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70 के दशक में जब हैजा महामारी के रूप में पूरे विश्व में फैला तब अमेरिका में किसी ने ओशो से प्रश्न किया कि इस महामारी से कैसे बचें ?

ओशो : आप प्रश्न ही गलत पूछ रहे हैं, प्रश्न ये होना चाहिये कि महामारी के कारण लोगों के मन में जो मरने का डर बैठ गया है उस डर से कैसे बचा जाये, क्योंकि वायरस से बचना तो बहुत आसान है, लेकिन जो डर दुनिया के लोगों में बैठ गया है, उससे बचना बहुत ही मुश्किल है !

लोग इस महामारी से कम और डर के कारण ज्यादा मरेंगे, डर से ज्यादा खतरनाक इस दुनिया में कोई वायरस नहीं है ! इस डर को समझिये, अन्यथा मौत से पहले ही आप एक जिंदा लाश बन जायेंगे, जो भयावह माहौल आप अभी देख रहे हैं, इसका वायरस से कोई लेना देना नहीं है !

यह एक सामूहिक पागलपन है, जो एक अन्तराल के बाद हमेशा घटता रहता है, कारण बदलते रहते हैं, कभी सरकारों की प्रतिस्पर्धा, कभी कच्चे तेल की कीमतें, कभी दो देशों की लड़ाई तो कभी जैविक हथियारों की टेस्टिंग !

इस तरह का सामूहिक पागलपन समय समय पर प्रगट होता रहता है, व्यक्तिगत पागलपन की तरह, कौमगत, राज्यगत, देशगत और वैश्वीक पागलपन भी होता है, इसमें बहुत से लोग या तो हमेशा के लिए विक्षिप्त हो जाते हैं या फिर मर जाते हैं, ऎसा पहले भी हजारों बार हुआ है और आगे भी होता रहेगा, आने वाले बरसों में युद्ध तोपों से नहीं बल्कि जैविक हथियारों से लड़े जायेंगे !

हर समस्या मूर्ख के लिए डर, जबकि ज्ञानी और विद्वानों के लिए अवसर ! इस महामारी में आप घर बैठिये, पुस्तकें पढिये, एक्सरसाइज कीजिये, शरीर को कष्ट दीजिये, व्यायाम कीजिये, फिल्में देखिये, योग कीजिये एक माह में 15 किलो वजन घटाइये, चेहरे पर बच्चों जैसी ताजगी लाइये, इस महामन्दी में पैसा इन्वेस्ट कीजिये, ये अवसर है जो बीस तीस साल में एक बार आता है, पैसा बनाने की सोचिये, कहां बीमारी की बात करतें हैं !

ये भय और भीड़ का मनोविज्ञान सबके समझ नहीं आता हैं, अगर डरने में मजा नहीं आता तो लोग भूतहा फिल्म देखने क्यों जाते, ये एक सामूहिक पागलपन है जो अखबारों और TV के माध्यम से भीड़ को बेचा जा रहा है, लेकिन सामूहिक पागलपन के क्षण में आपकी मालकियत छिन सकती हैं, आप महामारी से डरते हैं तो आप भी भीड़ का ही हिस्सा हैं !

ओशो-कहते हैं TVपर खबरें सुनना और अखबार पढ़ना बंद करें, ऎसा कोई भी वीडियो या न्यूज़ मत देखिये जिससे आपके भीतर डर पैदा हो, महामारी के बारे में बात करना बंद कर दीजिये, डर भी एक तरह का आत्म सम्मोहन ही है, एक ही तरह के विचार को बार-बार घोकने से शरीर के भीतर रासायनिक बदलाव होने लगता है , जो कभी कभी इतना जहरीला हो सकता है कि आपकी जान भी ले ले !

महामारी के अलावा भी बहुत कुछ दुनिया में हो रहा है, उन पर ध्यान दीजिये, ध्यान साधना से साधक के चारों तरफ एक प्रोटेक्टिव Aura बन जाता है, जो बाहर की नकारात्मक उर्जा को भीतर प्रवेश नहीं करने देता है, अभी पूरी दुनिया की उर्जा नाकारात्मक हो चुकी है, ऎसे में आप कभी भी इस ब्लैक होल में गिर सकते हैं, ध्यान की नाव में बैठकर ही आप इस झंझावात से बच सकते हैं ! शास्त्रों का अध्यन कीजिये, साधू संगत कीजिये, विद्वानों से सीखें !

