Timed Drawing Exercise – Giraffe – Gettin’ Sketchy Live

Gettin Sketchy – Giraffe with Graphite and White Charcoal – Season 2 Episode 2

This episode aired live on YouTube on August 26, 2020.

In this episode, we take a quick look at General’s white charcoal pencils which are used in this timed drawing exercise. For the timed drawing exercise, Matt creates a sketch of giraffe in 45 minutes using a combination of white charcoal and graphite on toned paper. This one is a challenge, filled with lots of texture and complex shapes.

Art Product Recommendation

The featured art product for this episode are white charcoal pencils by General’s. These pencils make a great compliment to darker drawing mediums such as charcoal and graphite – especially when used on toned paper. Using a white medium allows us to quickly push the range of value in the drawing and produce a variety of grays.

You can pick up a set for yourself on Amazon here…Buy General’s White Charcoal Pencils

(The above link is an affiliate link which means that we make a small commission if you purchase without any additional expense to you.)

Drawing a Giraffe with White Charcoal and Graphite – 45 Minute Timed Drawing

In this episode’s timed drawing challenge, Matt creates a sketch of a giraffe with graphite and white charcoal on toned gray drawing paper within 45 minutes.

Here’s a look at the completed drawing…

Materials for this Drawing Exercise

Since a combination of white media and dark media are used, toned paper is essential. In this exercise, we use toned gray sketch paper. This allows to start at the center of a value scale and push values outward, resulting in a full range of tone and value.

Aside from the white charcoal, a 4B graphite pencil is used along with a kneaded eraser.

More resources to explore…

• Six Reasons to Draw on Toned Paper
• Drawing on Toned Paper – Lesson Excerpts

Photo Reference

The reference photo for this exercise comes from Pixabay.com The color has been removed from the image, leaving just the values which makes the drawing process a little easier.

Here’s a look at the photo reference…

Sketch Every Day

Drawing is a skill and like any other skill – it should be practiced. Sketching is a form of drawing practice. If you want to improve your drawing skills, then you should be sketching as much as possible. The more you sketch, the more you will see your drawing skills improve. Every sketch you create won’t be great – some will be better than others. But this isn’t the point. The point is practice. Make time to sketch every day if possible and watch yourself improve.