Tag Archives: Pencil

how to draw graffiti style.

3d drawings, anamorphic secrets revealed.

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3d drawing secrets.

The secrets of anamorphic 3d drawing and the amazing 3d drawings of street artists are no longer a secret any more. Follow the information contained on this page to reveal how it can be understood using a reference grid.

The video below shows a clipper lighter standing upright, nothing unusual or outstanding about that. The problem for many people, is to understand how it can be drawn to look like it is standing upright on flat 2d piece of paper. The secret of 3d drawings used by street artists that you need to know, is how to create the anamorphic illusion. If you know how to do this then it is not a problem. This is for those who do not know and would like a better understanding of this illusion.

Please see the video below to see this in action.

An example of a Clipper Lighter standing upright to be used for our 3d drawings.
A Clipper lighter standing upright to be used as an example.

3d drawings using a camera.

Most street artists when creating these anamorphic 3d drawings use a camera to aid the process and describe their technique as drawing by eye. This means they are drawing by looking and using the camera as a guide for doing so.

GIMPed pumpkin head.
Don’t be a pumpkin head get GIMPed.

In the image below a grid for reference has been drawn over the top of the lighter image and it has been cropped using the free GIMP photo editing software. Many artists use reference grids for getting their construction drawing accurately draw. This can be easily done using a pencil and straight edged ruler. If you don’t have access to photo editing software you can do it by using a print out of the image.

Clipper lighter with grid for taking 3d drawings from.
Clipper lighter with reference grid placed over the top for aiding our 3d drawings.

Using a camera viewing window to do 3d drawings.

The grid was drawn onto a piece of A1 cartridge paper to replicate the grid in the image above but as can be seen in the actual drawing, the grid drawing is far different from what can be seen through the camera lens. Notice that the grid drawing gets wider and wider, the further away it is from the camera. This is because of distance, indicting that the further away the object is, the bigger it needs to be in order to compensate for that distance.

The secret to these 3d drawings is realizing that this is what makes the technique work, being able to compensate for distance.

View of the camera in position and 3d drawing grid.
View revealing the position in relation to the camera of the drawing area and 3d drawing grid

Below is an image of the camera showing both the drawing of the grid and the image, as seen through the camera lens, showing the difference between both. In the camera viewing window the grid looks like it is made up of squares. Where as the actual drawing isn’t made up of squares at all. This enables us to see how the camera lens at this viewing plane is distorting the drawing. Thus making it seem like it is made up of squares, when it is not. It is actually the same as any other perspective grid used to draw 3d drawings, that would be drawn to depict an object as if being looked at from the top. With the bottom tapering off into the distance as will be shown the the next image below this.

View of the reference grid drawing and what it looks like through the camera lens.
This image shows a view of the reference grid drawing and what it looks like when looking through the camera lens

Notice the two strips of masking tape placed down each side of the camera viewing window on the camera. These have been marked out with with lines equal in measurement. Using these measurements down the side of the viewing window of the camera, helped me to draw the grid. Using them as guides to see where to put the marks on the papers drawing surface. This was only necessary for the horizontal lines of the grid. The vertical lines can be measured after you have drawn the horizontal lines. This can be done by dividing the top and bottom lines by ten as in this example but this will depend on how many squares you want in your 3d drawing grid. The more squares you have in your grid to make 3d drawings. The easier it will be to complete your end drawing.

The secret of 3d drawings using a camera technique like the preferred choice of street artists.

In the image below you can see what the reference grid actually looks like when viewed from the front as you would normally. Please take notice of how the grid is wider at the top than the bottom. Also notice how the squares have become elongated and the horizontal lines are further apart as they get closer to the top of the paper. This image below shows what a perspective 3d drawing grid might look like if it was being used to draw an object, such as a building being viewed from above.

Anamorphic perspective grid for doing 3d drawings.
Anamorphic perspective grid for doing 3d drawings viewed directly from the front.

In the next image below I have drawn the Clipper lighter using the perspective grid for 3d drawings as a guide to accurately draw the lighter at this distorted perspective. Also notice how it can be seen in the camera viewing window. Notice how when looking at it through the camera viewing window it can be seen as a Clipper lighter standing up right and how the drawing grid also seems to be made up of squares.

