Drawing with plasticine: technique

2025 Author: Sierra Becker | [email protected]. Last modified: 2025-01-22 22:09

Drawing with such material as plasticine is an art that is at the junction of two visual genres - “flat” painting and sculpture, that is, a three-dimensional image of the world around. Plasticine can be safely called an excellent material for creators and artists, but it seems that they have not yet had time to appreciate it.

Drawing with plasticine

If an artist knows the secrets of the material and can turn its shortcomings into undoubted advantages, then he will learn to create not just homemade crafts, but real works of art from plasticine, ranging from the thinnest, almost indistinguishable from oil paintings to convex complex bas-reliefs.

What are the benefits of a material like plasticine?

The first advantage of plasticine is that it easily takes absolutely any shape, easily kneads and rolls out. In addition, it lies on the surface in any layer at the request of the artist. In other words, plasticine drawing is extremely convenient: the creator works with an unusually malleable material. However, plasticity is only one of the many secrets of plasticine.

Secondthe advantage of this material is that it has the quality of toughness, or "stickiness".

The third advantage of plasticine is the rich color range and bright shades. This gives the artist a wide range of opportunities, making painting with plasticine one of the most exciting activities. However, this is far from the last secret.

The fourth advantage of this material is that the plasticine palette can be treated in the same way as art paint. Plasticine drawing technique involves mixing different colors to get new ones. In addition, you can get a full range of intermediate shades.

Thermal lability is the fourth advantage of plasticine mass. It softens easily when heated, even to the temperature of your palms. This makes the artist's hands the main tool in such an activity as painting with plasticine. Some creators do most of the work by smearing the material with their fingers over the entire surface of the future picture.

Drawing with plasticine in kindergarten will contribute to the development of fine motor skills in the hands of kids. This is undoubtedly another advantage of the described material. In addition, plasticine drawing in kindergarten and school contributes to the development of children's creative imagination.

Next, we will talk about the secrets of the technique of drawing with such material.

What do you need to do this?

For the most expressive depiction of objects in a plasticine painting, the artist will need, in-first, the tools, and secondly, his imagination.

First of all, you need high-quality and bright plasticine. The less it sticks to your hands, the better. In addition, it should warm up well and mix with each other.

The basis of the future picture can be plexiglass, hardboard, plywood, thick cardboard or glass. If it is cardboard, then oil stains from the material should not appear on it. In addition, you will need hand napkins, a modeling board, a glass of water, an awl, a rolling pin for rolling material, tweezers, as well as a variety of improvised tools so that the artist can create the desired texture. For example, you can use a metal strainer, comb, garlic crusher. To create blades of grass and stems, you can use a medical syringe without a needle. For thick "sausages" you can use a pastry syringe.

Various natural materials, jewelry, plastic parts and more can be used to decorate the picture. For example, cones, twigs or dry leaves.

A pencil is needed for a sketch on cardboard, on which you will draw with plasticine. Patterns are also allowed.

Plasticine paintings should preferably be framed under glass. If the picture is flat, it can be stored under transparent film.

Drawing with plasticine: master class

Start the intended composition by drawing a sketch on a piece of paper. At this stage, you should choose colors for the details of the image and the background. Do not forget about the combination of shades andcontrast. For example, a yellow detail will appear brighter on a green background, and a blue detail on a yellow one. Remember that the background should not be too bright, as it will distract the observer's attention to itself.

Next, you need to choose the desired format for the future picture and cut out a rectangular plate from the material that will serve as the basis. Transfer the image from the sketch to the base. You can use children's crayons and a coordinate grid. If you are using glass, then you can simply put the sketch under the material and secure with tape.

Preparatory work completed, now you should start creating the image.

Features of working with plasticine

"Pure" colors are always suitable for working with this material. Often, when working to implement the intended color scheme, a mixture of both colors and varieties of plasticine is used. You should select the proportions until you get the desired result.

Don't forget the primary colors. These are red, blue and yellow. Tone derivatives are obtained by mixing them in a certain proportion. If you mix yellow and blue you get green, red and blue make purple, red and yellow make orange.

If you add white plasticine to the resulting shade, it will lose its brightness and become pastel.

If you do not want to get a "dirty" color, then you should not mix more than two colors at the same time.

If you mix fluorescent and matte plasticine, you will get a new quality material.

In order for the surface to acquire a glossy effect, the fingers must be moistened with water.

Sculpting techniques

There are five basic modeling techniques in total. These are rolling, rolling, pulling, smoothing, flattening and pinching. In addition, to achieve the desired texture effect, you must use additional tools at hand.