How to draw landscapes using the graphite powder technique, its a great technique for beginners and the more advanced, hopefully you will learn a few tips and techniques after watching this demo on how to draw landscapes.
I'm addicted to this technique, Jon. I've just joined your Patreon page and it is the best art decision I've ever made. So many wonderful tutorials delivered in a clear and thorough way teaching and inspiring all at the same time.
What a pleasure, being able to observe your process all the way from beginning to end, the conversation between adding and subtracting, the feeling of light through the woods and foliage....thank you! I too am a photographer, and my eyes & mind grow weary of the dependence on technology. The idea of being able to work with simple hand tools on paper has great appeal.
A love this technique. One observation though: I tried this on a drawing and I discovered is that the areas of the paper where my fingers were handing it showed up, rather like a crime scene technician dusting for finger prints! So I've learned the hard way to protect the drawing from the oils in my hands to guard against the fingerprints and to prevent unwanted smudging.
I love this, incredible what you can do with the eraser. I also like that I can feel like an observer looking at the scene from a little distance but can easily switch to being the backpackers walking into a hushed, misty forest. You've made me more determined than ever to keep going past the basics and build my skills. Thank you.
Hi Smoothie, Than you for the wonderful lessons. I'm a bit older then Rick and also have been doing photography since the mid- fifties. Just starting to learn about drawing since my retirement. You do a great job of explaining what you are doing even though the videos are sped up. I wish more folks who do speed drawing would follow your example.
You're welcome Chuck, good to hear you have taken up drawing! On the lower right of the video there is a cog symbol, if you click on that you can slow the video down for easier viewing, the voice-over will be incomprehensible, but you will be able to see the drawing techniques better,
What a Great heavenly sent discovery I found today! Even if it has been done quite a few years ago ,see how it still reaches out and influences viewers! Your Art is Sublime! Just beginning in Arts really hope to do wonderful unique scènes like yours. Thank you so much to take the time to share and teach us your overwhelming talent!
After watching how to draw/sketch tree, I saw your landscape pencil sketching. I decided to give it try. It turned out not bad considering it was my first sketch of landscape. You are an excellent teacher.
Just beautiful. I'm surprised at how forgiving graphite is! I couldn't believe there is absolutely no trace of the boat. Gives me more confidence to try things knowing I can correct almost anything. Thank you for sharing your talent. ❤️
Não posso chamar isso de desenho,obra de arte seria muito pouco...... isso é sobrenatural... inexplicável...... não me canso de admirar essas formas de outra dimensão..... simplesmente fantástico adorei.... parabéns professor show
I was trying to move along from pencil, but I love this powdered graphite method. I've used it in the past, but I would create interesting borders and such by throwing the graphite around on the paper and put tracing paper on it and pressing it into the paper with a rolling pin. It would create some very interesting patterns for 'creative border' work. I think I'll try your method of letting the drawing 'appear' by creating a graphite haze and erasing some highlights to energize the imagination. Very nice, my friend.
I love the fact you jump around , i do the same thing , if I stay in one area I tend to over do it and it doesn't look as good thank you for the video . I've learned a lot
love your Art work 😍 it's amazing!.. I've subscribed to your channel, looking forward to every video upload. .. You've made me feel positive about myself, to start again with my art work! After a year or more of stopping due to depression.. thank you so much for sharing your videos with us all kind regards Tracey x
Thank you Tracey, and welcome to the channel! sorry to hear about your depression, I'm pleased to know you're inspired to start your artwork again, that's great news :) I hope you find lots more inspiration and helpful tips here, I wish you all the best, Happy drawing :)
Hi Smoothie. Thanks for sharing your experience and teaching others, how to draw. I just started getting interested into drawing, at the age of 59. I've been doing Photography since 1981 and have done a lot of Nature Photography. Watching your videos, has inspired me to start doing drawings of photos that I've taken on my hikes. I'm excited to work with grafic drawings.
