Smudging pencil

05-09-2002, 04:37 PM

In reading through some threads on this forum, it seems that "smudging" (intentionally) is considered taboo. Is this the case? I haven't had anything that would be considered formal training, so I'm pretty much self-taught, and I smudge like crazy. I've sold some pencil portraits doing this and I like the result I get. I'm curious what the consensus is and the thoughts behind it.

Michael Georges · 05-09-2002, 05:28 PM

Matt:

I guess I am not completely sure about what you mean by "smudging". Can you explain more?

I do a lot of charcoal portraiture. I "smudge" - in my definiton - laying some charcoal down and spreading it out with a brush, my finger, a stump, etc.

I would not worry too much about what others think about this technique or another. In my opinion, any technique that helps you to nail your likeness and gives a pleasant look is worth making your own decision about.

05-09-2002, 05:46 PM

Michael,

Thanks for the response. I think we mean the same thing by smudging, I tend to use my pencils like charcoal, building up graphite on the surface and "smudging" with a blending stump, a gum eraser, etc.. I love the results I get doing this, although I sometimes get intimidated by what is considered to be the "right way" to do things. I guess Rembrandt using the handle of his brush to create hair wasn't proper technique, but it sure worked! (no comparison between myself and Rembrandt intended)

Chris Saper · 05-09-2002, 06:04 PM

I agree with Michael! What matters is the result. The only caution I would mention is in using your fingers to smudge, as the oil from your skin can stain the paper, more noticable when the surface is light and the pencil stroke delicate. Moreover, the stain can worsen over time. Try surgical gloves.

Chris

Karin Wells · 05-14-2002, 12:05 AM

There will always be some spoilsport who thinks that they represent the art police when they declare that there is "no smudgeing allowed" (even though your work sells like hotcakes).

If smudging LOOKS good...it IS good!

I say ignore the turkeys and keep on smudgin'... Mark my words, someday publishers will fight over the manuscript "Pencil Smudging Technique for Serious Artists" by Matt Terhune.

Lon Haverly · 05-14-2002, 12:53 AM

There are many ways to smudge pencil, even tools especially made for it. The paper roll (stump - is that what it is called) is an excellent tool to create beautiful realistic half tones. I have seen artists use brushes to apply graphite with stunning results.

Some artists resort to smearing because their line work is weak. In my opinion, (and that is all it is) a drawing is only as good as its lines.

Karin Wells · 05-14-2002, 01:04 AM

Talk about beautiful smudging....

Have you seen the article by Peggy Baumgaertner about "Sauce" in International Artist's Magazine?

Wow.

Administrator's Note: Some of Peggy's sauce works can be see here: http://www.baumportraits.com/charcoal2.htm

Lon Haverly · 05-14-2002, 02:35 AM

Let me edit that by saying that there are obviously many ways to draw. But if a drawing is made with lines, then I judge it by its lines. Smudging can be a very effective tool.

Today art is too often taught without any structure or method. I was taught to draw in a very strict discipline, copying drawings, their lines, and with a teacher that stood over me and made sure that my lead was properly sanded to a chiselled point, and that my lines were just so. The teacher made a line, we made a line. If you want to learn to draw, copy the masters drawings line for line, smudge for smudge.

I personally am not a fan of pencil drawings that are photographic which take hours and days to draw. I prefer to see a drawing that utilizes powerfully drawn lines that are drawn with flare and sub-conscious abandon. That only comes when you have done a great deal of drawing.

Again, that is only my personal opinion, of which I am the world's foremost expert!

Peggy Baumgaertner · 05-14-2002, 10:26 AM

Quote:

Talk about beautiful smudging.... Have you seen the article by Peggy Baumgaertner about "Sauce" in International Artist's Magazine?
Wow.

Administrator's Note: Some of Peggy's sauce works can be see here: http://www.baumportraits.com/charcoal2.htm

Karin,

Cynthia put a link to my charcoal and sauce "drawings" on your earlier post. (see quote). I am posting a sauce "drawing" by the great Russian portrait artist, Ivan Kramskoi, of his son Marc.

Sauce is a charcoal-like material which become rich and inky when mixed with water, and can be used as an ink wash. It is manipulated by applying to paper with a pounce pad or brush, worked (smudged) with a tortillion, or stump, and reduced with a kneaded eraser. I manipulate my charcoal "drawings" (I think of them as paintings...) in the same way.

Of key consideration in this entire thread is to define the word "drawing" as a way of thinking and manipulation as opposed to the material being used.

If one is thinking primarily in line, one is drawing. If one is thinking in mass and value, one is painting. When I work in graphite, charcoal, or sauce, I am painting with these media, because I am thinking and manipulating the material like a painter. I know many "painters" who are actually drawing with oil paint.

I am a natural "drawer." I think most of us are. Our first implement was a crayon or pencil. We learned to work with line, and fill in the surfaces. A notable few think as painters or sculptors as children. I knew I wanted to be a painter, so I tossed out my linear media, and studied with sculptors and volume/mass oriented teachers. I taught myself to see and think in a different way, as a painter.

Neither method is superior to the other, but a redefinition of the terms can clarify a discussion of this sorts. There have been other examples on this forum of the difference between the line oriented discipline and the mass oriented discipline, the difference between drawing and painting, and I think it would not be a bad idea to embrace these differences as a personal selection, akin to the division between the alla prima painters and the grisaille painters.

Peggy

Lon Haverly · 05-15-2002, 10:34 AM

Well said, Peggy. The above artwork is a beautiful painting. And yes, I have seen oil sticks which are used like big crayolas to make "paintings." I use smudging and stumping methods, as well. When it comes to drawing lines with pencil, it is not unfair to encourage students to make the most of their pencil and to try to be artful in the making of lines. In this world of cross over everythings, maybe we should coin the term cross-drawers, and cross-painters. In the end, it is the results that count.