Among all the materials for drawing, the sauce is perhaps one of the most underestimated. Many aspiring artists are not even aware of its existence, and sometimes deliberately avoid it in their work. And in vain, because with it you can achieve absolutely amazing results and open up even more opportunities for experiments. What is a drawing sauce ? How to draw with this material? Let's get it right.
Art sauce
If you look for information about him on the Internet, then you can easily come across articles on drawing on plates. The theme is really popular, but it relates to cooking and decoration of dishes, and not to art. So, if you come across a story about a spoon for drawing sauce, feel free to go to another site.
This sauce for artists does not require exotic tools, an ordinary brush for it will be enough. Today it is rarely used, but in the XIX-XX centuries it was quite common material, especially in Russia. It is well suited for creating monochrome works, and allows you to show depth with small means and convey many different tones.
One of the first art dressings began to be used by Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy. Together with whitewash, he used it in portraits, creating a very realistic effect of black and white photography. In addition to it, Ilya Repin, Alexei Savrasov, Nikolai Yaroshenko and other masters worked with the sauce.
Composition and manufacturers
Outwardly, the sauce resembles a pastel, but differs in quality and has a much smaller number of colors. His entire palette ranges from white to shades of gray, black and brown.
The composition of the sauce includes: compressed refractory clay, chalk, soot and glue. It is made in the form of cylindrical rods 5-6 centimeters long, which easily crumble and break, so it is advisable to transfer them in a box, tightly covering with cardboard or cloth.
Abroad, the material is known as sauce or Russian sauce. Under this name, he is found, for example, in the company Jack Richeson. Brevillier's Cretacolor has similar material called hard pastel. In Russia, the most common brands of art sauce are Podolsk Art and Aqua Color. Its price is quite affordable. Depending on the number of crayons in the package, it is 50-200 rubles.
Material Features
The color of the art material of the sauce is determined by the features and proportions of soot, clay and white. Currently, there are only ten of its shades, while in the work usually only dark options are used.
Light colors, as a rule, do not come in handy, since you can highlight the necessary areas with an eraser. This is precisely one of the main features of the sauce and its advantage over other materials. Unlike carcass, coal and pastel, it lends itself perfectly to erasing and allows you to whiten the desired areas almost to the color of the paper, completely without smearing on the sheet.
Preparation for work
The sauce material gives pleasant slightly muffled tones that become saturated when they are layered on top of each other. In dry form, you can work with it like a pastel, shading or hatching paper with it. However, it is rarely used in this way. Fully confirming its name, the material is best manifested in a diluted form.
In the wet painting technique, the sauce works like a watercolor, but it must first be diluted. To do this, you will need:
- knife, cutter or blade;
- a plastic palette or ceramic saucer;
- crayons sauce;
- water.
When everything is ready, take the cutter and scrape off part of the chalk, turning it into powder. It is advisable to grind immediately on all work so that you do not have to add chips in the middle of the process. But do not make too much powder. The sauce has a small consumption, a few grams of ground material is enough to fill the whole whatman. Its main part leaves during the filling of the tone, and then it is practically not consumed.
It is advisable to dilute the powder with a brush so as not to overfill the liquid. Dip the brush in water, without squeezing or wiping it, drip onto the palette, and then begin to stir the material until a dark mass is obtained. Try to make the sauce not too thick, because the technique of working with it is still water.
On the palette itself, it can be stirred stronger in one area, and weaker in the other, so that later it is easier to gain the necessary tone in the work. Round, pointed at the end, brushes give a wide range of possibilities and allow you to work with both details and the background.
Paper selection
In whatever technique you use the sauce, it is best to choose thick paper. For a dry drawing, tinted options are suitable that will not fill the background completely, giving the product a highlight.
Wet equipment requires a smooth and stable foundation. Some professionals advise choosing paper for drawing. It does not compress and does not go in waves when wet, and allows you to wash the material much better than even special watercolor paper. So that the sheet does not curl from excess water, it must be pulled and attached to the tablet with a binder, tape or clamps.
Drawing sauce
Artistic sauce is suitable for various types of work. With it, you can make sketches, sketches and sketches, and you can create holistic and serious works. Often the whole picture is filled with chalk of the same color, using a different number of layers to create different tones. At the same time, the sauce goes well with other materials, such as tempera, watercolors, and chalk. Kramskoy has several works in which black sauce is combined with sanguine.
As in watercolor, it is necessary to apply the material to the sheet so that the paper is slightly translucent. If the paint is applied too tightly, then all the charm of the sauce will be lost and the picture will not have the effect of lightness and airiness, but the image will become flat and uninteresting.
At first, light and light tones are usually applied, for which the brush can be additionally moistened with water. When the previous layer is completely dry, you can apply the next one to build up the necessary tone.
The eraser in the work with the sauce is the same art material. You can hatch, dab, lightly remove the top coat of paint to make the shade lighter. All this should be done only after the paper has completely dried, otherwise it will take on lumps, and the work will be spoiled. Correcting such an error is very difficult and a stain with a rough surface is likely to be clearly visible.
Work fixing
A picture made with art sauce must be fixed. In dry technology, the material crumbles and crumbles very much, so it is advisable to cover it with a special fixative for pastel or ordinary hair spray. Wet sauce can simply be sent under the glass, but for reliability, it can also be covered with a latch.