*आहार का भी विशेष ध्यान रखिये, स्वच्छ जल पियें, अंतिम बात : धीरज रखिये, जल्द ही सब कुछ बदल जायेगा, जब तक मौत न आ जाये, तब तक उससे डरने की कोई ज़रूरत नहीं है और जो अपरिहार्य है उससे डरने का कोई अर्थ भी नहीं है ! डर एक प्रकार की मूढ़ता है, अगर किसी महामारी से अभी नहीं भी मरे तो भी एक न एक दिन मरना ही होगा और वो एक दिन कोई भी दिन हो सकता है, इसीलिये विद्वानों की तरह जियें भीड़ की तरह नहीं...!!*

Papers:

Paper quality is an extremely important factor while drawing in photorealistic way. The texture plays a vital role in the charm & feeling of a drawing. The natural feeling of skin that the texture of a Portrait can capture cannot be felt in the highest quality of photographs. This is what differentiates the joy of looking at textured portraits compared to Photographs. At the same time the thickness of the paper also matters in producing a photorealistic effect. Thickness & toughness of paper is also an important factor because it allows artists to give layers on layers of graphite & charcoal without damaging the paper. A good paper allows you to erase the graphite up to a certain extent without losing the original texture of the paper thus maintaining the uniformity of texture all over the drawing.

Every artist’s choice of paper may be different as per their own levels of comfort with a particular kind of paper. Different artists may like different kinds of textures. Here I am going to talk about my choices of paper. I enjoy the textures of two papers which I use for my drawings.

Strathmore Bristol Vellum And Fabriano Accademia

Strathmore Bristol Vellum Paper Pad

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1) Fabriano Accademia (Schizzi) 120gsm for practising and

2) Fabriano Accademia (Designo) 200gsm for final drawing.

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Fabriano Accademia (Schizzi) 120gsm

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Fabriano Accademia (Designo) 200gsm:

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Pencils:

There are lot of pencil brands in the market. While buying the pencil lot of things have to be taken into consideration.

1) Consistency in the values.
2) Graphite quality. (Allows to sharpen it to a point)
3) Erasing ability with kneaded as well as thin eraser.
4) Wood quality.

By considering all the above points I prefer to use these three pencils:
1) Caran d’Ache (P) Grafwood :- These are very smooth & consistent in values. I loved these pencils for their smoothness in application. Any kind of erasing is quite acceptable in all grades. Wood quality is excellent. But the only thing is that these pencils are somewhat costlier than other brands.

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2) Staedtler Mars Lumograph 100 :- These are my favourite pencils as per the ability to sharpen its lead to utmost point is amazing. It is the most reliable pencils in case of consistency & using a sharpener. Its 8B is an amazing combination of graphite & charcoal. It gives a dark value without glazing or glare on the surface where most of the artists try to avoid glare on their graphite drawing. Its ability to make a sharp point is amazing and consistent.

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Staedtler 8B pencil Recommended! BUY HERE! https://amzn.to/2q1Z7xU

Also, COnte e paris 3b is also recommended for portrait drawing

3) The Blick (R) Studio:- These pencils also are a good choice if we consider consistency in values & graphite quality. One advantage of these pencils is they are quite cheaper than the other two brands.
For extreme dark shades I use staedtler 8B, Generals carbon sketch & Conte a’Paris company’s Pierre noire 3B as per the volume & darkness needed in the drawing. Pierre noire 3B are very smooth oil based charcoal pencils. You will love it and one of the advantages of this pencils is it does not spread over the paper like loose charcoal pencil.

Eraser:

My personal opinion is to keep the use of eraser as minimum as possible so that the texture of paper will be maintained throughout the drawing. The use of an eraser is unavoidable. One can use an eraser in a very creative way to produce different kinds of textures. Mostly to prevent da Kneaded_eraser

mage to the texture we use kneaded eraser which can be used by just tapping to absorb the extra graphite on the paper without rubbing it on paper thus maintaining the texture.