3D Drawing Through Camera Lens Showing Lighter And Grid Showing Visual Plane.
3d drawing of the lighter through the camera lens, this is showing the lighter and reference grid at the correct viewing plane for comparison .

The image below is a photograph of the 3d drawing, showing further how it looks just like any other drawing of a lighter standing upright. This gives you a visual demonstration of the optical illusion created by the anamorphic 3d drawings perspective and the focal plane of the camera.

3d drawing of the anamorphic perspective grid and Lighter
Anamorphic perspective drawing at the correct photographic angle and position as photographed with the camera.

The next image has been photographed slightly out of position and not at the correct focal plane. This enables you to be more able to see what it looks like in reality. It is revealing the distorted 3d drawing showing how it is much bigger at its furthest point from the viewing position.

Anamorphic Perspective Grid Drawing Not Sited with Camara Corectly.
Anamorphic Perspective drawing lying on drawing table showing its two dimensional attributes because the camera is not correctly sited.

Below you will find two more images to show what this drawing really looks like, when viewed as you would normally, the first one is the right way round and the second is being viewed, the wrong way round. Taking a look at these gives a better understanding of what the secret really looks like and helped me to visualize the distortion created by this unusual illusionary effect in the technique of making 3d drawings.

This image below is being shown the correct way up and is viewed from the front as you would any other drawing or image, directly from the front. It clearly shows how the drawing is distorted with the top being much wider than the bottom.

3d anamorphic perspective drawing with camera not correctly sited.
The 3d drawing of the lighter as viewed directly from the front showing it as it would be viewed when not looking at the correct angle.

The image below has been turned up side down and reveals that looking at it this way around presents an image that resembles a perspective grid for depicting something that is tapering off into the distance. This is because that is what it is and would be doing. If something is close it will be big and as it gets further away it will get smaller, and smaller, the further into the distance it gets.

3d Anamorphic Perspective lighter Drawing Upside Down From the front.
The same 3d Anamorphic drawing from the front but turned upside down it gives the impression of any normal perspective drawing, creating the illusion of distance.

These 3d drawings can be created on a computer using GIMP photo editing software or any other photo editing software if you can distort images with a perspective tool. I found that if I took an image and placed a reference grid over the top of it on a separate layer in GIMP. Then merged both layers together and distorted it with the bottom being half as wide as the top, it created a good example of a drawing grid and picture combined. It produced an image that could be viewed with a camera to make it look like a normal image as shown in the example below.

Cadillac 3d drawing viewed through the camera lens.
Cadillac distorted 3d drawing, viewed through the camera lens at the correct visual plane.

It can easily be traced from an A4 sheet of printing paper.

3d Cadillac Drawing Distorted Image.
This image could be used for tracing as the outline for drawing a 3d anamorphic perspective

This image below is the actual photograph of the distorted image taken with the camera it is the result of this photo manipulation technique to create 3d drawing on the computer for close up viewing with a camera.

Cadillac Image taken with a camera of the distorted image above
Cadillac Image taken with a camera of the distorted image above, to show as an example

Then there are some images below this, with shots taken at a distance of about 10 feet, 3meters, of a box placed on a sheet of A1 cartridge paper. This is more closer to the working distance experienced by street artists doing, 3d drawings on the street.

3d drawing and box comparison.
3d drawing of box in comparison to the original photograph of the box in the correct position.
Image of 3d drawing of box.
The actual 3d drawing of the box when viewed from the front and showing the reference grid lines.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anamorphosis

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Draw cartoons

Easy drawings of cartoons are very easy.

First off, if you want to do easy drawings of cartoons, any cartoons, then just trace them off your computer screen.

A piece of cheap A4 printer paper is thin enough to see what is on the computer screen right through the paper, so you can trace it, no problem.

Drawing cartoons is easy because unless you are copying other peoples cartoons in which case you might as well trace them off the computer screen. Then they don’t have to look like anything.

This makes it easy because cartoons are just simple line drawings, usually done quickly.

