With Winter arriving, ice starts to become a major feature in the outside world. So come and join me as I show you how to draw a cool icicle.
What You Will Need
You will need the following equipment in order to complete this project:
- Drawing paper or newsprint
- Drawing board (optional)
- Masking tape
- Pencils (Types, 7B to H)
- Mechanical pencils (Types 6B to 2B)
- Pencil sharpener
- Steel ruler
- Compressed charcoal sticks (Extra soft)
- Charcoal pencil
- Kneaded eraser
- Gum eraser
- Mechanical eraser
- Tombow Square and Circular detailed erasers
- Varied size blending nubs
- Tub of charcoal powder
- Artists fixative
- Stock image from Envato Market
1. Prepare Your Paper
For this tutorial we will be working on A4 size paper. If
you have a drawing board to hand, secure your paper onto it with tape so that
it does not slide around as you are drawing. Personally I find a standard
smooth Bristol board is best for this type of drawing.
2. Draw Your Grid
Step 1
Start by measuring out how big you want this drawing to be; for this tutorial I will be working to the exact size of the paper. With your steel ruler, measure out the size of
your grid. It would be best to avoid drawing too small a box, as this can
complicate the construction of the image. My best advice would be to use a box
that is either 1 x 1 inches or larger. For this tutorial I have decided to use a
box measuring 1.3 x 1.3 inches exactly.
Step 2
Draw out your grid on the paper using a sharp 2B regular or mechanical pencil with a moderate touch, as you may need to erase these lines later as we progress. Remember that pressing too hard on the paper or using too hard a lead can leave unwanted indentations that you may not be able to erase.
3. Construct Your Image
Step 1
For the actual drawing, it is best to continue using a 2B mechanical pencil. Before starting to
draw, be sure to sharpen your pencil, as a common error that learning artists
make is using a blunt pencil to draw an image.
Using the reference, choose a focus point to begin your
drawing. I am going to start by drawing a large “T” like shape that will act as
a base for the wooden beam and our main icicle.
Step 2
Continue drawing out basic shapes to define areas of the
image. If you have labelled your grid as explained earlier, it should be easy
for you to draw these points on the image.
Step 3
Once we have all the basic guides where we want them, we
now have to fill in the details. At this point, take care when drawing and be
sure to go back to your reference regularly as a poor drawing at this stage
will show up later on. Remember to keep sharpening your pencil as you go, but
also avoid
using hard pressure as you may find it difficult to erase these lines if you
need to later on.
Step 4
Now that we have a fully constructed image, take your putty eraser and clean up any unnecessary
loose lines and make sure you have a clean image to work with for the next
stage. If you have any harder lines, the best tool to get rid of these is your
harder gum eraser.
4. Begin Rendering Your Image
Step 1
Now we can begin to fill in the details and create our icy
effects. If you are right handed, we shall be working from left to right on the
paper to avoid smudging the graphite and charcoal; if you are left handed I
would recommend working right to left.
We will be using two methods of applying graphite to the
paper with pencils, soft charcoal stick,
graphite powder and charcoal powder.
- Circulism
- Cross hatching
Circulism
involves rotating your pencil, charcoal
stick or cotton bud with moderate pressure in a circular motion whilst
moving the pencil across the page as shown below. Like hatching, this can be
used to build up tone depending on pressure applied to the paper and how many
times you repeat the motions. I use circulism more for darker tones and it is
especially useful for black areas as it gives good coverage on the paper.
Cross
hatching is applied by a series of strokes in a diagonal direction going one
way, then repeating the motion in the opposite direction. Levels of tone can be
built up using this method by bringing hatchings closer together or repeating
the motions time and again. You can also choose to blend the area you have
shaded afterwards with a cotton bud or tissue paper if you so wish.
For the first section we are going to add a background to
our image using charcoal powder and
a cotton wool pad. To start off,
take your pad and carefully dab it into your charcoal powder tub until you have
a moderate amount of powder on the pad and then work it onto the paper using a
circular motion. Remember to only cover a limited area of the background at
this stage.
Step 2
Once the first layer is put down on the paper, take some
more powder and work over the top of this layer using the same circular motion.
Step 3
For darker tones, take your extra soft charcoal stick and work a small amount on a separate
piece of paper. Then take a clean cotton
wool pad, rub it into the charcoal you have worked on this separate piece
of paper, and then transfer it onto our canvas. Repeat the motion until you have
the correct tone we are after.
You should now have a partially completed background; we are
going to continue working on it once we have completed rendering the large icicle in the next section.
Step 4
If you need to do so, take your charcoal pencil and using the cross hatching method draw in areas
of tone where it is needed and then take your cotton bud and blend the area you have drawn in.
5. A Brief Look at Rendering Wood
Step 1
We are now going to start working on the wooden beam at the
top of the image that our icicles will be clinging to, so let’s begin rendering
by using a small amount of graphite powder on your cotton bud to lay
down a light base tone on the paper. Apply using the circulism method
described earlier.
Step 2
To tighten the edges of your beam take a 2B or a 3B pencil and carefully draw in
additional areas of tone. For added effect, pay close attention to your
reference and take note of which direction the grain of the wood is
going in. For example, I will be drawing from left to right following the
horizontal direction of the grain of the wood in the reference.
