In ancient times, drawing materials were exclusively of natural origin. Such were chalk, black earth, coal, sanguine, pencils of lead and silver, which left traces on paper with friction.
At the service of a modern artist there are countless materials of various compositions and colors: pencils, felt-tip pens, markers and much more. All of them are made from both natural and artificial materials. Their purpose is extremely different.
In this article we will talk about one of the oldest materials. Sangina - what is it? How should she work and what paper to use? You will find answers to these and many other questions in this article.
Sangina - what is it?
The word "sanguine" in Latin means "blood red". Sangina - what is it? In drawing, it is a soft material of brown-red hues. Pencils, sticks, most often without any rim, in the form of a round or quadrangular crayon - this is sanguine.
Chalk of red color - natural sanguine. What is it in modern times? Iron oxide and kaolin with a small amount of adhesives. Sanguine is made in the form of small convenient crayons with and without faces.
Sanguine History
This material has been known since ancient times, but it was widely used only in the Renaissance. The technique of “three pencils” artists began to use at that time. The drawing was applied with sanguine, charcoal or sepia on tinted paper, after which the necessary areas were highlighted with white chalk.
This technique is also popular in the modern world: it is believed that the work in this technique is the most successful.
Paper for drawing sanguine
The material of many outstanding works is sanguine. What it is? Photorealistic portraits, landscape sketches and sketches from nature. But in order to reveal all the advantages of sanguine, it is necessary to choose the right paper for drawing. Textured, fairly dense material is perfect. Remember that the greater the grain size of the selected paper, the more heterogeneous the resulting line. Toned paper will make the drawing more effective: choose a shade of sanguine so that it matches the tone of the canvas. To do this, you need to make a few test strokes on the back of the sheet.
Sangina: color scheme
The color scheme of this material gives ample opportunities: drawings of the human body, portraits and landscapes, made by sanguine, are very natural. To do this, you need to choose the color that best suits the nature. So, nudity is more successful in reddish tones, and landscape sketches in grayish-brown. The combination of cold and warm tones also looks advantageous: for this, the sanguine is combined with coal.
The technique of working with the material. Pencil, sanguine, chalk: can it be used in one work?
Sanguine is painted on rough paper, thick cardboard or canvas. The main technique of drawing is a combination of fine shading lines, wide strokes and spots of varying intensity. The work performed by this material is extremely picturesque due to variations in the thickness of the stroke, variety of spots and the ability to get rid of the wrong line. Due to the different thickness of the edges of the chalk, it is possible to draw different lines: this helps especially when creating a quick sketch.
Sangina is appreciated by artists for its brown-red hue. It is quite natural and delicate for the image of the skin tone. However, the material is suitable for other types of drawings, whether it be a landscape or a still life. To use the sanguine, you need to remember several rules for its use.
Drawings are made either exclusively by sanguine - then the work is done only with a stroke without shading, or in combination with a black pencil - then shading is used in the work. In the first case, the image is obtained in brown tones, in the second - the red tint prevails.
The combination of sanguine and a black pencil on white paper creates tones that are close to the tone of the body: the colors so needed in this case are obvious. Red and yellow are in the sanguine itself, white is in the paper, and many transitional and composite shades create a mixture of materials. So, sanguine can create very interesting work.
In most cases, the drawing is immediately applied with crayons. Priority is given to the outline, since the sanguine does not require perfect accuracy in the construction. However, if you are not sure that you can correctly convey the shape and volume of the item the first time, then you can outline the contours with a simple pencil. It is better to use a hard pencil and draw lines, barely touching the paper. Sangina easily covers light strokes. If you are worried that the contours of the pencil sketch will be too noticeable and dark, then lighten them with a nag. It is better not to use a regular eraser because it removes the upper layers of paper, which will be noticeable in the finished work.
Hatching is one way of creating work using a sanguine. You can practice it by evenly applying strokes on a sheet, drawn into identical squares. Fill the first square with vertical shading, the second - horizontal. Next, try stroking in a semicircle and obliquely. It is necessary to work on the thickness of the line: draw a sharp edge of the chalk on the paper so that a thin line is obtained. Now do the same with the flat side of a piece of sanguine. Also see which stroke will give the sides of the crayon.
To get a different saturation tone, learn to adjust the force of pressure on the material. The line can be rubbed with a special grind, cotton swab or finger: this is how the transparency of the layer and the color depth change.
Creating work with the help of sanguine, you can use either only one of the methods, grinding or hatching, or a combination of both. Recall that this material is well combined with coal or white chalk. The first can darken certain areas, and the second can brighten.
Sanguine fixation: is it necessary or not?
Sangin for drawing does not require fixing on paper, canvas or cardboard. However, if you want the pattern made by this material to be more durable, you can place it under glass or fix it with a fixative. To preserve the picture in the album, you can shift the sheets with tracing paper.
Who worked as a sanguine?
Sangina - what is it? Material for drawing by many outstanding masters of painting. Renoir, Michelangelo, Monet, Rembrandt, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael - all of them created their brilliant creations for them. Sangina for drawing was used by great Russian artists, for example, Valentin Serov, Karl Bryullov and many others.