Defining the Various Forms of Drawing Materials

There are really quite lots of drawing materials that are available for you to try out, and I must add that they are also very affordable compared to say, painting materials like oil paints for instance. It is however by plodding and experimenting with these materials that you will be able to know which one or combination of drawing materials you will fall in love with, and may wish to eventually adopt at the end of the day.

'Biola' - pastel drawing by Morgan Nwanguma

I will further let you know that as a professional artist there is no limiting the height you can assail even by the sole application of any one or a combination of some of these materials. Thus you could stand out of the crowd excelling as a draughtsman in say conte renditions, illustration, or in producing pastel pictures, etc.

The followings are some of the popular drawing mediums that are available to you either as a student artist, amateur or professional.

Carbon Pencil

This is a soft black pencil that produces texture like that of eighteenth century pencil drawings.

Chalk Pastel

This medium is a soft stick of delicate and pale coloured drawing and painting material. It comes in ranges of pale hues of pigments mixed with chalk. Chalk pastel usually would require fixing after use; otherwise, framing your drawing behind glass immediately after use will be called for.

Charcoal

This medium comes in brittle sticks of black carbon material. It is a specially prepared residue of burnt wood; it is only presented in black and usually also needing to be fixed with a spray of fixative.

Conte

Conte is the shortened form of conte chalk; it is usually produced in a square shape stick and also mostly coloured in brown, sanguine or terra-cotta red, black and white. Conte sticks are brittle but slightly harder and not powdery like chalk pastel, and will equally require fixing after you have produced your drawing with it.

The Thinker - The Mind of the Artist and Problem Solving Techniques

Thinking is actually an art; it is a noble past time engaged by men and women of thoughts. Thinking is a great favourite habit of great minds, men of lofty dreams and ideals. Mind you – I did not say worrying, in that from the very surface of things, worrying and thinking may seem like one and the same, but you and I very well know deep down that there is a big difference. And sometimes too, there may just be a thin line separating the two concepts.

'The thinker' by Auguste Rodin

Great men, including great minds of the arts solve problems pertaining to their preoccupations and would-be issues of everyday life by thinking through issues. But worrying leads rather to an increased blood pressure tending to escalate the already bad situations. And this brings me to the issue and famous figure of ‘The Thinker’ – a universal image and symbol of a man in deep contemplative mood. I am referring to the work of the famous French sculptor, Auguste Rodin (1840-1917), who in his life time produced a great number of iconic images of which the most famous is ‘The Thinker’. He was highly noted and respected for the way he rendered human forms in whatever medium or style he chose to execute his works – clay, bronze, or stone, etc.

It is an established fact however that the habit of meditation which is a positive aspect of deep thought is the basis for all real knowledge. It is thinkers that brought about revolutions that have turned around societies for eternal good; it has been the one instrumentality - the positive act that led to the building of empires and civilisations. Great thoughts gave birth to the huge industrial developments, designs, and inventions we have seen, heard and read about throughout the ages.

Understanding the Power and Psychology of Colours, and Colour Application in painting

Colour is a sensitive aspect of painting; the psychology of colour makes you to understand that it is not just enough to apply colour to a drawing, but it calls for a sensitive mind to understand and use colours; this of course comes from training and a considerable period of practice. In fact during the course of training I came to understand why the artist is completely cut out from the rest of society. I have come to understand why the artist may appear even strange in the eyes of everyone else; it is in the same vein that the artist to my mind is the most observant of all ‘species’ of human beings. The artist is very sensitive to everything. As a matter of fact, I tend to notice everything that has to do with colour (harmony) and balance, be it in art or architecture, fashion, textile design, graphics, etc. 

Colour palette - coutesy: www.photo-dictionary.com

Colour application, and sensitivity is freely encountered in the fleeting and permanent dialogues that ensue when pigments of various hues interact on the various mediums of expression in art and design, including also interior decoration and industrial design as well, etc. It is the nature of colours to react either harmoniously or otherwise in the course of mixing and eventual final application. Thus complementary colours will always blend and give you a sense of harmony and calmness. But when colours do not seem to match, they immediately will arouse a feeling of disharmony, riot or uneasiness and, what have you? Thus a combination of brown of umber, and ochre will readily blend into a calm earthy mood; but try juxtaposing a brilliant red with cadmium yellow, it is not exactly very complementary if you are out in search of true harmony. 

How to Prepare Quality Homemade Primer and Canvas

There is no hard and fast rule actually concerning what to use as support or surface for your oil painting. By this I mean you could paint on any surface that has been well treated for the purpose of painting on, and these supports may range from very cheap paper to wood, and to expensive canvas. The bottom line is that the surface must be well treated or prepared before you set out to paint. 

Quality Control

The point in all of these is that you make sure the oil from your oil paint is not sucked up by the surface; you do not want to see the oil from your pigment sinking to the back of your support and leaving the pigment flaking off or looking like chalk afterwards.

'Mobile' (oil/canvas) by Morgan Nwanguma

Another important thing you must guard against is that if your painting surface is not well primed or prepared, you are likely to end up having your painting cracking in no distant time. You must make sure to avoid this because it could lead to a very big embarrassment and also able to badly soil your reputation as an artist. How will you feel if perhaps you have just produced what you term as a masterpiece and before long you or even worse still, your patron reports that he has observed crackles in your painting which he just bought the previous year?