Hi Rick, its great hear you're taking up drawing, it doesn't matter what age you start, a lot of people take up drawing/painting in later life and become very fine artists, I'm sure your photography skills will help you on your journey as you will already have a good understanding of composition, perspective, etc, etc, I wish you all the best with your new venture, Happy drawing!
Thank you Smoothie. I agree that what I've done in photography will help, me with ideas to draw. How can I follow you on Facebook? You can send me a Friend Request to either Rick Olmsted or photoricko, not sure what will work. My profile photo is my Military portrait shot, with the flag in the background. You can also learn more about me on Google at: Photographer Rick Olmsted. You'll see a few links to my photos.
I'm not on Facebook Rick, I know that sounds strange in this day and age, but I just don't bother with it, I will certainly check you out on google though.
I only have RU-vid and G+ at the moment, I must get around to more social media stuff, I'm actually checking out your photos as we speak, those 3 train and horse photos....the first two are are full of tension and the third is a sigh of relief!!! great photos Rick!
Hi Smoothie! Very nice drawing as usual, it has depth and it looks better with the two walkers than the boat :-) I like the wavy branches on the trees, it gives a bit of movement to the drawing :-) Take care!
Great post. Thank you. I think the path needed the hikers to pull your eye up as you said. I did like the detail of the person in the boat too though. Very well done.
Just finished having a go at this one. Much better result than my last graphite powder effort. I stuck to the pencil range you were using rather than messing around with 4Bs and 6Bs and it seemed to hang together better. Got a bit confused by a couple of the jumps in the video though. One minute you had two trees on the left, the next minute three. Took me a bit to work out what had happened! Thanks again for posting. These videos are helping a lot.
Good to hear you're getting results Steve, sorry about the jumps in the video, my camera only records 15 minutes of video and sometimes I don't notice it has stopped recording and I just carry on drawing merrily away until I realise the camera has stopped and I need to press record again, its these gaps in between that are lost from the video, sometimes I do edit parts out that I think are boring or not important, thanks for letting me know, I will be more mindful of that in the future,
Wow! Thank you. I will play your video again and again to learn something new each time since it is too much to learn all at once. In particular, I noticed that the light behind the foreground tree brings the tree to life. What a great idea.
Sorry, I didn't identify myself. Tom is my husband and I am writing under his name since I cannot figure out how to add my name to the account. Thanks again, Cecelia
Thank you again for another great presentation. It is/was great to watch. I like the version with the boot better, make it more interesting for me. But as you mentioned different people - different opinions. Again I learned a lot how to blend background and foreground together. Thank you so much.
Wonderful sketch - As much as I like boats, I think you made the right choice. The boat is a distraction, it's adding emphasis to the river and leading you out of the scene. The walkers lead the viewer into the scene and help you engage with the visual narative, both defined in the near field and those implied like the sun rays and distant trees and shrubs.
WOW !!! Beautiful tree's and background blending. I have always had trouble drawing tree's, you make it look so easy looking. Do you have any recommendations, or drawing tips for the beginner drawer?
I love all your videos. So thankful that you take the time and make great tutorials and it gives me alot of inspiration. wondering if you will make a video with a sailing boat in a landscape or bridges, village. Again. Thanks for all your brilliant work.
Thanks, its a pleasure to make these videos for you all, I appreciate your comment. I'm sure I will be doing a lot more videos with boats, bridges, etc, in the near future, thanks for taking the time to view and comment.
Thanks smoothly. I also prefer the backpackers to the boat. The boat really pulled my eye from those amazing trees. (Trees are my thing.) Thanks again.
Smoothie can you make a video please on how to draw the crowns of the tree tops? I really only struggle with drawing in the leaves on the tops of the trees, bushes.
I liked the boat but after you flashed forward to the backpackers I think you were right in taking the boat out. It was the first thing I saw when I looked away then back again. I love to watch your videos and I did a drawing kind of like the one you did with the mountains with the graphite and I would love to show it to you. Maybe I can get into your facebook page and post it there. Have a great day and keep the videos flowing along with the drawings. :)
This is absolutely beautiful. Inspiring and daunting at the same time which is an ongoing problem for me. As for boat vs. backpackers? Deer : ) Just found your channel and have subscribed. Thanks for doing them.
