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Drawings for creating engravings are easy. Creative activity: engraving for children

Today, I wanted to dedicate a master class for children to an interesting and one of the most ancient drawing techniques. It's about about engraving, which can become the discovery of a great world visual arts both for you and for your child.

A creative streak has always been present in people and aroused the desire to leave their mark on various surfaces, which was the beginning of the creation of interesting and unusual drawing techniques. After all, what could be easier than scratching a drawing on a stone, clay tablet or wood? If you fill the grooves with paint, you get a bright pattern that will last for quite some time. Thus, one of the oldest drawing techniques, engraving, was born. She came from the jewelry business, all the tools and techniques are used by jewelers to this day. It is very versatile and includes many different performance techniques. This is linocut, and engraving on metal, on cardboard, woodcut and lithography. The advent of engraving technique served as an impetus for the creation of printing presses.

Many great artists paid great attention to engraving and created amazing and beautiful masterpieces. One of the brightest masters was Albrecht Dürer.

How to engrave

Creating an engraving with your own hands, no matter how strange it may seem, is a rather simple matter. Children's drawings can easily be diversified by offering the child the technique of engraving or its imitation - scratching, scratching in a pattern coated with colored paint or wax.

These engraving classes at home will perfectly entertain the kids, contribute to the development of love for beauty. And they will be the first steps in art. Working in this technique contributes to the development of the child fine motor skills, perseverance and accuracy.

Even small children can create paintings in this technique. For kids, you can simplify the process and they will need the help of adults. For this technique we need:

- thin plates of foam or expanded polystyrene;
- a stick for scratching a picture, a graver or a regular ballpoint pen.
- scissors;
— colored paper;
- paints;
- rubber roller for rolling work.

The child can draw a drawing on the styrofoam plate with a ballpoint pen by pressing harder on it.

You will get a drawing, the contours of which are pressed into the material.

Let's cut out the city and put it on a tray so as not to stain everything around with paint.

Using a roller, apply paint to the plate.

Lay it on a sheet of colored paper and press firmly.

Carefully removing the plate from the paper, we will see the resulting engraving.

Method one

It is very simple and light, called "scratch".

You'll need:

A thick needle (awl), for convenience, it can be screwed to a wooden stick;
Glossy or plain paper;
Oil paints.

On paper (we took glossy), apply a drawing with a needle. You can take a drawing from your head or use a ready-made one, for example, made in the open air. You can scratch in different places with different pressure (try not to tear the paper).
Then we take the paint already squeezed onto the palette and roll the drawing with it. It is necessary to rub the paint carefully, especially it is necessary to try in scratched places - so that the paint gets there.

Here is the result:

But that is not all. Then we take a brush and again apply paint to our picture - not on the whole drawing, but in some places - thereby adding new colors to the image. Then we wipe it again, and after that the finished work can be pasted onto a larger sheet of paper - we get a passport.

Method two

You'll need:

Thick needle (awl), for convenience, it can be screwed to a wooden stick
Cardboard
Oil paints
Press

To do this, you need to cover the cardboard in advance with transparent glue (the simplest, for example, stationery) and a film forms on it.
On the cardboard, you scratch a drawing of some kind. Assuming that what you are scratching will be dark lines afterwards. The lines can be simple, or they can be complex, textured (some kind of winding scratches).

If you show an illustration, like this one, with a motorcycle, made by Mark Summers, even in the circle of illustrators, almost no one will recognize the technique. Some will confidently say that it is drawn on a computer, they personally know the magic filter that will draw everything by itself. Some will say that it is all hand-drawn in black ink, imitating old engravings. And the most adult part, who still spent their youth with manual rather than digital tools, condescendingly pats everyone on the virtual shoulder: puppies, this is a woodcut, I recognize it.

And they are all wrong :)

At first glance, it really looks like a woodcut. Where white is selected, where black drawing is left. Firstly, it is laborious to imitate this with ink, and secondly, it will still turn out badly, you need to draw with ink, as ink is supposed to - in black and white. These drawings are made in a technique similar to engraving.