How many times have you sat down drawing silly faces, with big noses or mouths or ears? That’s all that cartoon drawings are, exaggerations of what already there.

Easy drawings of cartoons Spongbob drawing.

They do not have to be accurate and they do not have to look exactly like anything because they are only suggestions, learning to draw cartoons is easy.

Usually cartoons are just about fun.

The video below also named “easy drawings of cartoons” is an example of drawing some of the more familiar cartoons images on this page and shows them being drawn. This is done with the intention of encouraging you to draw without getting hung up on detail. The most important method of learning how to draw cartoons easy is not accomplished by thinking about ideas. As much as actually drawing them. Your learning is greatly increased through doing some drawing and practicing.

They are often about drawing jokes and meant to be funny. The worse they look the better most of the time.

This means they can be very easy to draw and anybody can draw their own cartoons, if they can hold a pencil, even my 6 year old son could do it, so I am sure you can.

If you want to get serious about drawing cartoons then it could get considerably harder. You need to be able to use devices to express mood, through facial expressions, body language and environmental props.

Easy drawing cartoon is only easy if you don’t get serious about it too quickly.

Free style cartoons that you just make up can be very amusing and good fun to draw. They also provide good experience for drawing the more familiar cartoon characters I have been drawing as examples so far on this page!

Easy-Drawing-Cartoons-Sonic-Bart-Peter-Griffin

It is such a fun, free expression when doodling with cartoons. Although I’m not the greatest there is, I enjoyed my completed drawings.

I enjoyed myself when I was drawing these images for this web-page and they are good simple practice for artists to draw – experienced or inexperienced.

Many cartoons employ people as the subject matter, so I did a couple of quick, funny drawings of people for you to look at.

Ed Wale and Dan Spam Internet Gnus two caricature's based on real people, Easy drawings of cartoons.
Internet Gnus, Ed Wale and Dan Spam cartoon caricature’s of real people.

When you draw Cartoons you do not need to draw objects or people the way they exist or look in reality.

They apply a lesser amount of technicality and detailed work, using over exaggerated forms and features. 

Whale and Spam, the names have been left out to protect the innocent.
The real people who the caricature’s where based on,

Simple devices are used for expressing a persons mood or the mood of an event they are things like dark clouds hanging over the head of a character indicating a sad mood or gloominess.

These devices change normal drawings into simple cartoon drawings!

And, of course, expressions play a big role in showing emotions when you draw cartoons!

As a child I used to love drawing cartoons from comics and these drawings became more complex as I got older so my drawings did also and I learned to draw more accurately moving away from drawing cartoons.

I used to copy the characters and I thought I was good at getting a likeness to the originals, drawing cartoons was my lead into becoming good at drawing as it is with many people who learn to draw.

I’m sure those comic books taught me a lot about drawing and helped me learn to read as well by giving me a fun way to practice.

I still look at cartoons in the newspapers and read them for a laugh, I also watch them on TV because they are funny but not serious, bringing light relief.

Giving cartoon drawing a chance will help your drawing as well and I’m sure it will help you to produce some very cool cartoon drawings.

Start looking around you for some ideas and use your imagination to see what you can include when you draw cartoons.

Keep it in mind to overemphasize facial appearances, include some loose scribbled shapes here or there, and soon you will realize you are doing easy drawings of cartoons, that are very easy .

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how to draw a easy

Easy drawings to draw, so easy even you can do it.

Hello there, I am not going to give you any easy drawings to draw as such because I do not really know what you like or would want to draw. The best part of this is you chose your own drawings and I am going to make it very easy for you. I am going to make it so easy anybody can do it, if they can hold a pencil. I am going to do this by telling you a way how you can draw anything you want, quite simply by drawing it off your computer screen, it’s that easy.

Easy drawings to draw are so easy they are simple.

Yes, easy drawings to draw are so easy, you just find the pictures that you like, that you can get from anywhere on line or from photographs that you or other people have taken, they could be anything. You can get your favourite Anime or Manga pictures they could be pictures of animals or people the choice is yours and all you really need to do is trace them from your computer screen, it’s that easy.

The method.

