Thursday, June 2, 2016

Getting Scale in a Pencil Drawing


This is a small pencil drawing, only about four by five inches. But I wanted to give it scale, to make the airplane look as big as possible. 


What I did was alternate the big shapes (the fuselage and the big shadow shape) with some very small, delicate touches: the windows, poles, railings, and figures. I also left off the contour lines on the top of the airplane's form, letting it blend into the sky.

Scale has nothing to do with the size of the drawing itself. It's all about the contrasts within the drawing.

8 comments:

Fabio said...

I like the plane's top blending into the sky.
What I usually struggle with it pencil stroke thickness. I noticed you used thick strokes for the shadows, but a soft blend on the plane itself. Is it a coincidence or intended effect, to give the direction of the ground surface?

James Gurney said...

Fabio, yes, I guess I was thinking "horizontal strokes = flat ground" Though with a drawing like this, I'm operating intuitively....

Capt Elaine Magliacane said...

What happened to the shadow for the plane's wing? I see the shadow for 1 wing but not the other.

Guenevere Schwien said...

Excellent drawing James, Do you have any videos of shaded drawings like this?

Unknown said...

this isone of my biggest lack when drawing outside from life. The relationship in size with different things. Do you maybe know some good exercises to overcome this?

greetings from vienna

Vanessa Dippel said...

Great sketch! Because of the perspectie foreshortening of sizes from the people in the foreground to the cars in the middle which is stronger than in real life, the plane appears so impressive. Oh, sorry, I hope, one can understand my english.

Amir said...

Great drawing. The airplane does look BIG.

What were your first lines and how long did it take?

Unknown said...

Simply amazing and so detailed drawing.

Please - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGyeTwWMGq8