Toad Hollow Studio

This is the second in a series of five drawing lessons that take you from using a viewfinder, to drawing from life without the viewfinder, and finally to expressive line drawing. In this lesson, I’ll show you how to use a viewfinder to draw from life, and there’s a movie of me doing that at the bottom of the page. You’ll need to work through lesson one before you move on to lesson two.

Line Drawing Part One – How To Use A Viewfinder

If you’re just browsing, here’s a list of the other lessons in this series:
Line Drawing Part Two – Draw From Life With A Viewfinder
Line Drawing Part Three – Draw From Life Using Sight-Size
Line Drawing Part Four – Enlarge Or Reduce While Drawing From Life
Line Drawing Part Five – Drawing From Life With Expressive Line

Supplies

• HB pencil
• vinyl eraser
• 9×12 paper
• some string
• Print this viewfinder on heavy paper, or transfer it to cardboard.
• Here are my drawing supply suggestions if you’re a complete beginner.

You can draw anything you want to in this lesson, although it might be best to set up a small still life that won’t be disturbed. I’m drawing a still life of four peppers in the step by steps.

Make A Viewfinder With Crossed String Markers

Assemble the viewfinder with the small hole for this lesson. Snip the marks at the centers on each edge and insert the strings.

Drawing from life with a viewfinder is done in the same way as you drew from a simple image in the last lesson, only you’ll need to set up differently.

Step One – Arrange a pad of paper in your lap or on an easel in front of you. Sit in a chair with a back. Trace around the outside edge of the viewfinder and add the crossed middle lines.

Step Two – Read through this entire step before you do it. It’ll make things easier. Hold the frame in the opposite hand you draw with, brace your back against the back of the chair to steady yourself, and extend your arm as far as you comfortably can. Close one eye, and move the frame a little until you see an interesting scene to draw, or frame your still life.

It’s best if the subject touches at least two edges of the viewfinder. This is important, so move the chair if you need to.

Close one eye to see your subject, then mark the drawing paper. (You can use both eyes for that.) You’ll do this several times, back and forth, holding the same position. Thankfully, you don’t have to hold this position very long.

Concentrate on drawing the outline shapes of the subject one section at a time. Look through the viewfinder and notice how each part moves away from or nearer to the grid lines.

Tip 1. Try explaining to yourself in words how you need to draw a line. For example, when I’m drawing a pesky line, I say to myself something like,  “move the pencil down in a steep arc until it meets that line a little to the right of center.” That’s another way to get your mind, eyes, and hands to cooperate and draw what you see.

Tip 2. Try to see everything as shape. The object has a shape (positive), and the space beside the object has a shape too (negative). You can’t draw one without drawing the other, so pay attention to them both.

I drew very rough shapes of my peppers at this point. I concentrated on getting their big general shapes right and in the correct positions. You can see that I used a lot of “trial” lines, too. I’d make a line, compare it to the subject, and then make another until I drew one that looked about right, just as I did when drawing the heart in the last lesson.

Okay, now give it a try.

Step Three – Now you don’t need the viewfinder.  After you’ve drawn the general outline shapes of the peppers, you can relax and draw naturally.

Add any other details by using the outline drawing to place them. By comparing my rough drawing to the actual peppers, for example, I could see where to add the inward dents of their body ridges.

Step Four – Shadows and highlights are important too. They’re shapes, they hold weight, and they’re part of the picture. Because you can’t always erase graphite perfectly, you need to “save” the paper for large highlights. So it’s usually a good idea to plan for them at the time of the line drawing. It may help you to see them as just shapes if you squint your eyes as you look at them.

Don’t forget to draw any shadow that the subject is casting. Cast shadows give a feeling of stability and three-dimensionality to a drawing, but they don’t have to be perfect.

I know you want to learn to draw realistically, but don’t be too hard on yourself. You’re taking the first steps in learning how to draw, so relax, take your time, and know that your skills will improve with practice.

Step Five – When you’re done, erase any extra drawing lines and the grid lines. Now sit back and contemplate your drawing. It’s unique. Even if it’s awful in your eyes, it’s a record of a moment in your life that you spent drawing what was before you. That was a lovely thing to do with a few minutes of your life. Drawing is simple. Drawing is quiet. Drawing is calming. Drawing is awesome.

Here’s how I use a viewfinder to create a basic line drawing. Although I’m moving back and forth to frame the subject, I’m using the same principles you learned in this lesson. After you know what you’re doing, you can use the viewfinder like this with good results. I’m using the viewfinder without the strings.

In the next lesson, I’ll show you how to draw from life without a viewfinder by using the skills you’ve already learned. The better you are at drawing with a viewfinder, the more successful you’ll be at drawing without it! So practice. Practice a lot. Draw three or four times a week, or more if you can.

Adieu, until we meet with pencils in hand again, my friends,

Carol