How To Draw Rocks

Rocks

While I haven’t had the opportunity to draw many rocks in my landscapes (yet), they can certainly add interest to any landscape. I consider them just one more opportunity to add a different texture to the scene.

There are different kinds of rock formations. From sandstone, shale, limestone, volcanic to boulders. Each one will hold different textures and 'feel' to them.

This lesson will be very specific and we are going to study the drawing of a close-up view of rocks. Our goal is two fold. 1) To understand the how to create the shape and depth of rocks, and 2) to learn how to create textured, realistic looking rocks.

Materials Needed:

• F and 2B .5 mechanical pencils
• 4H and 2H clutch pencils
• Blu-Tack or kneaded eraser
• Battery operated eraser
• Strathmore 300 Series Bristol Board Smooth paper

Sketching

Sketching… Never underestimate the power of just sketching. I seldom just sit and watch television, but when I do, I usually have a folder full of photos and I just sketch. Here is a sketch of a group of rocks...

Find some photos of rocks and sketch them. Don't let the rest of the landscape intimidate you as you sketch the rocks. Pick out the sections that interest you and just sketch.

Creating three-dimensionality and form

At first glance they seem to be easy to draw. I find they a bit more challenging than that. They beg to have three-dimensionality and form. Light and shading play an important roll in drawing realistic rocks.

I find the best comparison to make is to use a cube. In order to create this three-dimensional form we have to use light and shadow. The plane with the most direct sunlight is the brightest. The plane with the no sunlight is the darkest. With a strong light, the shadow will be short and dark.



Let's relate this concept to a grouping of rocks. These rocks are drawn to emphasize their angles and planes. The light source is to the upper right.


This sketch softens the edges of the rocks but the planes are still very visible, creating solid three-dimensional rocks.


I find most tutorials stop at this point when explaining how to draw rocks. Do you see the problem with this? Will these sketches really work in a realistic landscape? What's missing or rather what is there too much of?? White. There is just not enough tone or detail too.

So let’s keep going.....

Reference photo

Here is the reference photo in both color and grayscale that we will be using for the rest of this tutorial. I like to draw and study from both images. The grayscale helps to match the tones, but color helps in the details.

Step 1

We are going to draw the large boulder on the left. I start with a 2B pencil and sketch in the darkest areas. The lighter areas are sketched in using an F lead weight. Using short random marks, I concentrate on the indents and shadowed areas. Be sure to draw in all of the darkest areas in this step (I will explain further in the third step)

Step 2

Once you have the preliminary details drawn, use the clutch pencil with a chisel edge to apply a smooth even layer over the surface. The lighter areas I use the 4H, and use 2H in the shadowed areas. Remember the planes and angles for lighting.

Step 3

Now the fun starts! Using a softer lead in the mechanical pencil, start creating the texture! I use random short marks to create pits and a rough surface. That's right; use a softer lead over the harder lead. We all know that using softer lead over harder lead creates a very uneven surface. But it works wonders in creating a random, uneven texture for rocks.

The chisel edge is important as it creates a flat wide mark. To create a chisel edge, use sandpaper; angle your pencil and scrub!

Using these harder leads may be new to some of you, but they create wonderful light values that otherwise would be very difficult to achieve.

Continue building and layering. Use the Blu-Tack to create subtle highlights. Press the Blu-Tack onto an area and lift the graphite off. Use the battery-operated eraser to create small strong highlights.

I mentioned in step 1 to be sure you have all your darkest areas drawn before you proceed onto step 2. The reason should be obvious. Once the harder lead is laid down, you will not be able to achieve those rich blacks!



Here is my completed rock study...

DOWNLOAD AVAILABLE:

This complete tutorial is available in .PDF format. PDF file (557KB)

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Drawing Oceans and waves

Not all landscapes combine close-up images like swimmingswan. Ocean or submarines require a completely different type ofinterpretation and representation.

