Have you heard of frottage?

Frottage is the act of rubbing to create a texture.

To put it simply, if I placed paper over a coin and rubbed my pencil over the impression, I would have a frottage.

Start off by collecting all sorts of items with different textures. Things like pieces of wood, leaves and such from the garden, or scraps of different material or lace. Anything really, that sits fairly flat under a piece of paper.

Then, you grab your B or 2B pencil.

Select a piece of wood and put your paper over the wood. With the side of your lead, rub over the spot where the wood is and see the pattern emerging on your paper. Now rub in a different direction. Notice that you end up with a different pattern.

Isn't it great?

Feel the object you are going to rub and imagine what you think it will look like. Now, rub over it. It looks nothing like you imagined, does it? The lights and darks look fabulous, as well.

Now experiment with every different grade of pencil and use different directions on the same piece.

Just looking at all the different rubbings I did, I can make all sorts of shapes and images out of them. It's a bit like when we look at clouds and we can see formations in them.

Do a freehand sketch and use your rubbings to give different objects an interesting texture. Your sketch can be a still life, a landscape or even a portrait. The list is endless. Even if you used your piece of wood to do the trunk of a tree, it would look so interesting. But it doesn't have to be that predictable. Try not to limit yourself that way.

I hope you enjoy experimenting with this little project as much as I have.

What's New at allaboutdrawings.com

Drawing Templates

I have tried to encourage this practice all throughout my site, so I dedicated a page to it.

Drawings Of Roses

In my effort to get everyone to start drawing, I decided to do another page of roses to see if there was a marked improvement since I drew the first rose page. I'm hoping novice artists will see a real progression and therefore encourage them to keep trying.

Practice really does work.

Animal Cartoon Drawings

This is a fun page designed for you to copy these simple, basic drawings. It will be a while before I run out of subjects with this topic.

Rooster Drawings

With a few simple shapes, you can create realistic looking roosters.

When you are copying a picture, squint your eyes to easily recognize the main parts of the picture.

This is a common trait among Artists, to half close their eyes to see things better. Features become clearer and it helps you to identify what to make the focal point of your drawing.

By squinting, you can also easily define light and shade.

This is a very handy hint to remember. Don't forget to write it in your journal, especially when you use this tactic.

Thank you,, for taking the time out of your day to read this issue.

You can simply reply to this email if you have any feedback you'd like to share.

Until next month, have fun sketching!

with best wishes