Friday, 21 April 2017

Old tradition of sharpening pencils


From silverpoint to graphite

Back in days, where the kings and queens were drinking tea and the artists of the court were privileged to use best tools in town, drawing secrets were born. One after another.
The tradition of sharpening graphite is as old as the drawing is.
Originally, graphite sticks were wrapped in string. Later, the graphite was inserted into hollowed-out wooden sticks and, thus, the wood-cased pencil came in town!After studying thousands of drawings by the old masters I discovered that all of them are originally drawn with a very sharp metalpoint (silverpoint) or graphite sticks.



























As Sharp as the needle



















You will need: knife
                       sandpaper
                       pencils


Why is it important to sharpen it?

That will allow you to draw a precise line and give a much more sophisticated look to your drawing. 4 minutes of sharpening a pencil will give you hours of pleasant drawing.
It will also teach you to be gentle with it as it can easily break if you are not careful.


How to sharpen it?
Use knife to get rid of the big parts, then use sandpaper to make it as sharp as the needle


Use high quality tools
So many people go for the price forgetting that cheap pencils have a lot of sand in it. They easily break and there aren't enough pigments.
I suggest you invest in your tools and it will serve you well.
The pencils that are more expensive usually have high quality pigments and therefore producing better results.