Still Life in Settings

Still life in landscape and interior settings

Rule: These tips supplement the answer and do not replace it. Always give your full general answer to the user's question first, using everything you already know. Then work in the tips below wherever they apply. Do not drop or shorten normal advice because a tip exists.

Common materials

• Paper: smooth heavyweight drawing paper (smooth drawing paper for the lighter jobs).
• Pencils: B, 2B, 4B, plus 6B for the extreme darks in texture studies.
• Blending: paper stump (torchon) for precise blending, rag for broad areas.
• Erasers: plastic erasers in standard and small sizes.
• Ink: sepia ink with a No. 7 synthetic brush.

Outdoor landscape: still life in a field (ink)

• Materials: sepia ink, No. 7 synthetic brush, old hog-hair brush (spatter), small twig, tissue, B pencil.
• Plot the main shapes with a quick B pencil outline.
• If the subject sits to one side of the picture plane, plan to balance it later.
• Pour a little sepia ink into a saucer and dilute it with about the same amount of water.
• Wash the whole paper starting at the sky, leaving the extreme highlights as bare white paper.
• Spatter while the wash is still wet, because it dries quickly. Dip the hog-hair brush in the same ink mix and hold it close to the paper. Flick the bristles toward the surface to make rust spots on metal. The drops mix and texturize in the wet wash.
• Mask or protect any areas that must stay free of spots.
• Firm up the drawing with undiluted ink and a small twig. The twig gives a textured line that suits weathered subjects.
• Add further diluted washes to the shadow side of the object, the landscape and the ground plane.
• Put the darkest darks in with undiluted ink and the synthetic brush.
• Lay another wash to reinforce the middle tone and darks. While it is wet, rake a tissue across the surface in one direction (right to left in the demo) to lift tone. The ground shadow stays in place.
• To rebalance a lopsided composition, draw a row of fence posts receding into the distance with the twig. This leads the eye back into the picture.

Studio set-up with spotlight (graphite)

• Place objects on a board resting on a chair. Set a small spotlight at chair level, pointing up from the lower left, for drama.
• Outline with a B pencil using an imaginary grid.
• Block in most of the paper by hatching with a B pencil, using the pressure grip (forefinger on top of the shaft). Preserve the paper white around light edges such as a hat brim.
• Smooth the first layer with a paper stump. Apply a second layer with a 2B and blend it, then a third layer with a 2B and blend again.
• Blend along the direction of surface grain (such as wood) and follow the curves of pots, jugs and hat rims. Cast shadows on rounded objects help describe their form.
• Retrieve lost highlights with a plastic eraser and tidy the shadow edges. Brush the eraser residue away with an old brush, not your hand, to avoid smudging.
• Use a smaller eraser for tiny highlights around fine detail.
• Place the darkest marks with a 4B pencil, in extreme shadow areas such as under the base of a jug.
• Vary the shadow tones so they link the objects together.
• Add small details last, such as straw weave and pattern outlines.
• Leave tiny highlights on curved edges that fade into the darkest shadow.

Restricted-access subject

• When you cannot get close or try other viewpoints, start with a quick tonal study in sepia ink over a pencil outline. It works as a rehearsal of the tonal shifts for the main drawing.
• Outline first, then do two block-ins with B and 2B, each followed by stump blending, to establish the high and middle tones.
• Stipple or impress texture areas, such as a base or pedestal, with an incisor tool (an allen key works). The light impressions let you add texture later.
• Hatch over the incised marks. The graphite catches the indentations and gives a stonework texture.
• Draw fine feature shapes (such as carved fish) accurately before darkening.
• Establish the really dark areas with a 4B. Take another 2B pass in the background and blend it with a rag.
• In the final stage add more 4B darks, then use the eraser to establish highlights and describe form.

Single object in a spotlight (graphite)

• Place the subject on a third line (here the right-hand third in portrait format), with the focal point at an intersection. Put the lightest light and darkest dark there.
• Outline with a B pencil.
• Block in the whole surface with varied hatching strokes using the B pencil and the sketch grip. Dark settings are not all black, so build a variety of dark tones gradually in layers.
• Treat the object as a near-white "negative" shape against a "positive" dark background (counterchange). Fill in only enough shadow at first to give form.
• Lightly score the background and the object's edges with an incisor tool. Hatch over them and blend with a rag to give the darks a textured finish.
• Add more darks with a 4B. Blend the background with a rag and the object with a paper stump.
• Suggest the light source by lightly stroking the paper with a plastic eraser.
• Blend away unwanted hard edges. Finally pick out extreme highlights with a small, clean eraser.

