One of the most important things to think about when you are drawing is that your pencil is capable of much more than a solid line. You can get a whole range of lines depending on how hard you press on the pencil.

The Wooden Shield shown here is an example of the use of differing pressure when drawing. the metal around the rim and of the hub in the metal use dark lines and the wood that makes up most of the shield uses a combination of dark and light lines. You can see the wood grain with light lines and the places where the different boards meet are darker. Darker lines are also used on the area of the wood where there is a bit of shadow. It still has a wood grain but it is darker. Remember this when you are drawing.

Exercise: Practice drawing this Wooden Medieval Shield and focus on using differing amounts of pressure on the pencil to get different lines. Spend at Least One hour on this exercise. Draw common items you see around you and try to interpret these items using light and dark lines. Switch to using the side of the pencil.

For this lesson you do not have to worry too much about shading in the shield. You can see that I have used a bit of shading for the metal hub in the center of the shield. Don't worry about this for now. Our Next lesson is going to tackle this.

Continue on to the next Fantasy Art Lesson; Understanding shape by Drawing a Mace

Draw Medieval Fantasies

Offers step-by-step instructions for drawing dragons, castles, and other objects of the medieval world; covers basic skills as well as advanced drawing techniques.