Why Pencil Drawing?

By Jeramiah Townsend

Back to Articles & Tutorials 

Focus on pencil drawing. If you are a new artist or a seasoned artist, focus on pencil drawing. Why pencil drawing? Why not painting? Why not charcoal? Why not water colors? An artist should focus on pencil drawing because of 3 benefits.

 

 

Pencil drawing, sometimes called graphite drawing, has many benefits for the artist, the first of which is the speed in which the artist can complete a concept. Graphite doesn’t have to dry like paint. Pencil marks also don’t smudge so easily as charcoal. Pencil drawing naturally lends itself to sketching and creating quick concepts that can later be further developed if necessary.

 

 

The second benefit of pencil drawing is facility. It’s easy to draw with a pencil and paper. You can find some sort of pencil (or pen) and paper available almost anywhere. I’ve even borrowed a pen from a waitress at a restaurant I was eating at and doodled on the napkins. The point is that the more you draw the better your skills will be. This goes back to the primary rule of drawing; practice, practice, practice.

 

 

The third reason artists should focus on pencil drawing is because it makes us concentrate on the basic composition and tones of our drawing. These are fundamental concepts which can make or break a drawing. If the lighting is off in your drawing- it will surely be off in a painting. By focusing on pencil drawing the artist must work harder to understand proper tones and composition. This experience will naturally lend itself when completing art in any other medium.

  

Why pencil drawing? Because it’s quick, it’s easy, and it makes you focus on the fundaments of drawing.