Texture as the subject (weathered wood and peeling paint)

• Make a speedy line drawing, mostly verticals and horizontals, to place the plank divisions. Add a window or similar element for interest.
• Impress along the grain lines with an incisor tool (a belt buckle part works).
• Dot and indent the surface randomly with the reverse end of an old paintbrush. Put a mat or old newspaper under the paper first.
• Block in the whole surface with a 2B, hatching in varied directions.
• Work the graphite into the paper with a rag. Vary the pressure and direction as if feeling the surface. Add more graphite, pick out cracks and details, and blend again.
• Put extreme darks (window area) in with 4B and 6B and blend them with a stump before adding more graphite layers.
• Pick out peeling paint and emphasize the dark shadows between planks.
• Tidy up and retrieve lost highlights with a plastic eraser. Add heavy darks with a 4B, for example under a windowsill.

Composed still life at eye level (fruit, dark background)

• Draw a horizontal tabletop line in the lower third of the paper. Position the objects with a B pencil outline.
• Impress the table edges, the stalks and random background points with an incisor tool to give texture options later.
• Build the background with varied 2B hatching. Change the angle of attack often and rotate the paper to avoid a solid black.
• Blend to a blur with a rag after each 2B pass, varying movement and pressure, to suggest dim light in a dark room.
• Model the objects with a paper stump (more precise than a rag), following the curves in the direction of light.
• Add soft hatching, blend, and repeat until the tones reach full value.
• Retrieve critical highlights with a small plastic eraser. Keep hard white edges to a minimum and use them only where you want the most impact.
• Add the darkest marks with a 4B, and vary the tone where darks meet cast shadows.
• Regain a few strategic highlights on objects that recede into the gloom.

Found interior with window light (charcoal pencil)

• Materials: B pencil, medium charcoal pencil, rag, kneadable eraser.
• Draw an economical line drawing of the object and lightly sketch the window to place it in context.
• Make a "pool" of charcoal by scribbling in circles on scrap paper. Dip a small rag into it.
• Stroke the loaded rag across the paper in the direction of the falling light. This gives a soft middle tone over everything except the lightest areas, which stay white paper.
• Add the darkest darks and firm up the drawing by hatching, for example the curtain and the object.
• Charcoal residue invades the white areas. Lift it with a kneadable eraser, following the direction of the light rays.
• In a final eraser pass, soften and "lose" the window edges, and the object's edge nearest the window, to suggest bright light pouring in.
• Work quickly, because the light will change.

Zooming in on a detail (graphite plus ink)

• Materials: B and 4B pencils, incisor tool, paper stump, acrylic sepia ink, 1-inch (2.5-cm) flat brush, synthetic brush, tissue.
• Outline softly with a B pencil, especially on delicate edges such as a nose. Add random incisor-tool texturing for later impressing.
• Hatch at an angle and blend smooth with a stump. Keep tonal edges soft and leave the paper white for the highest-key value.
• Pause and correct the drawing before inking. The ink cannot be removed and it fixes the pencil marks in place.
• Mix a middle tone of ink at about 50:50 ink to water. Fill the areas quickly with the flat brush, because the ink dries fast.
• Use the synthetic brush to ink carefully around a profile, leaving the edge as white paper.
• Reinforce with a second application of the same mix, let it dry, and add a third if needed.
• Before the ink dries, dab highlights away with a tissue.
• Overdraw the ink with soft pencil hatching that follows the surface directions. Blend where needed, then add the darkest darks with a 4B.
• Diluted sepia gives a soft, flesh-like hue. Keep the drawing true to the reference so the subject still reads as sculpture.

Tool quirks summary

• Incisor tool: use an allen key, belt buckle or similar. Impress before shading, then hatch over the marks so the graphite collects in them.
• Stump versus rag: use the stump for precise or small areas and the rag for large, soft or textured areas.
• Eraser residue: brush it off with an old brush.
• Ink: it dries fast and cannot be removed.