When most people think of a graphite drawing two things come to mind. One, beautiful artwork for postcards and two, the underlying sketch work for a painting. Okay, nothing wrong with that but are those really the only reasons for drawing in graphite? One of the many good things of art is that it can always be expanded upon. Thankfully, there will always be something more to learn.
Now that it has been established that creative thinking is boundless, focusing on graphites seems as good as place to start as any. It's true, graphite drawing got its start as a general purpose sketch rather than an actual drawing. Thinking back to art history classes, drawings and sketches are two separate things. Drawings are complete and finished works of art. Sketches are the beginning stage of a piece in progress. Speaking in the terms of art history graphites have not been considered complete drawings until recent times. Not until artists started to add a level of detail to their works that was given only to drawings.With these newly added details, perceptions and shading techniques were graphites taken from simple sketches to the new stature of drawings. So with this advancement why are there so few graphites being produced? Unfortunately more and more artists are moving towards the visually appealing color pallet and away from the contrasts of values. That along with the fact that more and more people are forgetting how to see and appreciate the beauty black and whites.
The good news is the world of art is continually changing so given a little time and a renewed love for black and white contrasts, graphites will be in the limelight again. For now let's not forget all that we have learned and remember to pass it on.
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