Part 4 Follow Michelle Campbell as she demonstrates ten essential sketching and painting techniques for depicting wildlife

Watercolour

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

■ Beginners’ guide to pencils and watercolour

■ Practise five drawing techniques

■ Work on five classic watercolour techniques

February’s Song , watercolour, 191⁄2x191⁄2in. (50x50cm). This painting was created using a wet-on-dry method, with a layering technique, a graded wash and dry-brush technique. I also used ink pen to highlight the hand-drawn feel to the painting.

The graphite pencil is usually the first medium that we explore as artists. It is a common tool, which is capable of producing wonderful drawings. All it takes to create a drawing is a basic understanding of the concepts of drawing, knowledge of your tools and practice.

In this month’s article, I want to teach you the core concepts of drawing, such as light and shadow, and shading.

Before the fun begins, let’s look at a pencil. The lead pencil (it contains no lead) was invented in 1564 when a huge graphite mine was discovered in Borrowdale, Cumbria. Pure graphite was sawn into sheets then cut into square rods. The graphite rods were inserted into hand-carved wooden holders, which were then formed into pencils.