Mixed Media Still Life Drawing: Art Lesson And Demonstration

This art lesson and demonstration is about how to create a mixed media still life drawing. A still life drawing is any drawing of still non-moving objects. They can be created with any materials and in any kind of style. For this assignment you will need at least three different art mediums. Regular pencil, some form of ink like a ballpoint pen or a sharpie, and some form of dry colored medium like colored pencils. In addition for your mixed media background you will need at least one piece of toned paper. This can be a part of a paper bag or a part of a piece of cardboard and at least one piece of paper with text like newspaper or a page from a book. And then you'll also need your white paper background. This could be a page from your sketchbook or a separate sheet of white drawing paper. And of course you will need glue to glue all of these down and a glue stick is preferred. Now before you begin your mixed media still life drawing, first you want to sketch your still life for practice. You can focus on just one object if you'd like and you can even zero in on one portion of that object like I'm doing with my orchid. Or you could challenge yourself by arranging multiple objects if you choose. But regardless of the still life that you arrange and draw, focus on the contours or the outlines of each of your forms. You can also trace your drawing with a marker or pen to really help you focus in on a clear contour line drawing. This will help you later on your final product. Now after sketching, you can create your mixed media background. This can be done on a separate sheet of paper or in your sketchbook if that's all you have available. This piece of tone paper here is actually a layer of cardboard that I separated from a box. Look around, see what you can find, and then consider the arrangement of your different kinds of papers on your white paper background. Trim papers if necessary and glue down securely when you're ready. You want to use a glue stick if possible so that your paper will remain flat and not warp due to the moisture of liquid glue. Also you can attach more than two different kinds of paper if you choose to. All right so next you're going to draw your still life on your mixed media background. Rely heavily on your sketch as well as your actual still life for your reference. Make your contour line drawing, fill your page while covering all of your papers. Once you're happy with a clear pencil contour line drawing, you can begin to add color or value using a different medium on each kind of paper. You'll see here that I'm going to begin with the newspaper. Sharpie, pen, or even marker work well on newspaper and it doesn't smear the text. While you might want to begin with a basic outline, don't stop there. Shade using inking techniques like hatching and cross hatching to really develop this section of your drawing. If you need help on inking techniques, review my inking technique tutorial as well. Next shading with graphite or charcoal pencil is excellent on white paper. Build up layers of value from very dark to white. Blend with a finger, cotton swab, or paper stump if needed. Aim to have at least four or five different values of pencil in your pencil drawing. Lastly, colored pencils work very well on brown and gray toned paper because you can add both dark and light values. You can see right now that I'm beginning with a white colored pencil to start with the highlights first. Just build up your layers of color slowly using natural colors or exaggerating color based on your own personal preference. Just really push the contrast with all mediums you work with for clarity. This means adding extra dark colors or values in the shadows and really pushing for brighter, whiter areas in the highlights. In addition, if you have a soft pencil, accentuate dark areas on your white paper pencil drawing sections as well. Adding some carefully placed dark lines on your edges can really lift your drawing off the page. And finally, clean up your light areas in the background with an eraser. Check for smudges and for fingerprints. Put your drawing up, step back and look at it, and when you are happy with your work, sign it and enjoy the completion of a mixed media still life. Thanks for watching this demonstration and have fun with this assignment. Bye!