Step 3
For darker grains of wood take your mechanical 4B pencil and continue to go in the horizontal
direction left to right (or vice versa if you are left handed). Be sure to take
great care when drawing in these grains as they are so fine.
6. Render the Ice
Step 1
Now that we have our wooden beam completed, we shall move on to an
entirely different texture: slippery ice! To begin with, the process is very
much the same as with the wooden beam. First put down a layer of graphite
powder with your cotton bud.
Step 2
Next take your 6B
pencil and, using tight circulism, carefully work in areas of tone in this
first blob of ice. For darker tones, you may need to move to a 7B pencil, but be careful how much
pressure you apply to the paper as it may get difficult to erase areas if we
need to later on.
Step 3
Now we have some tones laid down on the paper, take your small and medium sized blending nubs and
blend these tones together and try to smooth out the overall look of your
rendering.
Step 4
For very small black tones, which are very few in this
reference, I would suggest your best course of action is to take a soft charcoal pencil and carefully draw
in these fine black areas. Remember to make sure the pencil is sharp
before you start.
Step 5
We now need to add some bright specular highlights to the
image. To create these we are going to use our mechanical eraser but, as you will note in our reference, these
highlights are very fine, so we will only need a fine touch on the paper with
the eraser to create them as the eraser itself spins at such speed. If you wish
to do so you can use the circular tombow
eraser to further work your highlights.
7. Work on the Large Icicle
Step 1
We are now moving on to working on our main icicle, which
firstly involves laying down a light tone of graphite powder with your cotton bud. This time, though, only put
down one
layer of powder, as we are going to be using our various mechanical and regular
pencils for rendering.
Step 2
We are now going to render this icicle from the top down, and
we are going to start by using a regular
4B pencil and work using the tight circulism method to carefully add
additional tone to the paper.
For any fine rendering, I find it best to move to mechanical pencils as these do remain
sharp, and the fine lead is ideal for working in tight corners and picking out
the smallest details.
Step 3
Now we are going to create some bright highlights using our fine square and circular tombow erasers. Take careful note of
where your highlights are in your reference and use careful strokes with your
erasers when working. Remember, if you have not worked your pencil marks too
hard into the paper, you should not have any problems when it comes to erasing.
Step 4
We should now have our first stage completed, and shall now move down the icicle, following the
same process as before, by first applying a little graphite powder to a section
of the icicle.
Step 5
As we move further down the icicle, you will notice more and
more tiny air bubbles appear trapped within the ice, and you will find you will
need to make more use of your mechanical pencils to draw these in using a
circular motion. For really light bubbles I find it best to use a sharp
2H pencil and then draw the bubbles
in using a light touch.
Step 6
Continue to work carefully down the icicle until it is
complete, following the same methods we have worked with throughout this
tutorial.
8. Work on the Smaller Icicle
Step
1
Having
completed our main icicle, we now shall move onto the last remaining icicle. As
with the previous icicles, our first step is to put down a layer of graphite
powder. With this icicle being so much smaller, however, you need to take much
more care when working with your cotton
bud.
Step
2
Take your 2B
mechanical pencil and, as with the previous icicle, use tight circulism to
carefully lay down light areas of tone. Next, move to your 6B pencil or charcoal pencil and draw in the darker tones.
Again, as with our previous icicles, you may need to use
either your small or medium blending nubs to smooth out some of your rendering. For this smaller icicle, the
small nub may be the best tool to use.
9. Add Dazzling Highlights
Step 1
For added effect we are going to add a few specular
highlights to our image, which really make our icicles stand out. It is very
important to take note of where your light sources are coming from when
attempting to do this sort of effect, as having bright highlights dotted
everywhere on the image can confuse viewers of the art work.
We need to start this effect by making sure the area where
we intend to put our highlights is clean and clear, so use your tombow erasers to get rid of any
unnecessary pencil marks.
Step 2
If there are any difficult pencil marks remaining, use your mechanical eraser to try and remove
them. A strong word of caution, however: do not hold the eraser on the paper for
too long, as you will burn the surface of the paper and ruin the entire drawing!
Step 3
Next, take your circular
tombow eraser and carefully work in a few glints to really sell the
reflection. Be sparing in how many barbs you make, as too many will spoil the
effect. Less is more!
10. Add Fixative and Finishing Touches
Step
1
You
should now have an image that is virtually complete! It is at this point I
would recommend you check your work carefully against our reference to make
sure you have not missed any details.
Step 2
In our reference you will notice there are a few floating bits of dust around the icicles, so we are carefully going to put these in using our circular tombow erasers and using a very light touch by simply tapping the artwork with the erasers. If you don’t get the effect you are after first time then a slightly harder tap may be required.
Lastly, to
seal your work, you should now spray your drawing with artist’s fixative. This
substance prevents any accidental smudging of your drawing when it is on
display or in storage.
Finally We Are Finished!
Ice can be one of nature’s greatest wonders, especially when you get
phenomena like icicles in many different shapes and sizes clinging to various
surface ledges and walls.
With this tutorial I hope I have given you an insight
into how you too can create your own cool, natural sculptures that hopefully
will give Mother Nature herself a rival to go up against!
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