Wood engraving, indeed the oldest and classical technique book illustration. I have a story about illustration techniques in the 19th century. In short, an end cut of a tree was taken so that the fibers were perpendicular to the drawing surface, polished, covered with whitewash, an illustration drawing was applied on top and the engraver cut out the drawing. Everything that should have been black remained the surface of the wood, everything that was white deepened. If you had to make a thin black line, you had to remove the tree on both sides of it. If you have ever cut a linocut or stamp, you have a rough idea of this technique.

A wooden piece became a printing stamp - paint was applied to it and printed on sheets future book. This is how Tenniel's illustrations for Alice were made. And here comes the most interesting thing. There are no "originals" for Alice. Tenniel came to the workshop to the engraver and drew on a piece of wood. The engraver then cut out everything superfluous so that a black drawing remained. Got it? Engraver.

The engraver determined exactly how the line would pass, how the shadow was determined, how elegantly or roughly the detail would be cut.

Nowadays, the closest profession to this is inker, a person who draws ink on a drawing for a comic book. Not all artists draw comics from start to finish on their own. Usually the artist draws a detailed pencil sketch and gives it to the inker. Inker circles everything with ink. He decides how to make a black spot, where to put a semitone, with what pressure the line near the eye will be. If you ever went to a wood burning circle in a pioneer camp, you can imagine the scatter of results. If ten pioneers are given a drawing of a touching Bambi, carbon paper, a piece of plywood, and a burner, they will all burn (trace) the final drawing in different ways. Disney may not recognize his four-legged.

Therefore, what we see in the books with Alice is how the hand of the pioneer-burner engraver went. Maybe all these faces of an adult lady, with heavy painted eyes - just the engraver's choice?

In case you're wondering, this obscure hero's name was Thomas Dalziel, and he was from a family of very popular Victorian era engravers, even drawing illustrations himself. So he couldn't completely spoil the illustrations with a wooden stroke. But this does not negate the fact that there are no paper, drawn originals for Alice. In the Oxford Museum, the originals are stored wooden blocks with a carved pattern, from which the first edition was printed. (More precisely, the second. The first came out rough and dirty, the process required alterations and refinements, only the second satisfied Tenniel, and the first was sold in the second-rate market - in America.

Wood engraving gave a distinct black and white drawing(which metal engravings did not give) and these qualities, of course, still attract aesthetically. But cutting wood is difficult and requires skill. It seems stupid to give engravers your illustrations, it’s difficult to cut it yourself - and main question- For what? In the pre-computer era, it is clear why - technically the drawing was printed from this board. Now, when everything is printed from digital forms, it would be necessary to print from wood onto paper, scan the paper - and transfer the drawing to print. And cut just to make a print?

Today, no one cuts wood for illustrations. The same effect can be achieved in a technique called scratchboard. It is 100% handmade, the process is basically the same as in wood engraving, but the "engraving board" is also a print, the final work.

See? The white lines are cut through, the black remains untouched as a background, looks exactly like a woodcut.

In fact, this is a specially prepared cardboard ("scratching board" in translation). A thick sheet of paper is covered with white clay, a substance with a chalky surface, and a thin layer of black paint, such as ink or ink, is applied over the white layer. The artist draws a design on a black surface, takes a sharp tool - usually one of the X-Acto knives - and scratches the surface like an engraver. With the tip of a knife it is easy to draw lines of any width, like a pen, to remove everything black, where it should be white, to hatch parallel and cross and completely create the appearance of a wood engraving.

At the same time, if you made a mistake somewhere, you can cover this area with ink and engrave the failed place again.

Now let's see what a typical drawing process looks like. Kent Barton is one of the preeminent American illustrators of this technique. Of course. in this technique, they order works with a historical flair or a touch of antiquity. So he received an order for an illustration about gunfighters.

First, the mass is collected reference material. Separate details and scenes are drawn on the tracing paper:

The most detailed drawing, in which all tone ratios are applied, is approved by the customer, if necessary, new options are drawn and glued. After that, the drawing is transferred to the scratchboard. Kent works on a black and a white scratchboard. Why? It is not always convenient to completely clean the white background from the black scrapboard.

Therefore, it works in local black. On the right - a drawing prepared for work, the figure in it is filled with ink. On the right is an already "engraved" drawing on what used to be a black spot too.

