Do you ever picture a drawing in your mind, but when you finally put it on paper it’s a mess? When you rush into it with excitement, you’re likely racing to the end picture, but if you can draw all the layers that come before that end image you’ll set yourself up for success.
To draw layers, you need to break your piece up into separate steps: a base layer of general shapes and line art, a layer of lighting and value, and a final layer of texture. It may seem like doing this unnecessarily adds to your work, but by layering you save yourself time, materials, and frustration.
Things to Practice
Before you throw yourself into a full-blown, multilayered piece of work you’ll want to have a good grasp on the medium (or mediums) that you plan on using. You’ll likely want to use a graphite pencil or a light-colored pencil to do the base layer sketch of your piece. Using this, practice hand movements to form basic shapes, circles, and horizontal and vertical lines. I would also practice a technique known as “gesture drawing”; this uses continuous movements and connected lines to draw your subject without looking at the paper.
When you’re just starting you’ll probably want to work off a model or an image. Practice identifying primary shapes. Test yourself on noticing where the light source is about what you want to capture, how it hits the piece, and any movement in the subject. As always, make sure you test out how your materials interact with each other. It might be easier if you’re using one medium, but this is rarely the case when you’re drawing in layers. Test them individually and together.
Base Layer
It doesn’t matter how you intend to end your drawing. You’re going to want to start with a base to outline the future of your work. This base layer can be done with your end medium, but I strongly suggest using graphite pencils in this step. They provide a greater amount of control, and, unlike most mediums, you can erase them if you make a mistake.
Work in these two steps to set yourself up for success:
- Basic Shapes: When you start with basic shapes you give yourself more room for change. These create a clear base for the rest of your piece, but they’re also easier to manipulate or move in case you want to stray from your reference.
- Line Art: At this point, you’ll clean up the mess you left behind. Outline the main areas and other important lines. Refine the piece until it’s well-defined and recognizable, but leave details to the next step.
At this point, you could easily leave your work alone, and that works great if you’re just working on a concept. If you need more details you’ll need to move on to the second layer of work.
Lighting and Shading
Remember when I told you to practice identifying light and movement? Here’s where you use it. Light is what helps bring the image off the page. It tells more of a story than a flat image does.
Is it night or day?
Is it light or dark?
Is the light warm or cool?
How does it hit your subject?
When you’ve answered all of these things you can breathe life into your piece. In basic terms, a layout where the shadows of your piece are by darkening them and draw the lighter areas forward by brightening them.
You can still do this with your sketching pencil, but if you’re confident enough you can begin to use colored pencil or another medium of choice. The graphite pencil will be more forgiving (especially with those shadows), but using color can add more value to the piece.
The Final Step: Texture
Although some artists like to do this while working with light and shadows, I prefer to do it after. The previous one often influences this step, and it’s easier for me to focus on one aspect at a time. The texture is intrinsic to your piece. It conveys not just how something looks but also how it feels.
Some basic techniques that will help you out here include:
- Basic Hatching: This is also a good way to add value to your piece. Thicker, denser lines will make a section darker on top of providing texture, as will cross-hatching.
- Radial Hatching: Good for showing texture in cylindrical or circular forms.
- Expressive Hatching: This technique utilizes random, haphazard lines to indicate diversity in texture. (Pro Tip: Use a softer lead here if applicable.)
- Contour Lines: Basic, even lines that add texture and direction as well as an edge.
- Feathering: (Another soft lead technique) Apply a dark layer, then take a scrap sheet of paper and rub until marks are soft and blended. Works best with graphite.
- Loops: Random loops of varying sizes and shapes can add definition to your piece.
- Dots: These can also affect the value of your piece. Denser areas of dots will make the area look darker.
While this list is not all-encompassing, it’s a decent place to start. You can practice these techniques outside of drawing forms.
Bringing it All Together
After you’ve finished the texture layer of your piece you’ll want to look at it as a whole. Make sure all the parts agree with each other and make changes where necessary. Add details that may have been overlooked when working in steps.
Working With Graphite and Colored Pencils
I’m very much for using graphite for your base layer and mapping out value, but graphite does nothing for adding color to a piece. Your brain can likely easily move from one medium to the next, but it’s not as easy as exchanging one pencil for another.
After you’ve laid down your layer of graphite you will need to prepare the surface for the colored pencil. Even harder leads are still prone to smudging, and colored pencils will easily pick up graphite that isn’t sealed.
To do this you’ll need a workable fixative or a retouch varnish. Whatever you choose, make sure it’s workable, and test it on a scrap sheet of paper to check how it reacts. Make sure the colored pencil works on top after waiting 30 minutes for it to dry.
Start with the lowest-value colored pencil, and keep your first few layers light. Even with the fixative, the color can still be muddied by the graphite. These first few layers also help to seal the graphite below the wax or oil binding of your colored pencil. Continue as you normally would, working up in value as you add more layers of color. Blend the colors and then burnish the piece.
Check out more colored pencil tips HERE.
How Layers Work With Digital Art
While I’ll normally speak on traditional art techniques it’s worth noting that layers are a huge part of digital art. I think of digital layers like drawing on clear paper (or plastic, if you will). Each of the steps I laid out before can be put on a sheet of clear paper. This allows you to manipulate each aspect of the drawing without affecting the other, but when you put them together they provide a cohesive image.
If you’re going to work with digital art you’ll have plenty of programs to choose from, but layers work the same in nearly everyone. Your selected layer is the one you’re currently working on and manipulating. Any work you do will be locked to this layer, and it won’t change anything on other layers. Your mode and opacity change how the layers interact and blend.
There are buttons to allow you to add as many layers as you want. You can even copy, delete, or hide layers, as well as rearrange them. This is where digital art begins to stray from traditional art. In traditional art, your subjects have fixed positions, but in digital art, you can rearrange this. If you change your mind and decide you want your person in front of the table instead of behind it this is as easy as rearranging the layers they are on.
If you’re unfamiliar with digital art I suggest sticking to one program and following tutorials designed to familiarize you with the layer system. You’ll likely find that there are some things you prefer in digital art (instead of labor-intensive erasing, you can just click a button and all those lines disappear). I find that nothing compares to the nostalgia and hands-on feel of traditional mediums, though I’m happy to familiarize myself with both.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a way to layer using both traditional and digital layers?
If you scan in your traditional artwork you can use it as its layer in digital art. Monika Zagrobelna outlines her specific method for scanning traditional art here.
Can you use these methods with mediums other than graphite and colored pencil?
The basic steps outlined in this article can be applied to other mediums, but keep in mind each medium has its unique qualities. Paint will not interact with graphite in the same way as colored pencils.
What are the cons of drawing layers?
There aren’t many, but I imagine that if you’re in a rush with your work you might not wish to spend extra time planning it out. If you don’t like working from an outline then drawing layers may not be for you.
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