This may seem a bit simplistic, but no matter how I try to illustratehow to draw water, it seems to end up with this approach. Do you remember your first drawing of a boat in the water? Rememberthat line one of the waves under the boat? Well, it is essentially thestroke of a pen I use!

Here is an example of horizontal rocking back and forth,overlapping my strokes. The features are much smaller andshorter for the distant waves. By focusing on the shadow under the waves, my water just seems to appear.

Try drawing waves. This image keeps these to a minimum and just a splash on the rocks. It's a simple composition but looks can be deceiving!!

This reference photo is courtesy of scratchboard artist, Karen Hendrickson of Oregon. Iowa doesn't have any oceans, so Karen keeps me stocked with beautiful photos from her own "backyard".

Here is the completed seascape.

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How to draw a cartoon Chinese Dragon

Follow these illustrated steps to draw your own Chinese Dragon character. Have fun.

How to Draw Chinese Dragons with Easy Step by Step Drawing Lesson

Step 1

step 1. Draw an oval for the head, add circles for the eyes, nose and mouth, then create a curved line for the body.

Step 2

step 2.Create 2 curved lines at the top of the head, then draw rectangular shapes around the guidelines, similar to a three, to create the horns.

Step 3

step 3. using the guidelines you created in step 1, draw around the ovals the complete the details of the face as the mouth, then erase some guidelines, you can use another color as blue to draw the hair, etc.

Step 4

step 4. Erase the guidelines of the face.

Step 5

step 5.   Draw around the curved line to create the shape of the body.

Step 6

step 6.  Draw small triangles along the body to create more details.

Step 7

Step 7.  Add small triangle shapes with rectangles for the arms to create the arms with fingers, this will be similar to peaks.

Step 8

Here is the colorized Chinese Dragon…red, green, and yellow are usually the colors that are used.

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Draw a Rose Step by Step

 let's enjoy the detailed explanation to help you create a well executed, beautiful and romantic drawing of a rose.

Draw a Rose Sketch

Step 1: Begin by establishing the framework for your rose flower contour drawing.
It's very easy to do, just quickly draw a shape that resembles a circle, but not too much circular as we want our pink flower to the natural and organic. So be brave to give some definition of my facts straightened out a bit here and there.
Then proceed to describe rosebud - a cylinder about evidence that has a surface appearance of the foreground as the simplified version of a heart. 

Step 2: Start working on the details rosebud. 
As you can see, I started drawing from the center, then it worked again. If you learn to draw a rose, that way you will not have to erase the pencil sketches that overlap and thus keep your drawing of a pink super clean and tidy! 
Note: I also deleted the original sketches of pink seen in the previous stage of design. .

Step 3: Draw petals further of rose bud.
You might have noticed that this how to draw a rose step has become a bit more complex. The petals start to expand create various shapes of folds and openings.
My advice is to find yourself a good reference picture of a realistic rose to help better understand its anatomy and how rose petals looks like in nature. 

Step 4: Add more petals to your rose sketch.
The trick here is to draw fewer and larger rose petals as you move further away from the flower center. 
Keep an eye for any distinctive shape or swirls that you like and that add to the softness and delicate nature of rose flowers. 
The key to drawing really beautiful roses lies in keen observation and ability to depict those findings in your artwork.

Step 5: Final 'how to draw rose sketch' step.
Sketch some extra petals on the outer edges of your rose drawing to fill in the structure outline we created in step 1.
This is how I was able to draw a rose that have an artistic touch yet look balanced and natural.

Step 6: Fill in a light pink color 
Depending on your chosen rose color, you might as well do it with any other hues as you like, for example: purple, blue, orange, yellow or light red.
For this red rose lesson you need to start with a light pink color just like in the illustration to the left. 

Step 7: Shade your rose in color
In this learn to draw a rose step I picked a red color that has some pink in it and quickly went over the dark areas first.
If you're unsure - start with shadows and then work your way out. 

