How to draw: A Spider

Today's drawing exercise is a little more interesting, as we will be working on black paper, which we have not done in this series, until now. We will be using a chalk pencil to draw with, and white pens to outline our drawing with. We will then cover most of this white when we use the water-soluble Aquatone we used in a previous blog, to colour the spider. However, this time we use the Aquatone dry!

You will need black paper and a white chalk pencil.

Start by drawing an oval with an overlapping circle. Overlap the circle with a semicircle.

Draw eight legs onto the body of the spider. I liked the idea of allowing my drawing to run over onto the next page, but you may prefer to restrict yours to a single page. Shape the jaws and head of the spider.

Complete the legs of the spider and divide it into segments.

Draw the pattern on the back of the spider.

Outline the drawing with a white paint pen.

Erase the white chalk pencil lines with a black eraser.

These are the pencils I will be using to colour the spider with. These colours show off beautifully against the black. These pencils are called Aquatone, by Derwent.

Colour the body of the spider.

'Hide' the stark white pen lines by redrawing them in brown ink.

Colour the background in two tones.

Colour the shape on the back of the spider black. Colour the shaded undercarriage of the spider also black to make its body appear more rounded.

Use a black pen to accentuate certain dark areas where necessary.

Use a white pencil to highlight the areas where the light will reflect off the body of the spider.

Draw in the shadows under the spider's raised legs, using a black pencil.

Add lively dark nuances to the background and shadows with a dark purple pencil.

The completed drawing of the spider.

Marietjie Uys (Miekie) is a published author. You can buy my books here:
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