Each feather has a spine from which it spreads in a definite shape. Soft, yes, and delicate, but with a curved spine and a broad tip. Look at those nearest to you . . . and draw their shapes delicately. Hold your pencil lightly, give a gentle, feather touch, and, as feathers are bunched together, and some will be in shadow, put in the shadows lightly, but sharply. Then pause and look at your drawing.
Have you 'handled' the drawing of the wood and the feathers differently? Does the leather look more substantial than the feathers?
The work is not easy, but practice will soon give a surer touch. You are playing a scale with your pencil as one plays a scale on a piano. Deep bass notes, then the middle strong notes, and lastly soft delicate treble. We must try to make our pencil speak with a varied tongue.
Drawing different textures might include a kettle and a kettle-holder (shiny metal—rough cloth or velvet); a small piece of fur coiled near, or over, a hard cricket-ball; a cake of soap and a loofah. A woman's hat with a soft wide brim (not the pudding basin variety, which is most difficult for unpractised fingers), trimmed with a cluster of berries, or a twisted bow of ribbon, gives us several different textures.
We must hold the pencil delicately, loosely, and half-way up the shaft if we wish to convey the delicacy of fur and fine hairs. If we would show the richness of velvet, we must use our pencil with determination and shift our fingers for a shorter and firmer grip.
All this will come with practice. There is no need to worry yourself with harassing doubts. Do your best; no one can do more.
When we work alone, we are very apt to get weary and depressed with our difficulties.
We sit before our little models and look so often that we see less and less, instead of more and more.
It is very wise occasionally to cover up your model, or, at any rate, to turn your back upon it for a while.
This will often appear to increase your difficulties, but
