6/13/2016

Learn How to Draw Grass, Pencil Drawing Lesson

Art Lessonsw

DRAWING LESSONS

Learn to Draw Grass

Drawing Lessons

HOW T O DRAW GRASS

An introduction to "Negative" drawing
Ads by Google

Ads by Google

How to Draw

Draw

Pencil Art

Art Lessons
Art Work
Free Art

Drawing

Use of Negative Drawing in Art

The title of this article is really too specific as the techniques described here apply as much to the
drawing of hair as to grass. This is also an introduction to the use of "negative" drawing - drawing
around white space, which only exists in your mind until you surround it with positive marks. I will
cover "negative drawing" in more detail in a later article.

Site Navigation
Free Art Lessons
Draw ing Lessons
Watercolor

So, what is "negative" drawing? What do you see when you look at this picture on the right?
Do you see an ancient black drinking cup? Maybe an ebony candlestick holder? These are
the positive images. Or do you see two white faces both looking at each other? Think of
these faces as the negative areas or what I call "White Space". Imagine yourself "seeing"
these two faces on a white sheet of paper and then filling in the space between them in
black so the faces are revealed. This is Negative drawing - seeing the space and not the
line. Teaching yourself to see White Space is one of the best lessons you will ever learn.

Art Books

DRAW ING GRASS

Acrylic

You can of course draw grass in any way

you choose from "sketchy" (which serves its purpose here as this
drawing is just 1" high and the grass exists only to place the tractor
in space)...

Oil Painting
Learn to Draw
Online
Pastel Painting

Charcoal Lessons
Pen and Ink

ArtGraphica

...to where it plays a full role as an integral part of the "reality" of the
drawing.
In both cases the technique is much the same. The trick is to "think
grass" and to work just fast enough to... Well, let me explain

SPEED FOOLS THE BRAIN

Art Blog
Art Shop
Kutna Hora Bone
Church

It confuses the rational element that tries to control the creative side.
Let your subconscious work, it always knows best. Consider the
following two examples which, I think, prove the point.

Com m ission a
Portrait
Contact / About

"The coconut shy principle"

Artw ork for Sale

Pick up a ball, quickly turn around and throw it at a target the instant
you see it. You will hit it nine times out of ten. Pick up the ball again,
this time facing the target, take aim, compute initial speed of ejection
required against the arc of decreasing velocity, include wind factors,
the placement of your feet and resulting balance, the angle of your
body to the target, equate these to your known muscular power, let
fly...and miss!

"The parking principle"

Try slowly and carefully reversing a car into a tight parking space and you will
often fail. Try it at speed (just slightly faster than your thinking process can
function) and you will usually achieve success first time. I learnt this trick in my taxi
driving days - it requires practice leading to confidence and, if you try it, don't send
me your repair bills!

"...you think, you

draw, it becomes
reality..."

In both principles, failure arises from letting your conscious mind dictate your actions and success comes from
allowing your natural intuition to rule. In other words, you're trying too hard - just let it flow. The beauty of working in
graphite is that you have a near-perfect mind-to-hand-to-image contact. Don't let your conscious mind interfere
you think, you draw, it becomes reality - in one unbroken and continuous process.
So how do we translate this into grass (or hair)?
http://www.artgraphica.net/free-art-lessons/free-art-tutorials/mike-sibley-negative-drawing.htm

1/5

6/13/2016

Learn How to Draw Grass, Pencil Drawing Lesson

DASH & REHASH v SLOW 'N STEADY

I have two basic ways of working - both equally justifiable - "dash and rehash" and "slow 'n steady".
The first often works well and it's the one I recommend for drawing grass - it contains an element of
spontaneity and some surprising results can emerge. It's quick, it's immediate and requires only a
little, if any, retouching (the "rehash" element). We'll come back to "Slow 'n Steady" later and then
combine the two.
Imagine that there are only two marks that we can make: one upwards and one down. I'm going to
use the upwards stroke to "draw" the stalks that spring up from the base of a clump of grass. The
downward stroke is going to taper off and define the tops of the stalks in the clump below the one
I'm drawing. The upward stroke draws a positive mark, the downstroke draws in negative.

W or k in g qu ic k ly , m or e

. . . t h e a r ea is ex pa n ded. . .

. . . t h en I dr a w ba c k dow n in t o t h e

st r ok es h a v e been

(t h e box en c loses t h e pr ev iou s

ba se t o fu r t h er defin e t h e w h it e

a dded. . .

im a g e)

spa c es.

