I am so glad the humble pencil has its’ own day. Graphite pencils are so reliable, universal, and did you know the shavings are compostable? In a world of fancy pens in every color imaginable, graphite pencils may seem mundane, but there’s a simple beauty to them. Sometimes we have to remember the simple things.
For pencil day, I’m going to keep it simple and attempt a pencil drawing. Now, it’s my birthday today, and my boyfriend has been doing so much for me all day. He’s been cooking, cleaning, doing the dishes… Really going above and beyond to make today excellent. So I’m going to make him a drawing of his beautiful cat, Alexandre. Here’s the picture I’m going to use:
In university, one of our required courses was visual art. I didn’t do too badly in the course, but when I expressed interest in continuing on that path, my professor told me very cleary– I needed to take a drawing class. I still haven’t done that, but I wish I had. Just knowing how to draw is such an undervalued basic skill. Being able to put down on paper anything I’m visualizing would have made a difference, in retrospect. It’s never too late to try!
I start with the reverse front cover of a lined notebook and trusty pencil. Then I add shapes, as I’ve seen other do.
It looks weird, I’m not sure about my technique, but I soldier on. It’s a good thing I can erase pencil. I erase some of the lines in between the shapes and add definition to what’s left.
Okay, now I’m going to do the bulk of the work. I continue shading in and adding elements. I draw pupils, whiskers, fur markings, and all the little details. I’m getting sleepy at this point, so I rush to finish. I’m done within an hour. It’s not perfect, but I’m not mad at how this guy turned out!
Not bad at all! I go to close the notebook on my pencil day drawing, and I notice a fatal flaw– I drew the picture upside down. Oops!
Happy Pencil Day!