Fine Art Drawing Ground

7/26/2019 Fine Art Drawing Ground

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PREPARING PAPER FOR RED CHALK

Copyright 2006 by Robert Liberace. All rights reserved.

HISTORY OF THE MEDIUM

As evidenced by the magnificent Paleolithicartwork that adorns the walls of the cavesof Lascaux, mankind has been usingmineral pigments to produce artwork for

over 16,000 years. Our artist ancestorsdiscovered that, in addition to being a joyto use in drawing and painting, thesematerials were much more permanent thandye-based pigments.

A 16,000-year-old cave painting, Lascaux, France

Red chalk is a naturally occurring mineralmade up of hematite (iron oxide)suspended in clay. Although red chalk hasbeen used since the dawn of humanity, itwasnt until the Renaissance that it becamepopular to draw with red chalk on paper.

Natural Red Chalk

Leonardo da Vinci was the first todemonstrate the amazing potential of thishumble mineral. He produced a largenumber of magnificent drawings with redchalk. Michelangelo, Raphael, Rubens, andmany others followed Leonardos lead. Inthis chapter, we will follow in the footstepsof the old masters and learn to draw withthe modern-day equivalents of red chalk.

Horse Study by Leonardo da Vinci (Red Chalk on Paper)

MATERIALS

Its difficult to find a piece of natural redchalk with just the right mix of friabilityand hardness, so today, instead of using ahunk of rock dug out of the ground, we usered chalks modern equivalents contcrayon and colored pencil. When workingin a larger scale, I use cont crayon or pastelpencils on print making paper like thosemade by Arches or Rives. But forproducing smaller, finer drawings, I prefer

to use hard colored pencils (SanfordVerithin pencils) on toned paper. Thepaper that I prefer is TwinrockerCalligraphy Cream or Yale hand-laid papertoned with dilute watercolor and sized withdilute amber shellac.

Toning and Sizing Materials


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PAPER,TONING,AND SIZING MATERIALS

Twinrocker Yale or Calligraphy Cream

Hand-laid Paper

Yellow Ochre or Raw Sienna watercolor(used to tone the paper)

Bulls Eye Shellac - Amber (used as a

sizing) Denatured Alcohol (used to dilute the

shellac)

An 8-oz glass jar (an empty salsa jarworks well)

1 Flat Watercolor Brush

A Small Plastic Scoop

Drawing, Blending, and Highlighting Tools

DRAWING MATERIALS

5 Sanford Verithin Colored Pencils Terra Cotta most of the drawing will be

done with these pencils 1 Prismacolor Colored Pencil Terra

Cotta (used only for dark accents)

1 Generals White Charcoal Pencil (used

for highlights)

Kneaded Eraser

Ink Eraser Faber Castell makes a goodone

Winsor & Newton Rathbone FilbertBristle Brush #1 (for softening lines and

shadows) A piece of masonite the same size or

slightly larger than our piece of paper.This will be our drawing board.

PREPARATION

TONING THE PAPER

I have found it useful to tone the paperusing dilute watercolor. In addition to

giving the paper some warmth andcharacter, it also gives us a mid-valuebackground from which to work. Its easierto establish shadows from a mid-tone thanfrom a white background. It also makeshighlights stand out.

Tone the paper using dilute watercolor raw sienna or yellow ochre works well. Tryto achieve a light to mid-value wash. Ithelps if the paper is attached to a board ofsome kind and tilted at a shallow angle (10-15 degrees). Using the 1 flat watercolorbrush, begin at the top by applying thewatercolor in horizontal strokes andworking your way down the page, never

leaving a dry line behind. Dont be overlyfussy, though. The goal is to make thepaper look old. Variations in color andvalue are positive attributes, since they willmake the drawing more visuallyinteresting. Allow the paper to drythoroughly before continuing.

Toning Paper with Dilute Watercolor

APPLYING SIZING

In order to get hard, waxy colored pencil tobehave more like red chalk, we mustchange the properties of the papers surfaceslightly. We need to make it a little lessreceptive to the pencil so that the particlesof pigment float on the surface rather thanbeing ground into the paper. We canaccomplish this by applying a coating ofdilute amber shellac.


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Shellac is made by dissolving a resinsecreted by an insect (the lac beetle) inalcohol. Fortunately, all you need to do isbuy a quart can of amber shellac at yourlocal home improvement store.

DILUTING THE SHELLAC

Since we dont want the coating of shellacto be too heavy, we need to dilute it withdenatured alcohol. In a well ventilatedplace, combine one part amber shellac withfive parts denatured alcohol. A smallplastic scoop works well for this purpose.Denatured alcohol is a potentiallyhazardous material, so please heed the

warning printed on its container. Its also agood idea to clearly label the jar.

Mixing dilute shellac

Using the same technique you used toapply the watercolor wash, apply thediluted shellac to the paper. Clean thebrush with denatured alcohol. Again,allow the paper to dry thoroughly.

Applying diluted shellac

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