If you place a piece of plane printing paper on your computer screen over a picture that you like you will be able to see it through the paper because of the light coming from your computer monitor. This means that you can trace any picture you want if you can get it up on your computer monitor screen and it’s so easy. Most commercial arts, drawing studios have tools that are called light boxes or rather they used to have these because now nearly everything is done on a computer, meaning the light boxes are not used so much anymore. These light boxes are a box with a light inside and a piece of glass or clear plastic over the top, where you place the picture you want to draw and a clean piece of thin paper over the top to draw onto. These light boxes are not as good as a computer monitor because the light has to shine through the image and the paper you want to draw onto, whereas with a picture on a computer monitor the picture is its self the actual the light source.

Any picture you like.

Tracing pictures in this way will help you to be able to draw any picture you like quite easily and once you have got the outline of the picture you want to draw then you can finish it off by doing the shading or colouring it in, but don’t attempt to do this on the monitor remove it first. Many people might think that this is cheating but it is just an easy way to learn how to draw easy drawings and if you do this it will help your free hand drawing improve a great deal.

Easy drawings to draw very time.

Now that you know this you should also know that you can now draw any picture you want easy and get it right every time, the simple way, why make things difficult when they don’t have to be?

Just one thing you need to know first before you do this, if you are using a flat soft screen TFT monitor then do not press hard on your pencil as it will damage the screen, if it is glass then it will be fine and will not get damaged. There is no need to press hard on your pencil because you only need a light line to start out with as you can easily go over your drawing when it is on the table, desk or where ever you do your drawing.

We will not accept any responsibility if you damage your monitor as there is no need to press hard on your pencil and by not doing so it will also help you to become better at drawing.

Naroto, easy drawings to draw from a computer monitor.
This is a quick drawing taken from a paused video on YouTube.

 

Bleach character from a YouTube video easy to draw.
This is another character, Bleach taken from the same place as the one above in the same way.

Easy drawings to draw are so easy, even you can do it when you know how and now you have been told how.

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how to draw graffiti style.

How to draw graffiti easy.

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How to draw graffiti, the first step you need to take, is deciding, what you are going to write, are you going to write, your name or are you going to give yourself a handle, like many graffiti artists and writers do, all over the world, all of the time. If you want to get a better understanding of, what a handle is, then you can, by following this link to graffiti creator,graffiti art.

Now take a sheet of paper and write your name or handle on it, with a pencil, the way you would normally, write it and have a look, at how you write it. Write it again, only this time make it all capitals letters, with plenty of space between them, now try writing it, in as many different ways, as you can think of and don’t worry, about the end results, it is only the start of a process.

Please see my example ideas, design sheet, below.

3D graffiti design sheet of ideas drawn with a 3B graphite pencil.
3D graffiti design sheet of ideas drawn with a 3B graphite pencil, cool anybody can do this.

As you can see, I have used different types of letters, curved ones, square linear type letters, boxed, three dimensional letters and some, that are hardly readable as letters at all, the more you create, the better. If you find yourself stuck, after only drawing a few, then look for some ideas, in the news paper, a comic, magazine or anywhere, you might find ideas for lettering.

When you are happy, that you have generated enough ideas, then you can look over them and pick out one or two, that you like, for further development, it can be as many as you like, not just one or two, if you like them. Now, redraw these out on their own, in the center, of a clean piece of paper, try to fill the paper, as much as you can and make these drawings, more accurate, correcting or altering, anything that needs it, as you go. Try to keep your lines faint and not too heavy because they will be harder to cover later.

You can also look online, for lettering and graffiti art because there is an abundance of it, even videos that show some fantastic work, with it all being, a great source of ideas and inspiration.

You can create block lettering easy, by just redrawing your letters, over the top of each other, again but out of line, like in the example below.

You could trace your name or handle and then move it a little, to the left or right, up or down and retrace it, over the top, then fill in the area, where you can still see, the first letter outline in black, to create the illusion of shadow.

You can also overlap letters, so the second is hiding, slightly behind the first and the third behind the second, to create the illusion, of one being in front of the other, this overlapping, is a very common feature, in graffiti art.