Below , t h e pr oc ess h a s beg u n a g a in -

A deg r ee of w or k in t h e c en t r a l sec t ion

Not e t h e oc c a sion a l

Posit iv e st r ok es a t t h e ba se dr a w in t o t h e

blen ds t h e t w o t og et h er a n d a sm a ll

posit iv e st r ok e t h a t

n eg a t iv e sh a pes a bov e a n d beg in t o

a m ou n t of t on e is bein g a dded t o g iv e

lies "beh in d" t h e

defin e n ew w h it e spa c es below . . .

body t o t h e n eg a t iv ely dr a w n g r a ss.

n eg a t iv e st a lk s,
t h r ow in g t h em
for w a r d. . .

http://www.artgraphica.net/free-art-lessons/free-art-tutorials/mike-sibley-negative-drawing.htm

2/5

6/13/2016

Learn How to Draw Grass, Pencil Drawing Lesson

. . . a n d in fr on t t o a dd

For c la r it y I'v e dr a w n t h ese ex a m ples

dept h .

fa r la r g er t h a n I w ou ld in n or m a l u se.
H er e y ou see a n a dv a n c ed v er sion of
t h e t ec h n iqu e a s I n or m a lly a pply it .

Try this exercise to develop your "Negative Drawing" skills (don't draw guide lines!):

Pic t u r e a few

. . . fill in m or e

w h it e st a lk s on

spa c es. . .

. . . a n d m or e. . .

y ou r w h it e pa per

. . . u n t il y ou 'v e

. . . t h en a dd t on e t o

defin ed a ll t h e

fix t h e spa t ia l

w h it e spa c e. . .

a n d defin e on e

r ela t ion sh ips

bet w een t h em a ll.

spa c e. . .

SLOW 'N STEADY incorporating DASH & REHASH

I have my friend Murray Cholowsky to thank for the photo as it
represents his latest challenge and it was he who asked me how I
might tackle the grass.
Consider that the grass here is in two planes the prominent
foreground stalks that tell the eye "this is grass" and, behind, a less
distinct plane that the eye cannot make real sense of but it knows
it's grass because the front plane gives it the clues that it craves.
It's a greedy animal is the brain - always wanting to make sense of
everything it sees! So we'll help it out a bit. Let's start with the front
plane...
Here I would begin by mapping out the
main stalks; lightly drawing a line either side to delineate the space that constitutes the
stalk and leaf. Remember that you are defining white space so be aware that it is the
inside edge of your line that counts - you are drawing that line around a white shape.
There is only one important consideration here - what you start you must finish. Every
stalk you draw must have a beginning and an end - it must go somewhere. The eye is
adept at noticing elements that it cannot understand and will be "stopped" by that element
in passing - distracting the viewer and damaging the sense of reality you are trying to
achieve.
Having defined the main stalks (I call them "status" stalks - they're food for the brain)
using the "Slow 'n Steady" approach, I'll switch to a more spontaneous style of working to
draw the less distinct grass on the rear-most plane. Here is where you let your imagination
go free, working at a pace that prevents conscious intervention. Your aim is "natural" so
let Nature take over - you are, after all, one of Nature's children. And Nature knows all
about balance - you will find yourself introducing stalks here and there that may even surprise you with their
placement. Don't be tempted to intervene, just let Nature take over. And don't touch those "status" stalks - you cannot
properly define their tonal values until you have completed the grass behind them.
http://www.artgraphica.net/free-art-lessons/free-art-tutorials/mike-sibley-negative-drawing.htm

3/5

6/13/2016
Learn How to Draw Grass, Pencil Drawing Lesson
properly define their tonal values until you have completed the grass behind them.

As you work on this secondary area between the established

white spaces that represent the status stalks of grass, introduce
random shapes and lines. As long as these vaguely follow the
rules of natural grass and foliage, they will serve to fool the brain
into seeing more detail than exists. In life you could not
distinguish every element in such an arrangement (especially in
areas of deep shadow) so you should not be able to do so here
either.
Now picture, really picture, yourself
looking into that area and begin to
add reality to the situation; toning
some stalks down a little and others
so much that they are barely
discernible. Just so in Nature - not
everything is seen with total clarity. If you can see the reality in
your mind you will achieve a sense of reality in your drawing.
Finally, the status stalks are given
body, adjusting the tone of those
behind them if required.
It may assist you to know that this
small drawing measures 58cm
(2"3") and took approximately 1 hours to complete.

More Uses for These Techniques

br a m bles a n d r oot s. . .

H a y ba le a n d g r a ss. . .
a n d folia g e a n d w eeds

Visit Mike Sibley

http://www.artgraphica.net/free-art-lessons/free-art-tutorials/mike-sibley-negative-drawing.htm

4/5

6/13/2016

Learn How to Draw Grass, Pencil Drawing Lesson

Ne jedi ovih 5 namirnica

Skidaj po malo stomaka svaki dan izbegavajui ove namirnice. Vidi!

ART LESSONS
ART BOOKS

PENCIL LESSONS

DRAWING LESSONS

Drawing for Beginners

The Eye

Tips

CHARCOAL LESSONS

CHARCOAL

DRAWING LESSONS

Female Nude

Nietzsche

Grass

29

ArtGraphicA

Ne jedi ovih 5
namirnica
Skidaj po malo stomaka svaki
dan izbegavajui ove
namirnice. Vidi!

StumbleUpon

Art Lessons

Blogger

WordPress

Drawing Lessons

ArtGraphica 2015 - Privacy | Contact

http://www.artgraphica.net/free-art-lessons/free-art-tutorials/mike-sibley-negative-drawing.htm

5/5