10 Essential Cross-Hatching Exercises
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- Опубліковано 6 лют 2025
- My online workshop, "Fundamentals OF Cross-Hatching: The 6 Basic strokes" is this weekend, Sunday, February 9, 2025 from 9 AM to 12 PM (Pacific Standard Time). This is a followup to my "Fundamentals Of Cross-Hatching" Workshop, and deals with more advanced rendering topics. For more information, and to register please visit my website:
mkompan.squares...
For more information and my downloadable classes (and to purchase them), please visit my Vimeo page:
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Wonderful tutorial, thanks Marc!!!
You’re most welcome!
Thank you a lot for the inspiration, Marc. This is great and exactly what I needed! 😘
For me and all who are learning along my learnings and the respective time stamps to jump to the exercises if needed.
00:00 Intro
01:00 #1 consistent hatch marks
straight as well as slightly curved, different distances for values, several angles,
02:24 #02 soft and hard strokes
learn to keep them as consistent as possible.
04:15 #03 gradients with several layers of hatching
angles with at least 15° from another, keep the distances consistent throughout, make sure to not add density, use line weight instead, from light to dark no more then 4 to 5 layers.
06:24 #04 even field of hatching
connecting the hatch marks with fluidity from one layer to the next, soft strokes in the transition area; straight and curved strokes for more wavy areas of textures.
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08:15 only then you are ready to move on to 3D modelling and the basic shapes of cubes, cylinders and spheres. Be patient in your learning journey.
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08:53 #05 cubes
make sure to follow the form with rendering; thin to thick lines, practice hard and soft strokes as well as transitions, keep the lines consistent in distance, you might use thin and thick lines to indicate more values, very importent: do not converge the lines due to perspective - it destroys the illusion of value and distracts the viewer, for the cast shadow: make sure the strokes are more horizontal to indicate the flat surface, practice different rotations of cubes as well as several light sources and the respective shadows. Make sure, that the cast shadow is no afterthought.
13:45 #06 cylinders
indicate the shadow in the sketch before starting rendering. understanding the contour lines of the round shape (blue ribbon as a helper): cross contour follows the elipse of the contour, changing the angles of the hatching means to "straighten" up the respective lines. The more diagonal, the more straight the lines need to be; starting with 45° it's only a slight curve; remember to be consistent with the distances of your strokes, top plain: horizontal lines are preferable to indicate the flatnes, otherwise it might look as if tilted or gras. Practice different rotations and light scenarios.
18:33 #07 spheres
pencil in the sketch with the body and cast shadows, beware when cross contour hatching to keep the consistent hatch marks otherwise it will get messy, so pick a curve and stay with it through. It's another chance to practice smooth transitions between ajoining layers, change angle and repeat in the same curve so to not break the illusion of the hatching being value, soft transition with soft strokes in the halftones, make sure to not repeat angles, remember: 4-5 layers with different angles max; practice different spheres with different light directions - back lit, top lit, light from the sides etc.
22:02 #08 combine the basic shapes with flat surfaces at the bottom (cubicals) and round objects on top (spheres and cylinders)
practice to sketch the basic shapes, indicate the lights and shadows, combine everything you learned as above, the trick is: as you start rendering make sure to be consistent for all the respective objects. Bevore changing the angles first render all objects. So you can make sure to be consistent throughout the whole drawing and all elements belong to the same universe. Consistency of hatching angle as well as distances between the strokes is vital to the illusion of values. Develop the whole image layer by layer, so that it speaks the same visual language. Play with light directions and perspectives for further exercises.
27:33 #09 "the snowman" exercise to practice the interaction between round forms
combining two or more round objects with their body and cast shadows requires to develop soft and hard edges in the shadows as well as the soft transitions between those lights and darks. Together you aim to create the illusion of round forms. Beware: If you treat all shadows as soft you loose the sense of form, or else if you treat them all as sharp it prevents the object to look spherical and realistic. Make sure to render layer by layer for the whole picture including the cast shadow for the consistent visual language. Establish the values in gradually getting darker without loosing sight of using max 4-5 layers in total as well as maintaining the respective angles being different from one another.
34:08 #10 increase the complexity of the shapes
use clay to create objects. For instance a sphere with bumps as preperation for portraits or other forms that occur in nature. The aim is to become confident drawing overlapping forms. Establish shadows and make sure that they follow the contour. Now consider the object's surface: shorter, broken strokes make the object ruff, longer strokes give the illusion of the texture being smoother. Beware: if your hatching get's to fancy you distract the viewer. Strive to make it as humble and simple as possible. Place the decorative lines with care. So your drawing is interesting in itself without being distracting. The hatching is not the image, its only supporting the story you tell. Increase difficulties little by little.
40:15 short summery and motivation boost for beginners and professionals alike
Enjoy practicing everyone! 🙂
// PS: Please feel free to use them as chapter marks in your video, Marc.
Goodness, was this done with AI, or did you do this yourself? In either case, thanks for doing it. Much appreciated!
@@mkompan In accordance to your channel this was done by hand. 😉 It's the way I learn. If you only consummate the information won't stuck with you. At least in my experience. Next step of course is to practice, practice, practice.
@madiko Well, kudos to you for taking such detailed notes. You're right, taking notes is incredibly valuable, and how I used to learn. I wish my college students did the same. Mostly they just stare into space. :)
This is what I needed to watch. Thank you.
You're welcome. Glad this came at the right time for you!
1. I gotta work on #3 (gradation).
2. Rather than #4 (segmented lines), I prefer to mke really long lines. I'm sure there's some reason.
3. You've sold me on the value of hatch consistency.
4. I can make bumps like #10 but fail at drawing dimples on a golf ball. They always look like bumps.
To your second point: hatched lines can only be so long, and there will be situations when you’ll need to fill a large area with connecting hatch marks, which is where exercise #2 comes in handy.
Excellent tutorial. Thank you!
You're welcome!
Great public offering - thank you! I'm practicing these skills and my sketchbook just told me that I need to! Might change my paper and pen - my Jinhao X750 might be too heavy for me to control well and maybe a no-tooth surface might help me keep my strokes going where I want them. I'm looking at your hatching course on Vimeo and eyeing my bank account. We will see how it goes...
You’re very welcome. I actually think that toothier/softer papers slow down your strokes and make it easier. Nib smoothness also plays a part, with scratchier nibs offering more drag. I have plenty of free stuff on my channel so no need to break the bank.
Thanks, Marc. This is a really great refresher to practice the skills taught in your streaming class. Much appreciated !
You're welcome! Glad this was useful to you.
Another banger, thank you for sharing, much appreciated 👌👍👍
Glad you liked it!
this is actually a great tutorial
Thanks!
Very steady hand!
Thanks mom!
It is fact: the Justus is the definitive winner. I can see the how it is being featured on a regular basis
It is my go to pen for demos, to be sure.
So with this you are dropping details and texture.
Details and texture are an added complication. These are exercises for the beginner.
Dear marc ,iam very glad to learn cross hatching exercises, as portrait artist very happy-go-lucky ,ineed your help in getting the pen you are using with all colour water resistant ink how i get,kindly guide me,thank you🎉
You're welcome! I use a large number of pens with waterproof ink. Just make sure to use a pen that can be fully disassembled and cleaned well.
Not noticing much diff with various fountain pens/nibs...(scrivr, twisb, kaweko)...tiny diff lighter, darker, color, not line weight..yet...
There often isn’t much difference when dealing with steel western made nibs. This is why I tend to gravitate toward flex nibs, or other specialty nibs.
@mkompan ty... ii wasn't sure, now ii know what to use.