Please see the example below, to understand this a little bit more, in a visual context.

An example of 3d box lettering using outlines over the top of one and other.
An example of 3d box lettering using outlines over the top of one and other.

Notice the black shadowing, created by moving the letters, up and the black outline, around all the letter shapes, you can also see that the colors have been added, any old how but are still effective because of the, well defined black outlines.

Now you can take some of your original ideas and try some of this, with them, below you will find some of my designs, taken from the first sheet of simple pencil drawings.

3D lettering example of how to use letters doubled over the top of each other to make box letters.
3D lettering example of how to use letters doubled over the top of each other to make box letters.

I have added color and black outlines, which is something you should now be trying, with your own designs, you could try many different combinations of color or black outlines, you could even try, colored outlines.

Now you can, further develop one idea and try it, as many different ways, as you can think of or combinations or color, see the examples below, for further development of ideas.

Images of earlier examples that have been further developed.
Some of the earlier examples that have been further developed.
Images of further development graffiti letter ideas.
Examples of further development with graffiti letter ideas.

The tools I use:

Paper or drawing pad, A4 printer paper is good and not very expensive but pads are better, you can carry them around with you, if they are not too big.

Soft graphite pencils, preferably mechanical, pop a point type pencils, 0.5, 3B, if you can get them.

Fine line permanent ink pens, 0.5 and Biro’s, in different colors.

Permanent marker pens, the more colors, the better.

Water soluble felt tip pens, the more colors, the better.

Colored pencils in various colors.

Quarter inch, flat brush and water.

Learning how to draw graffiti, is not difficult or hard and you can get, very good, very quickly, if you put a little effort in to it, honest.

how to draw a easy

Drawing lines or line drawing what?

Drawing lines, is not quite as simple, as you might think because the weight and thickness, of the lines we make, have an impact, on the effectiveness of our drawings, to add to this, is the hardness of the line, which I will explain later, is also of importance.

The meaning to thickness of line, should in essence be obvious, it means what it says, how wide or narrow, the line actually is, has an impact, on how our brain, relates to that line in context, of what is surrounding it and the tonal value of the line, also has an impact, on what is seen, when I say tonal value, I am talking about how light or dark, the line is in tone.

If you draw a circle, with a wider, darker line along the bottom area, it will look like it is, the bottom of a sphere and will start to look like, a ball shape, rather than, simply just, looking like a circle. This also gives, the bottom half of the circle or sphere more weight because the wider line, is more substantial, especially, if it is also darker in tone, it will attract the eye, giving more emphasis and importance, to it, this also creates the illusion, of light and shadow, that is often used, to emphasize, the under areas of shapes, we draw, suggesting, the shape, is three dimensional.

Please take a look, at the drawings, of the two circles, 1 & 2 below, to see an example of what I am trying to explain, also take a look at, 3 & 4, these lines and circles, have been made with a 5 mm, a half cm, flat pencil, notice how the line varies in width, giving it the look of a twisted ribbon. Number 5, shows, how lines can go, from a hard, definite edge, to a more subtle, less definite edge, that can be used to great effect, in your line drawings.  These different types of line, can be used to create light and shadow, so as to suggest the illusion of form and shape but still maintaining, the quality of being a line, using this, within your line drawing, can start to bring, your line drawings, to life.

 

Image of different line types numbered to help.The dragon drawing below, was created with pen and ink, it puts very little emphasis on line quality, it is a line that is consistent, in thickness, giving little or no quality, other than just being a line but even so, it does create the image of a dragon, through the use of drawing lines, with nothing more.

Quick bsic drawing of dragon outline.

how to draw a easy

How to practice using a pencil, without boring yourself to death.

Most people don’t know how to draw, they don’t really know what they are looking for, let alone be able to draw it and why should they?

Why would you know anything about practice using a pencil if you had not been using one regularly?

Most people think that they have to draw an outline but can’t actually see one because they don’t know what they are doing.

Most people get better and learn quicker if they trace pictures but most people also think tracing pictures is cheating and so never use tracing as a learning method, what a shame. When you trace a picture you can only realistically trace out lines, you are not able to do the shading as well when tracing and so drawings that are traced are unfinished looking, very uninteresting because they are uniform, without tonal variation or quality of line.

