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I've prepared a landscape, which is a marsh, a freshwater in the front, and
a green field of grass. I've basically added fields of color, and now I'm
going to add these strands of grass. There are literally endless strands of
grass. I'm not going draw every strand. What I'm going to do is just draw
enough of them to show that it is grass.
I'm going to be using color pastels, and I'm basically making somewhat of a
straight line, and I just let it go free at the top. It's this type of
motion; I'm flicking my wrist and I'm just going to do it in some areas,
enough so to show that in fact, it is grass. All you really have to do is
show it in certain areas; little concentrated areas. You don't have to
spend the rest of your life drawing every strand of grass.
I'm using a basic shade of green. I'm going to come in with a lighter shade
of green. Because the light is hitting these blades of grass, so some of
what we see is a darker shade, some of what we see is a lighter shade, and
some of the grass comes straight in the water, because I'm going to add
those in, as well. Again, it's just an up-and-down movement; I want to show
maybe there's wind blowing or some motion. I can create that, as well.
They're just very, very fine lines.
With pastel, if you make a mistake or you put on a color you don't like,
you can always wipe it right out. With a marsh, there's actual grass
growing out of the water, so I'm going to add that, as well. Again, it
doesn't have to be solid, solid lines, but just these touches. I'm going to
continue this, adding different shades of green along with the lighter
greens. Instead of just one straight line, I'm almost making little dashes,
just to show that the strands of grass, the blades of grass, growing out of
the water actually have different highlights. Then if I want to show a
specific area that has a concentrated color of grass, I can just use the
side of my charcoal, or the tip, I'm using the tip right now, and in a fast
up-and-down motion, almost scribbling right through the area to show a
sense of grass.
I'm now going to use a pencil; I'm using a 6B pencil. I'm going to use the
pencil and draw into the water. I want to show that the grass above is
reflecting in the water; there's a shadow being cast. You can use pastel;
I'm going to use a pencil. You have all these really beautiful long lines
that intersect and intertwine. It really shows that the grass is reflecting
in the water. I don't have to go everywhere with it, I don't have to draw
every single line. I'm going to draw enough of the lines so that you really
get a sense that this, in fact, grass.
You can see that you can combine drawing materials; you don't only have to
stick to one. You can use as many different materials as you want, and
allow them to work together. Just within this reflection, these very simple
lines; I'm basically just doing this. When I do that right in the water, it
gives it a feeling of grass and grass being reflected.
If I wanted to, I could continue this drawing. I would continue with some
of the reflections, and I would continue drawing more and more detail. The
last thing that I'm going to do is going to take a brown piece of charcoal,
and in the top area, this yellow field of grass, I'm just going to hint at
some little pieces of thicker, or darker, grass showing in the background,
in the distance. I'm using the tip of my charcoal. I'm making just a very
gentle upward line. There's an area here where the grass is blowing in the
wind, so I'll allow it to move and have a little more motion. I can take my
finger; I'm not rubbing it in, but I'm dabbing it, just so that the lines
are not too, too detailed.
My last step is I'm just going to move through the drawing, because there
are some areas that are much darker. Within the grass, I'm just going to
use some black, and I'm going to bring that black right in. This up-and-
down motion, like strands of grass, just to show that sense of dimension
and depth, and then I'm going to rub it in slightly. This is how I would
start. I would probably continue on with this drawing. I would continue
bringing in more color, I would continue bringing in more strands of grass,
I would continue bringing in an overlapping of colors and an overlapping of
all of these different elements in the drawing. I've gotten far enough to
show the sense of grass, and to show how one would draw grass.
In your own drawing, I would suggest continuing for as long as you want,
and continuing, perhaps, to integrate pencil into pastel so that you can
really show this movement of grass throughout your whole drawing. Most
importantly, enjoy the process.