How to Do Embossed Drawing©
Posted: Thursday, June 24, 2010
by Arlene Wright-Correll
http://www.learn-america.com
Everyone who visits Avalon Stained Glass School & Creativity Center in Munfordville, KY always states, "I wish I was artistic" or "I wish I could draw". Well everyone can with a technique called Embossed Drawing.
This is so simple and inexpensive to do besides giving one some self-gratification.
The materials are inexpensive and few.
- A hard surface to work upon.
- Two pieces of scrap paper such as common copy paper. These are going to be referred to as the padding sheet which will allow for a measure of softness to make sure the embossing is deep enough to respond to your work. The other sheet will be referred to as the shield sheet which is just for the purpose of laying over your art while you do it so as to keep it clean and smudge free.
- A good piece of drawing paper. This we will call the receptor sheet as it is the sheet that will actually receive the embossing and be your finished piece of art.
- A couple of good 2b pencils and a pencil sharpener.
- The picture you wish to copy such as a still life, photo or whatever. We will refer to this as the Embosser sheet. Start with something you have cut out of a magazine or if it is a photo make a copy of it as you will be tracing over it.
- A ball point pen.
Your hard surface must be large enough to put your hand and/or arm on it.
Now stack your three sheets of paper putting your padding sheet on the bottom, receptor sheet in the middle and the embosser sheet on top. Use a paper clip to hold them together.
Please note here that should you be able to make a drawing then draw it on the embosser sheet BEFORE YOU STACK IT drawing in as much or as little detail as you would like making sure that all the lines on your drawing are acceptable to you. Once embossed they cannot be changed!
Once you are ready place the embosser sheet over your receptor sheet and taking a ballpoint pen making a smooth line of even width as you trace your subject matter which is either your drawing or photo. You can use a hard lead pencil. Carefully and smoothly draw over your sketch putting some pressure on your pen, but not overkill, it doesn't take much.
Once you have finished, remove your embosser sheet and your padding and set them aside. You are ready to work on what looks like a blank sheet of paper! Now take a 2b pencil. Sharpen a hand full of them, very sharp with long narrow points. This should be done with the side of the lead to create light to dark values. You may want to sharpen a lot of them if your subject matter i.e. embosser sheet is large and you won't have to keep stopping to sharpen pencils. Keep those points sharp! Here is where you may want to your shield sheet to keep from creating pencil smudges.
Here is what my 3 embossed drawings look like.
Brandt Ducks
Angel's Trumpets
Girls with Geese
Note that I created small drawings for my embosser sheet or subject matter and perhaps you might want to start with a larger work. Just remember to emboss as many details onto your embosser page as you want to show up in your finished work.
"Tread the Earth Lightly" and in the meantime... May your day be filled with...
Peace, Light and Love,
Arlene Wright-Correll
Avalon Stained Glass School & Creativity Center
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)This looks like a lot of fun, Arlene! What a great article!Hi Jennifer,Thanks for taking the time to read my article and to respond. Yes, it is a lot of fun and easy to do. So please go and experiment and let your creative juices flow.Arlene Wright-Correll
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