# How to draw accurately without erasing?



## dickhutchings (Oct 6, 2015)

:vs_worry: I can't seem to draw as well with colored pencils as I did with graphite. Apparently I rely heavily on the ability to erase. If I draw the outlines in graphite, they show. Help Mr. Wizard!

Last nights totally out of proportion drawing of a cup.


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## Susan Mulno (Apr 13, 2015)

This is nice, kind of Picasso-esk. :biggrin:

You actually have a nice grip on colors.

The key to starting your drawing is don't use graphite. Use one of your color pencils , lightly. Choose one that will blend with the body of your work, again, lightly.


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## chanda95 (Apr 6, 2011)

What I do is the outlines in pencil first. I get the shapes and proportions I want..done lightly in graphite and THEN I got back in and do the fill in work with colored pencil.


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## dickhutchings (Oct 6, 2015)

Susan Mulno said:


> This is nice, kind of Picasso-esk. :biggrin:
> 
> You actually have a nice grip on colors.
> 
> The key to starting your drawing is don't use graphite. Use one of your color pencils , lightly. Choose one that will blend with the body of your work, again, lightly.


You're too kind! Picasso isn't what I'm going for but, I'll take that.:laugh:
I think I need to avoid drawing white things on white paper. It seems to lead me to outlining too much. There aren't any colors that will be hidden in a white cup.


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## dickhutchings (Oct 6, 2015)

chanda95 said:


> What I do is the outlines in pencil first. I get the shapes and proportions I want..done lightly in graphite and THEN I got back in and do the fill in work with colored pencil.


Is it possible with a white on white drawing. If so can you show me a little tutorial? The lip of the cup seems impossible. I added the shading there but it really didn't belong there.


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## Susan Mulno (Apr 13, 2015)

dickhutchings said:


> You're too kind! Picasso isn't what I'm going for but, I'll take that.:laugh:
> I think I need to avoid drawing white things on white paper. It seems to lead me to outlining too much. There aren't any colors that will be hidden in a white cup.


Actually a very pale blue-gray will disappear into your shading. You can erase pale color pencil, once you darken it you're stuck.

You are doing the best thing you can and that is keep drawing, anything and everything. With practice you will learn what works and what doesn't.


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## dickhutchings (Oct 6, 2015)

Thanks Susan. I'll give pale blue-gray a try. 
I also think that I should probably use a grid method or tracing to get the proportions correct. I don't seem to have an eye for it. Oh well, I'll keep drawing.


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## Jalapeno (Sep 27, 2015)

Alyona Nickelson has a book that demonstrates how to draw white objects on a white background, the exercise in her book "The Colored Pencil Painting Bible" is called "The Color of White". Mainly the gist is that objects are not made up only of the local color (meaning a white cup has more colors than white because it reflects the objects and shadows around them). She has a video demo of this in her brushedpencil.com site but I think you have to be a member to view it. Colored Pencil Student magazine also used it for a demo in one of its issues.

She does have a short video demo on youtube showing how she draws a brass pitcher. It is an ad for her book and online school so the details of what she does are glossed over but the concepts are the same you would use to draw the white cup. Look at the number of colored pencils she uses to draw the yellow brass. Of course the brass is more reflective than your cup would be but the concept is exactly the same.


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## Jalapeno (Sep 27, 2015)

Actually, I just looked in her book and I got it backward, the brass pitcher is in her book and the color of white is in the magazine.

http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/633910


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## NeilSHowe (Nov 22, 2015)

I like the raw lacking of proportion. Kindof fun. Let me know if you want to learn some tricks for getting it "true" to actual.


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## dickhutchings (Oct 6, 2015)

Thanks Neil. I appreciate any advice you can give me.

Jalapeno: I have that book in my Amazon cart. Thanks

Susan: I bought some pale pencils as you suggested. They work great.


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## NeilSHowe (Nov 22, 2015)

So you're looking for an oval at the opening. The further down your point of view is the skinnier the oval. The bottom line where it meets the table is going to be the exact same line as the bottom of the oval you use for the opening. It changes a little with foreshortening but so little i wouln't worry about it now. So your intuition was correct to make the coffe line in the cup the same as the lip but continue that for the bottom of the cup. You might look at some images of cubes, cones, spheres, ovals and cylinders and try using a ruler and compass. Keep erasing until you get them right. Tracing paper may help but don't rely on it. You want to be sble to make these shapes in your sleep. Next when you are ready look into 1,2 and 3 point perspective to get a real challenge. Keep working with shading but learning will be more effective if you hold off on color and get value under your belt first. Make sure you have fun though and if color does it for you do that seperstely. Good luck! Keep drawing!


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## just (Mar 3, 2015)

NeilSHowe said:


> So you're looking for an oval at the opening. The further down your point of view is the skinnier the oval. The bottom line where it meets the table is going to be the exact same line as the bottom of the oval you use for the opening. It changes a little with foreshortening but so little i wouln't worry about it now. So your intuition was correct to make the coffe line in the cup the same as the lip but continue that for the bottom of the cup. You might look at some images of cubes, cones, spheres, ovals and cylinders and try using a ruler and compass. Keep erasing until you get them right. Tracing paper may help but don't rely on it. You want to be sble to make these shapes in your sleep. Next when you are ready look into 1,2 and 3 point perspective to get a real challenge. Keep working with shading but learning will be more effective if you hold off on color and get value under your belt first. Make sure you have fun though and if color does it for you do that seperstely. Good luck! Keep drawing!


I couldn't have said it better.


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## kpnuts (Apr 3, 2016)

I don't think there's much wrong with the colour the bottom of the cup should not have square corners and the curve at the top should match the bottom, I bet if you corrected them it would look 100 % better.sorry missed a page again and repeated what has already been said.


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## leighann (May 10, 2015)

Yippee for all the help with colored pencils. :biggrin: That is a medium I want to excel at, but haven't made the time yet to sit down and really mess with it. :wink:


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## dickhutchings (Oct 6, 2015)

It's funny to see this come up again. I haven't touched a colored pencil in quite a while. Painting is soooo much more fun.


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