He does not have a knife in his hand, but a special scraper with wooden handle and two points:

Part by part, he moves forward on the sheet. In order not to lubricate the drawing with black “shavings”, a napkin is placed under the arm, while the “engraved” dust from the drawing is brushed off from time to time.

Here's a bigger one. On a black scratchboard, the black color is usually even and deep, here you can see how Kent painted it himself. anyway, in the end it will be a drawing with linear hatching.

And this is his work:

Larger jacket:

For such hatching, a steady hand is needed no worse than that of ancient engravers.

Here you can see what different types strokes are applied. on the face in shape, with the expansion and contraction of the line to create the desired tone, on the hat with separate white dots, against the background of a disorderly cross-hatching.

Well, isn't he handsome?

Technique comes out especially well in this technique (unexpected pun)

And here is a direct imitation of an old illustration from some catalog or brochure.

Now let's look at another great artist working in this technique - Mark Summers (Mark Summers). This is his motorcycle at the beginning of the post, I hope I impressed you with its thoroughness.

Quick sketch for illustration.

The second stage is a more detailed drawing with color. Some illustrators color their "engravings". Mark is just one of those who loves colored drawings. Therefore, he draws a detailed sketch with a marker on tracing paper, sticks this tracing paper entirely on a colored sheet of the desired shade and passes over it with white in bright places. She herself calls this sketch technique "Byzantine", referring to its strange complexity :)

It works just on a black scratchboard. He transfers the drawing to it and engraves figure after figure. It takes him at least three days to complete each character.

If the work was supposed to be in color, he scans his finished scratchboard, prints it on photo paper, paints fine details with watercolors, then fills large planes with glazing oil paint. So, unlike Tenniel, he has two originals coming out at once :)

It is clear that for such a technique you need to draw brilliantly in the first place. And it’s very good to understand chiaroscuro - you have to type the tones in the opposite way to the usual drawing - the more you hatch in one place, the lighter it becomes.

Here is another tinted Hatter. It is a pity that in the days of Carroll there were no scratchboards :)

And another commercial illustrator: Michael Halbert
Olive Tree:

And detail:

Mark Twain:

And his right hand:

I don't know who, in a hat:

And a detail. Michael specifically imitates the most classic form of woodcut.

And a bigger detail:

And finally: Halloween witch

And her face is big:

Now you are experts in this rare technique :)
_____

On LiveJournal, I have other posts in the "illustrator techniques" series, I won't give a link here.

I continue to tell you, my dear readers, about various methods that help a child develop his creative abilities.

Today my review is dedicated to engraving for children.
Engraving is a great opportunity not only to have fun, but also to spend time productively creating beautiful picture.

My daughter's passion for engraving began about two years ago, when she was about 5 years old.
We started our acquaintance with engravings for children from SMALL engravings under the trade name LORI.

The drawings of this series are the simplest, since the image is made using a small number of lines.
There are not many hatchings in the small engraving, it is not complicated, its size is only 95*145 mm.

To make an engraving, the set for children has everything you need for this - a base with an outline of the drawing, a graver and instructions for doing the work.

A shtichel is a special device in the form of a pen with a pointed metal tip.

With the help of a chisel, with short, gentle pressures, the outline of the pattern is scratched, creating beautiful shiny lines.

In the photo below I give you an example of a started engraving. The outline is in grey.
When you draw along the contour with a engraver, upper layer paint is removed, exposing a shiny base.
This engraving is from the Silver series, so the picture has a silver color.

The instruction is written in an understandable language and is accompanied by visual process diagrams.

For children older age(the manufacturer recommends 6 years and older), as well as for those who have already mastered the engraving technique, you can take engravings from the Postcard series.
This engraving is slightly larger, its size is 110*170 mm.

She is also "with a metallic effect", only from the "gold" series.
As you can see, the complexity of the drawing is already higher - more strokes, when performing them, it is important to maintain the correct direction.

The highlight of this engraving is that reverse side there are lines on which you can write words of congratulations, and you get a real, hand-made postcard!

The most difficult engraving that my daughter did on her own was the following.