Every practicing artist I dare say, will be damned to see this happen to him or her; it will be most unethical and unacceptable for a professional. To avoid this sort of embarrassment I will now take you through a simple process of priming or preparing your canvas that you could undertake at home, in your studio by yourself. But if you can afford to buy the ready primed canvas from your art store, good for you, yet this is a skill every (professional) artist ought to know right from art school.

Preparations for Painting

A couple of years back I was in a gallery and the owner of the place, as he was selecting a few of my canvas works began conferring with me: He asked “Morgan, please how can I be sure that these paintings would last for a long time, at least enough time for me to have fully enjoyed them?” I was very curious to know why he had asked because he had had amongst his numerous collections a few of my older works that are still in great condition, even while I assured him of the durability of the paintings, he just could not stop expressing his worries as he continued to point at some works he had dug up from a certain heap of collections from the adjoining room. I enquired to know why he was so concerned at this time.

'Kitchen fresh' oil on canvas by Morgan Nwanguma

My dear collector responded: “I am not actually referring to your paintings per se, but I am worried about every other new collection I take into my gallery”. He continued: “Just a week ago I searched out among some of my favourite collections, a canvas from one of the younger artists, but to my greatest disappointment, the painting that is not up to two years of age was already peeling off!” He wanted to know why so many paintings today hardly stand the test of time, adding that so many paintings that were executed centuries ago are still hanging in galleries abroad especially in Europe and America, and still looking very healthy.

To cut short the story of our conversation, I had to allay his fears and explained to him what I thought was the problem. 

You see, I find so many faults in the curriculum, or should I say – it could just be laxity on the part of the lecturers who perhaps are too lazy if not selfish, to impart the right knowledge to their students. Some people, including lecturers, frown at the idea of staging practical demonstrations before their class for fear of leading the class towards being one directional in their approach to practicing their art, say for instance - painting. The argument is that when they (lecturers) do this, the students will not be able to chart their own personal course or style.

Segun Taylor’s Yesteryears Photo Exhibition

Culled from an essay titled ‘Yesteryears – Reflections through the Lenses’ by the same author and published in The UNION Newspaper on March 2, 2014.

 An admixture of colour and Black/White images brought alive from times past, was the tone set in the ever friendly ambiance of the National Museum (Lagos) exhibition hall, where the Photographer, Segun Taylor poured out her feelings in thematic visual offerings.

Sometimes her sojourns in foreign lands brought against the backdrop of her Nigerian experience, has indeed welled up a unique energy in her sobering reminiscences. This makes one able to draw inferences for constructive comparisons regarding the various and diverse cultures and environments from which she has freely tapped inspirations for her works. Sometimes also, her experiences have tended to bring about eloquent conversations and dialogues relating to the realities and challenges of a festering social milieu.

Segun Taylor - Photographer

Segun Taylor captures especially the variegated, albeit predominantly sombre sights and sounds of both modern and even ‘yesteryears’ Nigeria. She does not mince words in her predilection for capturing the need for a social rebirth. Her lenses have traversed and travailed across the vast landscape – like a woman with child; she groans and bears our collective pains rising from her tripod. From the rustic landscapes, to the rural and even sub-urban reflections of poverty and squalor, to the picturesque country, and down to the city hustle and bustle, this artiste draws visuals bearing so many tales too much for a writer to put down.

None of the photographs on display have a title, neither is any dated - intentionally so; for doing otherwise Segun reckons will only go to restrict and diminish the interpretation as well as the ongoing conversations: How could an impoverished haggard looking old guy sitting in front of his lonely thatched mud hut tucked away in a rural wilderness be calm and smiling at you? The wardrobe of rags and litter hang right there in your face, and his kitchen all bare with sooth and burnt soup, and he smiles at you still; he is not afraid for himself or anything, not even for the little kid who stands by, looking on – talk about he that is already down. Is this contentment or insanity, when ravenous politicians are still killing each other over the next elections? There must be a lesson to take away from all these. 

Leonardo da Vinci – the Renaissance man

Have you ever heard of the Renaissance Man; what about the painting called ‘Mona Lisa’; do you know of the one who first thought of the possibility of flying that he even went ahead to execute drawings of flying machines centuries before man ever actualised that dream? These and many more are all attributable to one man, indeed one of the greatest geniuses if not the greatest, that ever walked the surface of this planet earth. I am talking of Leonardo da Vinci. Thus this is my personal perception of the universe man whose body of works has continued to astound everybody around the world. That is Leonardo da Vinci - the legend and enigma; a bundle of unquantifiable creative opulence.

‘Virgin of the Rocks’ - Painting

Thus Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452, in Vinci, republic of Florence or present day Italy; he excelled in everything he ever set out his mind to do: He was outstanding as an artist (painter, sculptor, and draughtsman); he was equally outstanding and accomplished as an architect, poet, anatomist, writer, musician, mathematician, inventor, geologist, cartographer, botanist, and engineer. The world’s most famous piece of painting today, and the most expensive at that – Mona Lisa, is the work of this genius, and it is at least five hundred years old now. If you think of the popular painting called ‘The Last Supper’, it is also attributable to this great man of the arts and sciences. 

‘The Last Supper’ - Painting by Leonardo da Vinci

So much of Leonardo da Vinci’s anatomical drawings have given vent to the drawings of anatomy that medical doctors make use of today. He sort of exemplifies the meaning and essence of the entire Renaissance period in that he stood as a figure towering centrally about this epoch. This was the period of European history at the close of the Middle Ages and the rise of the modern world; a cultural rebirth from the 14th through the middle of the 17th centuries.