How to Draw with Dave Nestler: Lesson 9

Textures

Illustrating different kinds of textures doesn’t have to be as difficult as it sounds. In fact, working in a mixed media is relatively easy with all the tools currently available. For example, an airbrush for chrome, sponges and dry brushes for stone and palette knives for different landscape applications. But we’re not working in mixed media, we are working in pencil. You didn’t think I’d make this easy, did you?

Okay, when we’re talking about texture, where do we begin? Do we start with stone? With wood? To be honest, there are too many textures to single out one, and too many varying techniques to apply to each individual texture, so I’m going to sound like a broken record when I say it still comes down to your photo reference.

Since we are working in pencil, we need to look at our reference and break the textures down to their simplest forms. What makes chrome “chrome?” What makes wood “wood?” There is usually a single element that will designate the specific texture. From there we simply adjust our technique as it applies to that one, single element. Let’s look at Fig. 1, latex. Like chrome, latex has one characteristic that makes it stand out… it’s shiny! How do we define shiny? By its highlights. And how do we illustrate shiny? By surrounding those highlights with sharp dark areas that isolate our white areas, making them stand out. In other words, we don’t draw “shiny,” we allow the negative space of the white areas to define it for us.

Now let’s look at stone. There are way too many variations to be able to focus on one certain technique that will allow you to draw stone; however, look at Fig. 2, a distressed concrete wall. There’s not much to draw that designates it as concrete, so I steer my focus on the cracks in the wall. A couple of simple lines and we now know what we’re looking at. In Fig. 3, I wanted a block wall behind my model, Shelli, but I also did not want it to be the main feature of the drawing, so I indicated the block with very little detail. Even with the mortar joints falling out as negative space, we still get the impression, with very little effort on our part, that it’s a block wall. Single out the most prominent part of your texture and let it designate itself. And finally, for something a little easier… wood. Check out Fig. 4. This is a no-brainer. You could add grain and a couple of knots to a refrigerator door and it would come across as wood. You get the point.

Drawing different types of textures largely depends on your ability to single out the one element that defines that texture, and all you have to do is exploit that element in your sketch.

Next issue: “It’s All About the Composition.” (Apologies to P-Diddy.)

—Dave

Next issue: Between a rock and a harder place.

Contact Dave at davedrawing101@aol.com.