Jay Greig

Learning to draw is a continuous adventure. If you have not started at a young age, it may seem intimidating to pick up a pencil and create a sketch, but don't let those worries defeat you! Although there are hundreds of incredible artists in the world, each one had to start from scratch at some point and, as with all creative skills, drawing is something that can be perfected with passion and dedication.

Many beginning artists suffer because they have unrealistic standards for themselves, which triggers creative blocks and lowers motivation. Remember that a good base is essential and knowing the basic drawing techniques will help you, for example, to draw a realistic portrait. With that in mind, consider what your drawing level is right now and set a realistic goal for yourself — like drawing a hand, a butterfly, or doing fan art of your favorite series. It can be anything, as long as the goal is within reach. An alternative is to have a series of smaller goals that allow you to stay motivated.

Whether you have years of drawing experience, or you are eager to learn, Carson City graphite artist Jay Greig has put together a list of practical tips on how to draw better and take your art to the next level.

Do you need some new materials before you start drawing? Take a look at Jay Greig’s guide to the best drawing materials, colored pencils, sketchbooks, pens, and markers that professionals and beginners alike will love.

Practice every day

We've all heard this advice, but it bears repeating. Improving your drawing skills requires constant practice — preferably every day. To understand why this is important, you can compare drawing to sport. Just as it takes hours and hours of practice for a baseball pitcher to perfect a curveball, it takes a lot of time (and paper) to make a realistic drawing of an apple.

Although the professional artist on Pictorem or Instagram, seems to create complex realistic portraits very easily, this is because he has spent years honing his skills. Even if you've been successful in other art forms like ceramics or sculpture, drawing can be particularly tricky. This is because when you draw — especially when you draw something real — you are translating three-dimensional objects into a two-dimensional medium. This requires you to train your brain and hands to work together to create precise strokes. The only way to develop these important skills is through practice.

Jay Greig is a graphite pencil artist whose work shows a marked influence of technology and digitization, elements that he mixes with a very particular aesthetic. Whether its hyper-realism or surrealism, Jay Greig’s graphite drawings are blowing up right now, and here's what you need to know about this contemporary artist.

Q: Inevitably, the first question arises. Who is Jay Greig?

Jay Greig: I am a budding artist, who still has a lot to learn. I try to create work that is relevant to our world, but, in doing so, I ask you to see my messages through different perspectives

Q: What is Art for you and what lead you to dedicate yourself to it?

Jay Greig: For me, art is the expression of life, observed from infinite angles of vision. What lead me to dedicate myself to art was that attempt to express my own way of perceiving it.

Q l: Looking at your work we find it difficult to believe that some of it is real. What is the secret to achieving such results, that precision in your drawings and that beauty in your images?

Jay Greig: Some very expensive pencils:). No, I remember when I was a child, someone asked me why I drew so well, I didn't know what to answer at that time, because for me it was normal to do it like that.

Q: There are artists with an almost perfect technique who, however, do not say anything with their work. Why do you that happens? How is an artist different from a simple draftsman or from "a copy machine"?

Jay Greig: I can't tell you what others do, the only thing I can tell you is the passion that I put into each stroke, the same passion that I try to convey to those who observe my works.

Q: Even if your work is based on photographs, what are your sources of inspiration and what do you want to convey to the viewer?

Jay Greig: My inspiration is beauty. Therefore, I intend to reflect it in my drawings. There is a very important person in my life, who gives me a lot of that beauty that I need to feed myself.

Q: Your work is predominantly in white, black and gray, although here and there we see notes of color that contrast with the whole. What do these details mean?

Jay Greig: I have always been attracted to those photographs in black and white or sepia, which were later retouched by the photographer, adding a touch of color in his studio. I suppose that in my work there is a certain reminiscence of those photos. The meaning of color is the one that the observer (myself included) wants to give it, or simply the sensations that it arouses in their gaze.

Graphite pencil as we know it today, a mine inserted into a piece of wood, made its appearance in England in the 16th century.

In this article, Jay Greig, a graphite pencil artist will share some historical facts about graphite pencil.

Greig is a talented graphite pencil artist from Carson City, Nevada. His artworks have been been widely published and dwell in collections in Europe, the UAE and the United States.

Jay Greig holds an Associate of Arts Degree from the University of Nevada.

Greig shares the fact that Konrad Steiner devised the concept of a wooden pencil in 1565 following the discovery of the pure graphite mines, plumbago. Subsequently, the concept experienced significant improvements.

The talented graphite pencil artist, Greig, shares that, the most important people in the history of the pencil were:

• Nicolas-Jacques Conté: in 1794, pure graphite was difficult to obtain due to a blockage with England. So he invented a mine that was obtained by mixing normal graphite and clay, fired under pressure at very high temperatures. Greig explains that this is still the recipe for making pencil mines. He filed the patent for the recipe and started producing pencils at his factory. Greig points out that Conté pencils are still among the big pencil brands.

• Lothar Faber: a few years later, in 1840, this other great person in the history of the pencil was interested in the improvements of the graphite pencil that could be made. Lothar Faber sought to work on the hardness of the mines. He developed different recipes. Greig, who is well-known for realistic artworks, shares the interesting fact that Faber gave the wood a hexagonal shape to prevent the pencils from rolling on the desks.

Jay Greig indicates that colored pencils appeared in the early 20th century. Previously, pastel colored pencils that could be sharpened, were used. These were made mostly from oil. They were invented by Johann Sebastian Staedtler in 1834.