Kneaded Eraser:- I highly recommend you to buy the kneaded eraser as a lost lasting tool. you can buy Kneaded Eraser of various brands. Go for Cretacolor, Faber Castle, Staedtler or Prisma color.

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Stick Eraser:- These erasers come in the form of thin sticks which can be used like pencils to erase graphite in delicate areas. These can be used to create highlights in hair as well as while drawing animals. It helps in creating intricate details which brings a lot of life to the drawings.

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Electric Eraser:- These battery operated erasers are used to erase darker graphite layers. We have to use these kinds of erasers very gently otherwise it can dampen the texture as well as paper resulting in wasting the complete drawing. It damages the paper texture so one has to be very careful while using an electric eraser. Derwent eraser is a good battery operated eraser. While using this eraser the direction of erasing should be the exact opposite to the rotation of the eraser then it gives a good result. One can sharpen this eraser with the help of polish paper so that you can make very good use of its edge for erasing sharp lines.

You can buy from here!

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Stencil

Those who have joined our online course would definitely know how stencils helps us.

For learning the techniques of bringing realism, we initially train into the process of how to hold the pencil and how to create plain patches and smooth gradation without smudging. For this, one needs to practice constantly and an ellipse stencil is what we will need in the initial stages. You can buy either of these.

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Isomars Metric Large Ellipse Drawing Template Stencil

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Stomps / Tortilon:

These are made up of paper & used for blending graphite. These are the spirally bound paper framing cone sharp at the tip. After it is used for awhile stomps itself can be used to do some amount of shading. It can be used to fill up the empty tiny spots left while hatching with the pencils so that shading appears much smoother.

Gray Scale:

Gray scale is a very good tool to match the tonal values from the reference photograph. Actually it helps to match the exact shade of the part from photographs with the drawing otherwise sometimes because of illusions one cannot generate the same kind of tonal ratios resulting in change of identity or expressions of a character.

Tracing Paper:

This paper is used to cover the drawing paper so that the trace of oil on human skin will not affect the drawing paper. At the same time it will protect the drawing from rubbing against the graphite layers. We have to keep this paper below our hand all the time while drawing.

Fixative

In drawing, a fixative is a liquid, similar to varnish, which is usually sprayed over a finished piece of artwork, usually a dry media artwork, to better preserve it and prevent smudging.

Lightly spray first coat horizontally. Let dry for 5 minutes atleast. Make sure the layer is even and smooth.
Lightly spray second coat vertically. Let dry for 5minutes. Make sure the layer is even and smooth. Let it dry on a flat surface and place a tracing paper over it and preserve it in a folder.

Winsor & Newton Professional Fixative Spray are the BEST. It provides a non-removable, colourless and transparent finish. For use on charcoal, pencil, pastel and chalk drawings to protect from smudging & dust. You Should definitely buy this! 150ml or 400ml, whichever you can.

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Winsor & Newton Professional Fixative Spray (400ml):

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Winsor & Newton Professional Fixative Spray (150ml):

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Buds & Brushes:

Flat round cornered brush is an excellent tool to smoothen the pencil shading. It fills up all the tiny white spots with some graphite giving the drawing a much better finish. Remember that blending is the key to make the drawing photorealistic. A flat brush also helps.

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Big Flat brush:

This brush is necessary to clean the drawing after erasing. It will also remove the extra graphite powder from the drawing. Any soft paint brush will solve this purpose. Hands can never be used as it will smear the drawing.

Flat round cornered brush is an excellent tool to smoothen the pencil shading. It fills up all the tiny white spots with some graphite giving the drawing a much better finish. Remember that blending is the key to make the drawing photorealistic. Buy only one Soft Filbert Brush size 6
Big Flat brush:
This brush is necessary to clean the drawing after erasing. It will also remove the extra graphite powder from the drawing. Any soft paint brush will solve this purpose. Hands can never be used as it will smear the drawing. You can use any flat brush of Arora artist quality of 2 inches.

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Sharpener:

The perfect sharpener is the key tool in the arsenal of any pencil artist. I’d like to say that I am crazy after a good pencil sharpener.
There are three kinds of pencil sharpeners:

1) Single blade sharpener :- This is used for bringing extreme sharp points to the pencil which is necessary for detailing in the drawing & creating smooth lines & surfaces. Its cons are it doesn’t last long enough & sometimes chances are it breaks the lead if you sharpen the pencil with little extra force.