+charlz0616 Thanks for subscribing! much appreciated, I hope now you have subscribed my videos help to take away some of the daunting aspects of drawing for you, "Deer" what a great idea!
Really great drawing, I thought the boat looked great till you rubbed it out and put the backpackers in and then i my eye when all round the drawing great work thank you 😊
Thank you Carole, the backpackers seem to be favorite with most of the viewers, I agree, the eye does move around the picture better without the boat, thanks for taking the time to view and comment :)
Thanks. We don't have cartridge paper in the States. I believe the closest product is Stonehenge paper. I enjoy that when I want rich texture in a drawing. I look forward to seeing how it does with graphite powder. Thanks again for the great work.
+Judith A Rowland Thanks Judith, another viewer commented they used Canson XL 98lb mixed media paper for drawing, I know that's available in the States, might be worth a try?
Thanks. I hope in the future you'll consider showing your erasing changes. It would have been interesting to see how you eliminated the boat without wrecking the paper.
+tillygirl56 You're welcome, I have two missions in my life, one is to encourage everyone to draw and paint, the second is to wear down as many pencils as possible, after reading your comment it seems like I'm right on track :)
Vera inspring video indeel excellent teacher Yes-R especially for me sinecure i had a stroke in 1918 and sometimes have difficulties following conversations
Hi Smoothie:) Beautiful work, you make it look so easy. Trees are such a challenge for me...........is there any specific paper you would recommend for pencil drawings?
Hi Patricia:) the paper I like is Daler Rowney drawing paper (any of their range) Derwent sketching paper has recently become a regular for me too, also Fabriano makes some very nice drawing paper, here's a link to a paper & sketchbook video i made about a year ago, it maybe helpful to you; ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Y7r7IPIGOeQ.html
Dear Sir, your drawings are full of mood and atmosphere! as for the boat vs backpackers as a focal point....in my opinion i preferred the boat scene but i like it to be in a much SMALLER & simpler form...like bamboo sticks gathered together and a fisher man standing on it rafting....looks more raw and authentic to the rest of your wonderful drawn scene! Thank you for sharing and Peace from SYRIA :) looking forward for the upcoming drawing. Nadeem,
I like both... and I prefer the boat to the back-packers. Please tell what #s you got for each preference... inquiring minds want to know! Thank you for sharing this with us.... 🎉
WWWOWWW YOU ARE AMAZING!! CAN YOU TELL ME WHAT PENCILS DO YOU USE FOR THIS VIDEO??? PENCILS AND WITHE TOO!!! THANKS SO MUCH!!! YOU ARE A BIG ARTISTTTTTTT!!!!!
Beautiful drawing!! I like the boat best, I think or perhaps I would have put just one hiker in the drawing to make it seem more mysterious and powerful.
Hi Smoothie. great work mate just love what you do. iv just spent some money to get some bits so i can have a go. just one question do you put anything over the drawing to save it such as a fixer of some sort, if so what? Great work mate keep it going, cheers
Hi again Smoothie.....another delight to watch. Love both versions in equal measure. Wonderful, how you progressively link the background to the foreground , to give such nice monotone effects.....as I mentioned to you before, no need to direct you with the presentation, it's all there, dont change a thing......Smoothie, have you ever considered a pen and wash demo, loads of people love it......Thanks again....Bobby
+Bobby Harper Thanks Bobby, funny you should mention pen and wash, I was thinking about making a video about it, I have a couple of watercolour videos to do first, I will certainly get something together for a future video, I have to say pen and wash is a style I like watching other people do and something I don't do often, but I will make a couple of vidoes, just to say I done it :)
Agree with you about the boat,it probably would 've worked better if the figure had been on the bank pulling the boat toward him,prow first!! But the backpackers works very well,they definitely take you into the woods!Thank you for great tuition.
You're welcome Carole, yes it would of added more interest if a figure was pulling the boat in, wish I had thought of that at the time, oh well...hindsight's a wonderful thing :)