When tracing pictures, you get your outline very accurate, so the rest of the drawing is more likely to be more accurate and it enables you to see the outline, more easily so it will look good and you will feel good about it.

Constructional drawing is the foundation of all drawing, get it right and you will have saved yourself half of the struggle but doing the other half of a drawing, the shading is a much more enjoyable and a great way of learn about construction drawing, so you learn the difficult stuff by doing the easy stuff first.

Design sheet of ideas for potential further development.

The easy way or the hard way, it’s completely up to you?

If you want further information about why and how tracing works scientifically, then take a look at this interesting article (How to draw easy an extraordinary tail of two brains) or do some research about the functions of the left and right brain. You will learn about the benefits of drawing and how the dominant left brain activities, actually make it difficult to learn drawing but also stunting your thinking power, along with your creative abilities.

Don’t make it hard, make it easy.

Enjoy learning to use a pencil at the same time as learning about how to do construction drawing the easy way first, not the difficult way round, like everybody else teaches, easy way first is the way to go but it astounds me, why the hard way is always practiced. There is a great book by Betty Edwards called drawing on the left hand side of the brain, that many people have used to help them learn to draw and draw well, so well, that many have been astounded by their own abilities, after using the methods given in the book, one of the main methods is tracing because it reaches the parts, other methods cannot reach.

 

Dragons head drawn with graphite pencil 3b & 5b
Dragons head drawn with graphite pencil 3b & 5b as an idea for another picture.

They don’t teach geometry in primary school because the children wouldn’t understand it but they give them pencils to play with, the geometry comes much later when they know what a pencil is, they also teach tracing which has got to be one of the easiest ways to practice using a pencil by drawing because when you trace pictures, you can draw any outline for any picture you want easy.

 

how to draw a easy

Modern mark making, in the context of drawing, a point of view.

I took the charcoal drawing of a 1967, Austin Healey, 3000 Mk III, sports car and super imposed it into another image of a thumb and finger, using GIMP photo editing software, I fused them together to compose the image below, about understanding perspectives and using mark making, as a visual dynamic for tricking the eye.

Pencil drawing photo image of a thumb and finger.In the drawing above you will see two different pencil techniques, one is called hatching and the other is called tonal modeling, both are used often, as drawing techniques for different reasons mostly. The hatching or also called cross hatching technique, is often used to draw subjects, that lend themselves to that type of mark making, like hair, grass and other textures, that can be described with lots of little lines or dashes going all in one direction or differing directions, and is a natural way to use a pencil.

The other technique is tonal modeling, which is where the pencil is smudged or modeled using graded tones, to create soft edges and shadows, most often seen in the drawing of skin tone, and clouds but in the drawing above, you will notice that both are being used in the same drawing.

The finger and thumb of the hand is drawn using hatching and cross hatching, whereas the back of the hand is drawn using a tonal modeling technique. The example is used to show how these techniques, can be used in this way and although they lend themselves to best describe textures that have been mentioned, they can also be used effectively to describe textures, that would not really lend themselves to these techniques, like with the finger and thumb.

This is also an example of how you can take already existing drawings and with photo editing software, fuse them together as a means of generating new ideas, bringing very different tools together to aid the creative process.

The image below, is almost completely created using tonal modeling and is a example of use, where it would accurately describe the fleshy textures of the baby’s skin tones, as well as, the bone textures of the skull, with the only hatching type marks, being around the word zeitgeist, which are again smudged pencil lines, with slightly modeled edges, that are not sharp or well defined. Mark making is also found in painting as well as drawing and is an important part of all kinds of art, where sometimes they are not lines, dashes or modeled areas but can be splashes, scribbles or pointillist type marks.

Zeitgeist, spirit of the times, pencil drawing.
The Zeitgeist, is the spirit of the times, this is a pencil drawing of life and death, called Zeitgeist .

A hand and the artificial creations, born from its great ability, to manipulate the world around it, isn’t all intelligence artificial because we only think we know, when we recognize the mark making?