Conquering Conté

Conté sticks are sort of like pastels … they are sticks made of solid pigment that are harder than pastels or charcoals, and result in crisp lines.  They can be smudged with stumps (or fingers).

Conté sticks were invented by Nicolas Jacques Conté, a French scientist. During the French Revolution Paris was under siege and cut off from the supplies of the best English graphite, so Conté designed a pencil which could be made with just a small percentage of graphite (mainly clay based) allowing it to be made from materials that could be obtained within France. 

set of conte crayons with blending stump

The traditional colours for Conté crayons were black, red, and brown although they are now available in may colours. The reddish sepia tone of Conté crayons is sometimes called sanguine, and was used by many Old Masters in sketches and preliminary drawings.

No Old Masters drawings for us … we were presented with the photo of a tiger that we were to draw. 

Using Artagain paper (in Gotham Grey), the first step is to sketch the tiger – trying our best to get the proportions correct. Then we use the conte sticks to add the dark stripes.  Blending is done with stumps and cheese cloth.  The lighter areas are cleaned up with an eraser, and the whiskers are also eraser marks.  Here is the final result.

I think it looks like a swimming tiger - although who knew that tigers could swim?  I'm beginning to enjoy drawing, and really like the conté medium.  It's less messy than charcoal, and fun to shade with.  One more class, and then I'm on my own.  I've come a long way in just a few short weeks.

The dog is done

The more I practise, the more comfortable I am with the medium.  I worked on the charcoal of the dog and have finished it!  Yay.   I'm pleased with how it turned out... I think it looks like a dog.  Kind of a cutie.

Not being content to stick with one medium, our instructor introduced us to India Ink.  This drawing of an elk is done with Ink and Charcoal.  The ink is applied with - wait for it - a Q-tip.  Cool, huh?  The darkest parts of the elk are done with ink, then the charcoal is used for shading.  I found the background the most challenging ... when is it important to have lots of detail, and when should the subject just stand alone?  Anyway, I think it resembles the animal which I intended it to be, and for me, that's pretty good.

Portraits with pencil

We've learned a technique to draw occasional grid marks to reference certain parts of the face - the bottom of the eye for instance, and then reference the same line on our drawing - which is larger than the photo we are drawing.  This is my completed drawing - not the best (especially after taking a photo of it ... looks much better in person!) but the good news is I finished it.

Seems that I have a fear of failure.  In class we draw part of the portrait and then when I get home I don't want to touch the drawing for fear that I'll ruin it.  Have to let that go, and just have fun.

The shading is the most amazing part - using stumps (I now know what they're for), and cheesecloth.  The drawing comes to life almost before your eyes.

The next medium we are working with it charcoal.  We're going to draw this cute little dog.

Here is my attempt - part way through (after my last class.  We did all this in 3 hours).

Now to finish it.  Overcome the fear!! 

3 classes in …

I’m not as freaked out as I was before the drawing classes began. In fact, I’m kind of enjoying them.  Time flies by when I’m drawing.  Surprisingly, it takes an amazing amount of concentration.

At the first class our instructor took out a bag of old sneakers, told us to pick one, and put it in front of us on the table.  We were to draw it – fairly quickly – and without instruction.  I thought I did a pretty good job.

By the middle of the class, we were asked to draw the same show again.  After 1.5 hours of instruction this is what I did.

Its seems that, as a student, I need to change how I see things.  The more time I spend looking at an object, the more likely I am to notice aspects of the object that make it unique.  Apparently, an artist notices visual elements that others overlook.

Class number 3 is all about portraits.  I have no desire to draw portraits.  I’m more about trees and streams and sunsets, and maybe an animal or two.  Regardless; we’re drawing portraits.  By the end of class 3 with the help of some loose graphite, the special tiziano paper, an eraser and some stumps, this is what I did.

The exercise wasn’t about proportion, but about shading, and the shading happened so quickly.  You can actually see the face come to life right before your eyes.  Very cool.  Not sure where we’re headed next, but so far it’s quite a ride!