Alternative Drawing Methods

Apart from the normal method of drawing with a graphite pencil I would like to suggest some other methods of drawing, which will give you a different finish to your work. I occasionally use these methods to create additional interest in the work.

Consider using a stylus to work into the paper before you lay the graphite over the surface. where you have indented the paper you will get a nice clean white line as the graphite does not go into the scored section of the paper. This is a particularly good technique for drawing hair, it allows you to introduce very fine highlights.

The other technique which I enjoy using is taking a sharp blade and scraping the graphite off the end of the pencil.This gives you a fine graphite powder which you can use with a tissue to apply backgrounds over a large area. It is easy to control the amount of graphite you apply so you can effectively work in different layers.

When I am doing my outline drawings, I often use a hard 3h to create the outlines. I also add additional lines into the drawing to create interest. When you draw over these lines, additional texture is easily created which gives the drawing more depth and interest.

Try using small little circles to create a dynamic texture. I often use this technique to reproduce trees, concrete, leather, in fact it is a great technique for producing a lot of different textures.

 

Subject Matter.

There are many factors that come into play when you are evaluating a drawing.

Today I want to chat about subject matter this is very personal and each artist will have their own preferences of what they enjoy drawing.

The truly great drawings involve the viewer they tell a story or evoke an emotion. The subject matter is fairly unimportant.It is how the drawing is crafted that matters.So if you love drawing landscapes, buildings, people or still life, tell a story involve the viewer. If you are doing a still life, placing an apple on the table with a bowl of flowers is not going to create much interest if it is not exciting.

The treatment of the drawing can be very interesting if you use light, texture, contrast etc.

Have a look at Van Gochs landscape drawing.

The subject matter is just another landscape nothing too interesting, but note how he captures your attention.

Contrast the dark land on the left the lighter land on the right.

Perspective the lines in the earth in the center of the drawing that leads you through the page

The trees on the left are heavy the ones on the right are light and wispy.

The flat horizontal lines heavily underlined in the background stop you from moving off the page he takes you so far and no further.

The figures on the right are interacting with each other, can you imagine what they are saying?

Notice the land in the front of the drawing it is the exact opposite of the land in the middle of the drawing i.e. dark on the right and light on the left.

A perfect balance to the entire drawing.

 

There is a story here and he takes you through the drawing like a grand master.

Benin West Africa

The home of voodoo that is what I saw in the Benin embassy in Lagos

I was trying to get a visa for myself and a friend as we were planning a road trip to Benin from Lagos

He was on a British passport so he got a visa very fast I was on an SA passport so was told I would get my visa at the border. the night before we left we were having a few drinks at the yacht club and when the bartenders found out we were going to Benin they offered to kill a white and a black chicken for us we would be given a parcel to put in the boot of our car we were interested but never took them up on the offer instead we offered them a chicken and chips meal on our return.

It was early sat morning when we set with a French chef as our guide after about two hours of Lagos roads and traffic we arrived at the Benin border a tin house on the side of the road with a lot of people standing around there were lots of pieces of string and tree branches across the road each one a roadblock and each one wanting money after about four hours at the border and one or two issues with passports we crossed the border into Benin our first impressions on crossing was a huge informal market with people selling everything and changing money airtime rice you name it.

It is often cheaper to buy food in Benin and bring it back across the border so the border area is very active. We get past the border and travel up to the capital continue the streets are clean and there are separate lanes for motorcycles everyone drives properly and the local French police are everywhere nobody talks English only French so most of the time you are not sure what is happening we visit a local village to meet our drivers family and he is very proud to show us his family house and the other cottages he is renting out. We then go to his uncle’s hotel for a local beer after a round or two we notice the hotel has a lot of small rooms and there are a lot of woman around so it does not take long to work out where we are.

We had booked into a coastal apartment room on the beach very close to the Togo border so close that in five minutes you could cross into Togo. On the way the countryside becomes more rural jungle overgrown and then we are at the coastal village clear blue oceans and two or three small hotels.my friends and I settle into our new room and we send the drivers off to visit yet another uncle. We went for a walk on the beach in the pouring rain and met with some locals who were fishing finally we ended up in a hut chatting to a chap who was selling herbs for a living. Him and his two children in a hut on the beach.

We got back pretty late and my friend was tired so he went to bed while I sat on the veranda watching the ocean we had ordered chicken to eat and to my amazement two plates of raw chicken with rice was delivered to us we sent it back and went to sleep I could hear that our drivers had returned and they were sitting outside our front door chatting the next morning was raining but crisp not the normal heat that we were used to after a breakfast of French bread and fried eggs we set back to the Benin border.

The amazing thing about Benin is you can buy French bread along the road the bread is not sweet it is fresh and great to eat in Lagos you get agaga bread which is very sweet almost like cake cellphone costs airtime is very expensive but food is cheap.