As you can see, the drawing is not very simple, made of thousands of small multidirectional strokes.
Yes, and the size of this engraving for children seems more solid - 190 * 235 mm.

The most important thing for her daughter was to portray a tigress with a cub, but she was already bored with finishing the background, and she postponed work.

Pay attention to the places circled by me in the engraving in the photo below. For children, working with a graver is not an easy task - you need to constantly control the length and direction of the strokes and, importantly, the force of your pressing.
If the pressure is too strong, the metal base may be scratched along with the layer of applied pattern outline to the cardboard base.

During her passion for engraving, her daughter completed approximately 5-6 works. What I show you today are those who moved to another city with us.

The range of engravings in stores today is very wide - there are drawings for almost every taste, taste, of varying complexity and sizes, intended for children of different age categories.

I am glad that the price of engravings is not exorbitant, which means that this type of creativity is affordable for children.
I still have price tags for engravings from the Postcard and Small Engraving series:

I like that the manufacturer on the back of the package shows the buyers what engravings are still produced in this series.

For example, for the youngest children, engravings of three series can be purchased - Gold, Silver and Holography.

In addition to the above-mentioned series (Silver, Gold and Holography), Postcard engravings are also available in pink, blue and red metallics.

The most complex engravings go to three options executions - Gold, Silver and Classic.

All these sets are produced by LLC "7-Ya" in the city of Yaroslavl, you can easily recognize them in stores under the brand name "LORI Engraving".

The manufacturer focuses on the fact that engraving is useful for children - it develops creative thinking, diligence and perseverance. But for me, as for my mother, it was the second! ...

The most important thing that engraving helped us with, I think, is the preparation of the child’s hand for school, for writing!
Correctly hold the pen (the engraver in this case), draw even, neat lines of the required length and direction, adjust the intensity of pressing, hatch - a lot of useful, necessary skills that my daughter mastered with pleasure and interest.

I'm sure it's partly due to her timely engraving lessons that my daughter today has one of the neatest handwriting in the class, and she writes the fastest!

Svetlana Bolshakova

Recently, going through my old notes from the courses, I found two printed sheets, two old engravings.

This engraving made of cardboard

And here, in addition to cardboard, lace is used

We were shown techniques for working with prints, preparing clichés for printing engravings. Then I really liked this technique. The matter was approaching March 8 and I decided to do it with the guys for moms postcard engraving. I made the cliche myself from cardboard, and the children only painted with gouache and made an impression on paper. Cardboard quickly soaked, flaked and fell into disrepair. The preparatory work seemed difficult to me, and I engraving did not return to work with children. But, finding old leaves with engravings I wanted to remember how it's done.

Engraving on cardboard(from the French gravure) - cut, create a relief - a kind of print. A relief imprint of a seal is made with the help of an application, made up of individual cardboard elements. The thickness of the cardboard must be at least 2 mm. Engraving came from jewelry. She is very multifaceted: linocut, metal engraving, engraving on cardboard, woodcut, lithography. There are many ways to take impressions from natural objects: leaves, feathers, flowers. Grating is an imitation engravings.

I want to show you how engraving on cardboard. I took 2 identical cardboard boxes 11x15 cm.

I cut out a frame from one and glued it to the second, although this is not necessary

I decided to make a vase with flowers, cut out a vase and some elements for it

I cut out flowers, their centers, leaves and parts of leaves.

All glued to the base

I decided to take burgundy gouache

But I didn't like it.

Painted black

Strongly pressed when stroking with fingers on the left, again not that

Painted again and made a print. Well, now you can stick it on paper and insert it into a frame

But my cliche got wet after three times and the elements began to delaminate

In searching for material on this topic on the Internet, I found recommendations for working with children using polystyrene and ceiling tiles. This is what we did yesterday with my corn-lover guests. (I talked about this in a previous post) - engraving using polystyrene - a substrate for vegetables. I had one such "bowl" of mushrooms, I cut it, first I tried it on my granddaughters

My gouache is good, professional and it is not necessary to dilute it with water. And children's gouache needs to be diluted to the density of sour cream. The first impression may not work, but the second one will be better. Such an engraving will never get wet and children will be able to draw a drawing with a ballpoint pen, paint over with gouache and make an impression.