

However, you can spoil a landscape drawing by including too much middle-ground and background detail… it flattens the image and makes the background appear to move forward… the sense of distance becomes lost.

Good landscape drawing depends upon grading. Simply, this means that there are 3 levels of detail…

High detail for the foreground
Less detail for middle-distance
Little detail for far-distance

This is great for an artist who isn’t able to see far distant detail but a nightmare if you can see the tail-feathers of an eagle as it flies about the mountain tops. If this describes you, there is a solution that will help re-establish balance…

Begin with the background, using nothing but a hard lead, fine-pointed (H or 2H) pencil for background detail
Use a slightly softer grade (B or HB) pencil for middle-distance detail, combined with a little hard lead pencil to add a little strengthening
For foreground detail… use a range of medium grade and soft pencils (2B to 9B) to add as much, or as little detail you feel necessary to key your picture.

As your drawing proceeds you will see the fainter and thinner lines of the hard lead pencils begin to fade. In comparison with the more distinct darker lines of the softer lead pencils there will be an increasing sense of increasing distance. Finally, the foreground detail that you add with the full range of soft and hard lead pencils allows you to distinguish a focal point, or subject, from its surroundings.

By grading your pencil line weights, you will be able to make the background recede into distance and permit foreground detail to stand out.

Michael Dale is the author of 1- Color Is Best (the quick and easy way to learn to paint watercolor) and 3- Colors Are All You Need (mix any color you want fast using only 3 colors). Contact http://www.Paint-And-Draw.com to find out more.

You can also find a FREE drawing and painting course edited by Michael Dale at http://www.DrawingFoundations.com

To learn the secrets of Figure drawing and painting, go to... http://www.figuresketching.com

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