My favourite pencil sharpeners are:-
– Staedtler pencil sharpener

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– Faber Castell trio pencil sharpener

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2) Hand cranked Pencil Sharpener(Mechanical) :
In this kind of a sharpener the blade is of a cylindrical type with multiple sharp threads on it. Some time two rotary blades are used in it. To sharpen the pencil we have to insert the pencil and adjust it as per the requirement and then by rotating the handle pencil get sharpened. The advantage of this kind of a sharpener above the standard sharpener is the life of the blade. This mechanical sharpener can last for a year while sharpening pencils. Disadvantage is that it shaves off more wood and graphite from the pencil than the standard pencil sharpener. One of the most reliable sharpeners in quality I found is the Mitsubishi KH-20. It is a very smooth sharpener and sharpens even charcoal pencils also.

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3) Electric Pencil Sharpener :

Electric pencil sharpeners work on the same principle as hand cranked ones, but the cylindrical cutters or rotary blades are rotated by an electric motor. Some electric pencil sharpeners are powered by batteries rather than being plugged into a direct electrical system, making them more portable.

These are more handy while doing drawings because it doesn’t require both the hands to sharpen your pencil and it saves lot of time in sharpening the pencil. But one cannot give you the guarantee or reliability about the quality of the sharpened pencils. The most reliable sharpener I found is Imikas Electric pencil sharpener. It gives much more satisfactory sharp points to the pencil.

Auto-stop electric pencil sharpeners are able to sense when the tip of the pencil is long enough and then stop. In basic automatic pencil sharpeners the lead may become too long and break, and so users must be careful to time the action.

Ruler:

Any transparent ruler of 30 inches is necessary for drawing lines on the drawing paper. These lines are for the purpose of drawing the outline & details of the portraits in the perfect scale & proportion. If one has to bring photo realism in the drawing the scale is an extremely important tool to have the exact proportion in the work.

A Good Reference Photo:

The photo from which you want to make a drawing should be clear enough so that every detail is visible. Take care that the Photo is not taken in harsh sunlight or any kind of harsh light. Take the photograph such that a soft light is falling on the face from any one side. It gives a rounding to the character & helps to bring depth into the drawing. It will also help you to create an interest in your drawing. Your drawing will look more attractive if the reference photo is having an appropriate balance of contrast & highlights. So be a choosy person while taking a reference photograph for the drawing.

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5 Type Tools for Blending Graphite Pencil and Charcoal

I’m going to run through five different tools that you can use to blend your charcoal and graphite pencils to get really soft, smooth shading. Even better, you probably already have them lying around in your house! For real-time drawing and painting tutorials click hear.

Tool 1; tissue. Try to get tissue that is soft and smooth, without any pattern indents. Wrap it around your finger so you have control over it and then blend gently in circular motions. This is a great technique for blending skin and softening everything out. It gets rid of all the pencil strokes so you can’t see any white grain anymore.

Tool 2; cotton bud. Again, I like to use circular motions but this time cotton buds are great for smaller areas, such as shading on the eyes. It gives you more control than the tissue but is just as effective. One thing you may notice is that the tissue lifts more graphite than the cotton bud and lightens an area, so the tissue can be used to create subtle highlights.

Tool 3; paper. Use a little square and fold it to make a point that you wrap around your finger again. You want a flat surface on the pad of your finger. It is not as effective as the previous two, and you do need to press harder, but it is another cheap, easy method to get remove graininess from your drawing. Blending stumps are more effective and still quite cheap (they are paper compressed into a stump). I would recommend investing in a pack of blending stumps for your pencil drawings.

Tool 4; cloth. You can use any bit of scrap cloth for this, just wrap it around your finger and blend in gentle circular motions. The cloth you get in glasses cases works great for blending and cloth is reusable, which saves on waste.

Tool 5; your finger. The most convenient tool to use for blending is your fingers. This is not as archival, which is why I would recommend this method as a last resort. The problem is your hands can be quite oily and transfer those oils onto your drawing paper. This can make your blending blotchy and uneven. If you do want to blend with your fingers make sure you wash and dry your hands before you blend, which will minimize the oil transfer to the paper.

To see these blending tools in action, watch the video below: