Essential Guide to Drawing: Still Life

By Barrington Barber

Ready-to-hand, varied and versatile, still-life subjects are ideal drawing material. This handy guide provides an accessible introduction to the genre, from drawing single objects such as vases and fruit, to more complex themed compositions. Whether you are a complete beginner or an experienced draughtsman, the clear demonstrations and step-by-step exercises in these pages will teach you to create realistic, attractive still-life drawings.

ABOUT THE SERIES: The Essential Guides to Drawing are practical books for artists who wish to improve their skills in a particular subject area. The series covers Animals, Landscapes, Perspective & Composition, Portraits, Still Life and Landscapes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcturus Publishing
• Release date: Jun 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781839405006

Barrington Barber

Born 1934, Barrington was educated at Hampton Grammar School and later Twickenham Art Schoo for which he received a National Diploma of Design. He then practised as an illustrator (Saxon Artist) and Graphic Designer, was Art Director at Ogilvie & Mather and S.H. Bensons, and was a lecturer in Graphic Design at Ealing Art School. Other credits include freelance work, designer, illustrator, animator and painter at Augustine Studios. He was awarded a one man exhibition in 2000 at St. Oswald Studios, and also exhibited in Putney in 2003 and Cork Street in 2004. He was Head of Art at St James's Independent Schools. He now paints, draws, writes about art, and enjoys sports, walking, philosophy and meditation.

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Materials

Any medium is valid for drawing still life and I have shown a range of possibilities here and later in the book. The suitability of the medium you choose depends on what you are trying to achieve. You probably don’t need to buy all the items listed below, and it is wise to experiment gradually. Start with the range of pencils suggested, and when you feel you would like to try something different, do so. For paper, I suggest starting with a medium-weight cartridge paper.

Pencils HB B 2B 4B

Conté charcoal pencil

White carbon pencil

Graphite pencils

Fine line pen

Fine nib push pen

white chalk

Conté stick

Willow charcoal

No 5 sable brush

No 2 nylon brush

Scraper-board tool

Clutch pencil with silver wire point

Drawing ink

Simple Marks

Before we make a start on drawing objects from the real world, it’s a good idea to practise some simple exercises as a warm-up. While these first pages are primarily intended for beginners, you’ll find that the exercises are still useful even if you’ve had a good deal of practice.

1. To make a start, try drawing a wavering, continuous line that repeatedly overlaps itself. As you draw, note the effect of the pencil on the surface of the paper.

This first exercise is really just to encourage you to realize that the feel of your materials is just as important as the visual result. Without this understanding you’ll find that your drawing lacks tactile values.

2. When you feel you have pursued your scribble for long enough, try out a simple sequence of repetitive strokes of vertical lines drawn so close together that they start to look like a patch of tone.

3. Then try some horizontal lines that are more spaced out and are all about the same length, the same distance apart and as straight as you can make them. You are beginning to

Reviews for Essential Guide to Drawing

[booktsunami · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a very short but also very practical introduction to perspective in drawing. It takes us through the basics and ends up with a few examples of works by skilled artists. Not enough there for me to want to keep the book so I'm donating to charity. I give it three stars.