History of Drawing

What is drawing?

Drawing is a visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium. Common instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoals, chalk, pastels, markers, stylus, or various metals like silverpoint. An artist who practices or works in drawing may be referred to as a draughtsman or draftsman.

A small amount of material is released onto the two dimensional medium which leaves a visible mark—the process is similar to that of painting. The most common support for drawing is paper, although other materials such as cardboard, plastic, leather, canvas and board, may be used. Temporary drawings may be made on a blackboard or whiteboard, or indeed almost anything. The medium has been a popular and fundamental means of public expression throughout human history. The relative ease of availability of basic drawing instruments makes drawing more universal than most other media.

History of Drawing

The human being has always felt the need to represent all that surrounds him, finding in drawing, the most interesting means to carry out this desire. The first drawings goes back to the Superior Paleolithic , 35.000 years ago, when the Homo sapiens represented on the cave surfaces of the caves or on the skin of the coats, animals that he hunted. An example of this artistic manifestation can be found in the cave paintings of the caves of Altamira, in Cantabria (Spain). 

Later, the Egyptians knew how to take profit of this art to decorate the most imposing constructions in the history; the pyramids. It had passed thousands of years and the drawing had evolved substantially. From the single-coloured and static composition of the prehistory, a new stride had been made to the balance, thoroughness and coloring of the theological representations in temples and sanctuaries. There was a need to detail the figure of gods to thank them the splendor of the Egyptian empire...