Step 8: Add mid-tones to your rose flower
For this how to draw a rose example I used a little bit of red-orange along with light purple to smoothen the transition between light and shadow. 
Don't worry about any textures at this stage, all you are doing here is establishing tones and values to create a 3 dimensional drawing of a rose.

Step 9:  Learn to draw a rose with texture
Your rose flower drawing is almost done. Now is the time to create interest in your art by sketching in some crease lines - contouring the curls of rose petals.
This is how you create an illusion that your red rose is actually a three dimensional form instead of appearing as a 2d flat drawing.
Use a darker color pencil or any other mediums of you choice, like: soft pastels or Conte crayons.

Step 10: Finish red rose drawing 
We created some interesting models in the previous step, but you still need pink flower of a definition in the central area to create discussion. 
Perhaps work on a few details and the use of ink lines to create sharp edges contrasting petal rose bud. 
Do not be afraid to increase the intensity of color by pulling with brighter colors.

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learn to draw a cartoon bus

This easy tutorial will help you learn to draw a cartoon bus! For achild who goes to school for the first time, taking a school bus canbe an experience to share!
The children shout and sing, the driver is smiling (or vanoix!).Personally, I have great memories associated with taking the bus!Trying to pull a school bus with an exciting prospect!

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First, draw the body of the bus. Do so by sketching a square to form the front of the bus. Then, add a rectangle to create the side of your vehicle. Notice that the top of both shape is straight. On the other hand, the bottom line of the rectangle on the left is drawn with a perspective.

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Now the top of the school bus! For now, just sketch a rectangle and a circle over the front part of the vehicle.

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Before moving on, let's make sure our bus is accurate and well-shaped! Join the square and the circle to form the front of the bus. For the side, it can be sketch in two steps.

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Now let's add some details on our vehicle! Draw two squares to illustrate the windows! Over these windows, add the lights and the bus sign.

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Next, draw the windows on the side of the bus. Don't forget to draw the ones that are closer bigger. You can also sketch the bumper and the front lights.

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Finally, add some tires to your bus. One of them is hidden, so you only need to sketch three wheels!

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Of course, you need the color of your vehicle with a little yellowand black. And there you have it! A school bus simple, with a slightly drawn in just seven easy steps! I hope you enjoyed thistutorial and fun!

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Learn to Draw a Ninja

Step 1. As you can see the first steps looks really simple. All you do is draw the guidelines years to form forms a frame for the ninja in action. First make a circle for the head, then a circle for the shoulder. You will then draw a square shape for the torso and draw the guidelines for membership arms, legs and sword. Do not forget to form the feet and hands



Step 2. However, in this step, you add the guidelines for the face and begin to shape the body of your ninja. You will first need to thicken the sword and then work on to outline the shape of the arms which carry a costume too loose. Write a few lines for the fingers and then work on to outline the lining wrinkled leg and the lower right side of the body.



Step 3. You will now draw the shape of the torso as shown in here, then the shape of the right arm. The surface of the left leg and foot are coming and the shape of the ion of lower leg right.You then draw the shape of the inner face of the ninja mask and add trim to the left arm and fingers




Step 4. You will notice that your ninja begins to take shape. You willnow draw the shape of the pillow hand on his right hand, then therest of his left arm. Details and forms the head covering and faceby adding in the eyes and eyebrows. You'll need to draw a line upfor the mask, then the information on the sleeve of his right arm as shown. Finish this step by outlining the wrinkled lining of the right leg and his left boot detail.


Step 5. This is your last drawing step. So what you do is finishdrawing the sword, then give this ninja eyeballs and pupils and ahint of a nose ahead laid the mask a bit. You will then erase all theguidelines and shapes you drew No one step and begin to defineand detail your ninja


Step 6. When you've finished your design should come out lookinglike that. Now you can color it any color in the choice of three stylish colors: black, white or dark green. Who will do it for this tutorial onhow to draw a ninja step by step. I'll be back with more stick aroundgangs.

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