We crossed the border back into Lagos and the roads were very blocked they were also searching vehicles coming back from Benin so we decided to take a longer route back which was less congested.

That same day an aircraft crashed into the city of Lagos another plane crashed in Ghana and the roof of my hotel collapsed.

 

Mozambique

What a lovely place, the family and I spent a week close to Inhaca island .we rented a land cruiser and left from SA early in the morning with a full load of food and water The family was very excited to make the long trip by road as we were planning on going through the elephant reserve to get to where we were staying. We had two vehicles with us one a full off-road vehicle and the other one a two by four with a diff lock. My family and their friends are very keen paddlers so on the roof we had two canoes strapped to the top. The trip up to the border post at Komatiepoort went off fairly smoothly with a pit stop of fried eggs and bacon along the route.

Komatiepoort is a great little town with a supermarket banks a few restaurants and nothing much else

The local golf course was great with a view over the valley river and border post we spent the afternoon with a cold bottle of wine taking photos of the surrounding countryside.

We stayed over at a local guest house which had a pool and braai facility a great afternoon was had around the pool and the boys braaied under the carport for supper the next day was an early start for us as we had been told by some of the locals that the border would open very early so at 3 in the morning we set off to cross the border

The border was chaos as most African borders are the endless lines of traffic and people when we reached the border some of the locals tried to scam us out of some money saying that we had to have travel insurance to cross over luckily I spotted the scam and warned some German tourists who were about to be taken of the situation my kids joined the long line of people trying to get their passports stamped after about an hour of getting nowhere I decided to explore and paid a protocol officer to get us through about twenty minutes later we were through the border and into Mozam which by now was pouring with rain.

It was a pretty long drive to the turnoff into the elephant reserve but the roads were in pretty good condition so no real problems getting there. We turned off onto a dirt road and into the forest we went the roads became waterlogged and full of mud with the usual bad road conditions I remember at one stage watching a local vehicle in front of me a small little Toyota bakkie that was skidding from side to side on the road most of the trip he was going sideways eventually I managed to pass him and we carried on to the gate of the reserve.at the entrance to the reserve we stopped and took photos next to a large elephant skull and had a look at the curios in a small office at the gate.

The road conditions got much worse and from here on in I handed the vehicle over to another driver who was far more experienced as the other vehicle kept on breaking down in the mud and narrow roads after about four hours of extreme forest and not a single elephant in site we came to an open plateau and lake which connected to the ocean it was great to see hippo in the water at least about eight or so enjoying the water.

We arrived at our camp just as the sun was setting just as well as travelling through the forest at night was not a great idea the accommodation was spacious with many rooms and a great deck you could walk for about five minutes and you were at the ocean what a great place to stay. We spent the next week exploring the area some of the highlights for me was a Douw trip to one of the other islands we set off by sail up the coastline to a large island which had a market hotel and a main street with markets and small pubs what a day great fun to explore and eat the local food with a cold beer or two the trip back the tide had come in so we had to wade out to the Douw on the way back our small outboard motor had a spark plug problem and as we were going against the current we would not get back without it so we all sat on the Douw and swan in the ocean while our guide swam ashore to find a spark plug eventually we were back on track and into a fierce storm everyone was wet and cold on the journey back and the ocean came up so the swells were fierce we did see dolphins following the boat

We landed at a coastal village and the villagers all swamped the boat to offload the supplies we had picked up at the other island an early night was had by all as we had had a day full of adventure

The next day we explored the local village and some of the beaches it was spectacular the beaches are pristine clear blue water and fantastic rock formations

Some of the hotels and beach homes are superb it is a great place to have a break  that evening the resort had a big fire on the beach and the folks that were staying in the area all came down for sundowners it was old year’s night and we could see the fireworks from Maputo, the town was celebrating  

The trip back was long and dusty we went through a separate border post which was checking every vehicle for pork there was an outbreak of foot and mouth disease so the officials were concerned about people bringing meat back into the country.

What a trip Mozam I would love to go back this the next time I will fly to Maputo and get a ferry across to the island.

 

Can you draw

The simple and short answer is yes of course you can anyone can draw.

It takes training and dedication just like anything else that you want to learn and perfect but drawing is easy.Once you understand the basic elements of drawing and you are prepared to practice practice practice you will be suprised at how quickly you improve and develop your skills.

I will try my best to help you through the process but uploading some lessons for you to start off with and i dont mind at all if you mail me and comment on the site i will try and answer all of the mails.

I love drawing and have been teaching and drawing, exhibiting for most to my life.

lets get started watch this space for updates i will take you through the process step by step.
have fun and draw as much as you can.

Wayneo

Shoe Shop

Street seller Lagos Nigeria

Gum Boy
After a hard day selling in the traffic of Lagos Nigerai 

Out on the town in mainland Lagos

Lady Jane
Woman in traditional outfits with stunning fabric and headgear.


 

Downtown

Spagettini
In the traffic off to shop