Sketching a shoebox

Leafing thru a book and just felt compelled to put this to paper.Early stage in the process, just a rough actually but all the key landmark's in the image are down on paper at this point.Will start on adding texture detail to the chassis because this is really the main focal point in the image...so I guess you could say I will be building this sketch from the ground up.Basic tool's involved up to this point -

Kohi-I-Noor repidomatic ( 0.3 mm) HB lead along with kneaded eraser.

Scanning my work to paper is somewhat of a new thing to me (and I dont really like it)..reminds me of how a flourecent light in a bathroom seems to enhance every flaw in one's appearance, but it serve's it's purpose well enough here I guess.Will update as I progress.

http://img516.imageshack.us/img516/3285/image139mq.jpg

http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/5681/image6xy.jpg

Nice start so far. Your lines are really accurate.

Alex

Thanks for that, although I had to scrap the right wheel hub location (its bit high).Also this paper looks dreadful up here on the monitor.I know this must souund like a line or something but it looks alot more pleasing under a desklight.As for the paper, im using a type called 'exact vellum bristol'.

I got a load of the stuff for free (comes wrapped like copy paper).Normally I would be drawing on strathmore bristol board 300 series, but I was too lazy to go out and buy a book of it.Anybody ever worked with this other stuff?

Welcome to the forum, Leadsleder. We are glad you joined us. Your rendering is looking great so far. I didn't realize Kohi-I-Noor made pencil lead holders.

.3 mm is very small, where did you find that size lead? Thanks

Thanks for the welcome. As far as the 'rapidomatic', I got that along with everything else from a place called Art media. Im not sure if it's a national franchise but they have alot of high end materials...and of course they are a bit more spendy than most places I have been to. The lead is by Pentel - high polymer 0.3 mm. It is small but they offer this size in a wide range of leads, HB, 2H etc. I was curious about this kneaded eraser I have seen advertised on the net, its called 'Blue tak'...and supposedly its suppposed to be superior to any other kneaded eraser on the market. Anybody get a chance to play around with it?

I was curious about this kneaded eraser I have seen advertised on the net, its called 'Blue tak'...and supposedly its suppposed to be superior to any other kneaded eraser on the market. Anybody get a chance to play around with it?

Yes, I use it and it is a very good product.
Are you going to buy it from the same website?

I purchased mine from Mike Sibley.
http://www.sibleyfineart.com/

Yes, I use it and it is a very good product.
Are you going to buy it from the same website?

I purchased mine from Mike Sibley.
http://www.sibleyfineart.com/

good lord!

come to think of it i remember doing this when i was in school. i'd lost my rubber, and i decided to see if a piece of blutack i had in my pencil case would erase...

i'll be playing with that next time i sketch!

Yeah I think I need to get my hands on some.Wonder if Mike take's money orders? Aside from that I dont know how many times I have attempted to get a clean lift on graphite in small detail with a kneaded eraser. This stuff sounds invaluable honestly...wish it was available in the U.S. but regardless I have to get ahold of a few packs.

Hey since we are on the subject of tricks of the trade here I was always curious about something. Just to start off I have never taken an art class in my life...I just over time with alot of trial and error and of course practice developed a certain style I guess. Mainly in just graphite because its such a flexible (and inexpensive) medium. Anyway one day a few years back I ran across this shop in a mall temporarily set up to sell this guys graphite portraits. I was impressed, they were large portraits of famous people etc. well rendered and in huge numbers.Like in upwards of 75 or more. They had a really smooth quality to them and the photo realism just jumped out at you. I asked a gal behind the register what tools he had used to create these portraits and she answered back that he used an airbrush. Now I have to admit I have never held an airbrush in my hands but does anybody know if it is possible to apply graphite with an airbrush?

Leadsleder,

You might want to get Mike's book and JD Hillberry's "Drawing Realistic Textures in Pencil"
I also have Lee Hammond's book "How to Draw Life Like Portraits from Photographs" Techniques used for drawing eyes and smooth skin are the same for drawing car bodies.

Here is a tutorial for shading tone (needed for car bodies) You might not need Hammond's book because this tutorial follows what she teaches.
http://monologues.co.uk/Portraits/Index.html
go to Jimmy


Be sure to check these books out at a bookstore and then buy them from Amazon.com or half.com
Mike's might not be at books stores yet

Oh my god I cant believe you just referred the Hammond book to me lol. I have had it for at last ten years now. Notice the grid around the sketch : )...I picked up alot from that light blue book. I can make pretty conving blending tones but the portraits I was referring to almost in some way even went a little beyond Hammonds work. Not to critisize her but the blending seemed to have some obvious quality to it that is hard to describe. Again this was awhile ago and may have simply been due to the scale of the portraits themselves. Thats why I was curious about employing an airbrush or if that girl even knew what she was talking about. I would imagine if it was possible you would have to grind it up into a fine powder and apply it...again im not really sure on just how realistic of an idea that is or even if its possible to begin with.

Ok, cool

I noticed your grid and I knew she tought that method. One thing is for sure she didn't develope it. http://www.dickblick.com/zz556/25/

I don't know about shooting graphite through a brush I would think that would clog the niddle.

Why not just shoot gray and black paint through an air brush?

I spoke w/ Mike and one thing to remember is peoples graphite works look darker on a computer Some times they mess w/ contrast in a program like photoshop. Don't get me wrong. I don't have problems with that at all. Mati at artpapa.com uses 2b mechanical lead and that is one way to get a real dark tone. He also shades w/ his paper on glass. The .5 mm 2b is hard and sharp and will get right in b/t the paper fibers.
As the lead is applied so heavily the graphite leafs will lay flat and create a shine. This shine tends to go away when the work is framed behind glass. I have noticed it is decreased w/ fixative also. JD uses carbon pencils for darks. I haven't had any luck w/ carbon, to messy for me. To keep the paper white ppl use frisket film or liquid mask like the stuff used for water color painting. If you want to remove graphite from a specific spot and not a whole area use a metal eraser template.
http://www.dickblick.com/zz229/50/

I have found that the brown drawing boards w/ clamps are very hard and suited for dark shading. I remove the clamps because they get in the way.

You definitely want to use the smoothest paper like Bristol smooth for cars. I use 2b mecha. .5mm too.

I wonder if .3mm 2b exists?

Bottom line, graphite works are lighter than they appear in digital format.