We don't really know how the history of drawing started or who was the first person to draw but what we do know is that the first drawings to draw our attention (Excuse the pun) were done in caves some 30,000 year ago. Drawings of animals that these homo sapiens did were of the animals that they killed to survive. We cannot hope to understand these strange beginnings of both drawing and paintings unless we try to enter into the minds of these primitive people, what made them draw on cave walls and why they did this. Have we got something of the primitive within us today, and why do we draw? knowing why we draw might make us understand why they drew. Today's thoughts are that they drew animals on walls as a sort of achievement or like a souvenir, a reminder of them killing an animal because once they have eaten the animal there is no evidence of what they did, hence drawing and painting animals. Archaeologists refused at first to believe that such vivid representations of animals could have been made by men of the ice age.

 

Gradually elements of stone and of bone were found in the regions of Spain and France which made it increasingly certain that pictures of bison, mammoths and reindeer were indeed scratched or painted by men who hunted this game. The pigments they used were burnt wood, bone, chalk and earth colours and in addition to these pigments used by prehistoric man viridian, ultramarine white lead, vermillion were used in the 14th century and form the basis of the painter's palette today.

 

The range of drawing tools used by later artists began with silverpoint, a metal point used mainly in the 15th century on prepared paper often coloured to show the marks on the implement. The development of the graphite pencil in the 17th century avoided the need for a prepared ground and also enabled the artist to draw in a variety of styles. From the 16th century charcoal (Charred wood) black chalk (Black stone) and red chalk (Mineral) were extensively used in preparatory drawings. Pen and ink may be used for preparatory drawings either alone or in a combination with charcoal or chalk. The use of pastel appeared in the 18th century although using pastel is actually called painting it is still a type of drawing whereby you can draw with the tip of the pastel just like the cave men using chalk or burnt wood.

Email me even if its just for a chat I reply to you within the hour.

How to draw with pencil >>
Other drawing media >>
Drawing papers >>
How to use a pencil >>
Pencil drawing techniques >>
Great drawing artists >>
<<Home