Shapeshifting – loosening the line

I ran a short tutorial called ‘Shapeshifters’ as a contribution to the inspirational sharing of ideas and techniques within a generous online art community of which I’m part.

The purpose of this exercise is something I discovered in my recent 100 days project and which helped me loosen up my tight drawing lines. It helped me shift shapes and render more interesting lines to my drawings. So here’s the technique for you to try for yourself.

Materials check in

Charcoal stick

Artist ‘s Eraser

Water-based paint – water colours or gouache or inks-  something that dries quickly ( this technique works with acrylics too)

Hot pressed paper is best,  180 gsm

Objects to draw for example-  shells, insects, flowers, cups, pots etc, 3- 4 objects

Black pen or hard pencil 

Paper towel or something to blot the paint you use, or a hairdryer to dry your work.

Work fast and loose, and spread out your drawings all across the page.

Step 1: Time 7 mins 

Choose an object and take your charcoal stick and start drawing the shape. You can draw detail for this part of the exercise, but don’t spend too much time doing it. Create multiple versions over the page or on top of each image. Use thin and thick lines. Turn your object and page around to get different angles and perspectives after each drawing.

Step 2: Time 7 mins 

Now take some paints and start ‘colouring’ your objects. Paint can be inside or outside the lines, but leave some charcoal lines visible so you don’t cover all the charcoal.

Step 3: Time 10 mins 

Repeat the previous steps 1 and 2 on multiple pieces of paper. This means you can let some dry while you draw and paint on new sheets. Then you’re either going to blot the paint dry, give it a few minutes to dry, or use a hair dryer to speed up the drying. Better still, go and make a cup of tea while you wait for your painting to dry 😉

Step 4: Time 5 mins 

When the paint is dry, start erasing back the charcoal in places to see what effect it leaves.

Step 5: Time 10 mins 

You can now add back detail with pen or pencil and/ or draw other objects over these drawings.

Below are some examples – before (with charcoal) and after (charcoal edited out and some new lines added).

I find this technique helps to soften the lines. If you feel it’s taken away too much charcoal, you can always go back and add more lines.

I discovered it also works with ochre conte chalk and acrylic paint.

Let me know how you found this exercise.

What have you discovered? Has it made some interesting lines? Does it help you think of the negative space? How did your paper thickness cope with the erasing? Did you find you needed to add more lines back to add detail? Is it something you could use?

And finally, what helps you loosen your lines? I’d love to hear your tips.

Keep on creating! Until next time.

Claudia x