Drawing tool

Abstract

The present invention provides a drawing tool for an artist, draughtsman or hobbyist etc., the drawing tool comprising a handle and a retaining means disposed on the handle. The retaining means being adapted to releasably retain an elongate drawing material, such as a graphite lead, in an orientation substantially transverse to the axis of the handle. In use, manipulation of the handle and selective application of pressure to the elongate drawing material enables the drawing material to be applied to a drawing surface to thereby control the degree of shading on the drawing surface. The hand tool has particular application to reliably rendering gradients when shading with graphite and chalk etc. To be accompanied, when published, by FIG. 1 of the drawings, deposit varying thicknesses of graphite on the paper to modify the gradient of the shading.

Claims

1. A drawing tool for holding drawing material while drawing, said drawing tool comprising: a handle; a retaining means disposed on said handle, said retaining means defining a partially open bore having an axis substantially transverse to an axis of said handle, said bore being configured to releasably retain an elongate drawing material in an orientation substantially transverse to said axis of said handle so that a full length of a side of said drawing material protrudes from said partially open bore beyond a defined imaginary line joining outer extremities of tips of said retaining means defining an opening of said partially open bore allowing said full length of said drawing material to be applied to a surface; and a lever pivotably fitted to an underside of said handle, said lever being configured to be manipulated by a user to alter an angle at which a forward tip of said handle is used; wherein said retaining means is configured to retain an elongate drawing material by way of a friction fit.

2. The drawing tool of claim 1, wherein said elongate drawing material is selected from the group consisting of a graphite lead, a pressed charcoal pencil, a natural charcoal stick, a chalk and a wax crayon.

3. The drawing tool of claim 1, wherein said bore is configured to receive and releasably grip the elongate drawing material within at least part of said bore.

4. The drawing tool of claim 3, wherein said retaining means is a first retaining means, and said handle further comprises a second retaining means disposed on said handle in spaced relation to said first retaining means.

5. The drawing tool of claim 4, wherein said second retaining means is configured to retain said second elongate drawing material by way of a friction fit.

6. The drawing tool of claim 4, wherein said second retaining means defines a partially open bore having an axis substantially transverse to said axis of said handle, said partially open bore of said second retaining means is configured so that a full length of a side of said drawing material protrudes from said partially open bore beyond a defined imaginary line joining outer extremities of tips of said second retaining means defining an opening of said partially open bore allowing said full length of said drawing material to be applied to a surface.

7. The drawing tool of claim 6, wherein said bore of said first retaining means is of a different size to said bore of said second retaining means.

8. The drawing tool of claim 6, wherein said axis of said bore of said first retaining means is substantially parallel to said axis of said bore of said second retaining means.

9. The drawing tool of claim 8, wherein said handle is elongate.

10. The drawing tool of claim 9, wherein said axis of said handle is defined by a longitudinal axis that runs along said elongate handle.

11. The drawing tool of claim 10, wherein said handle is planar, and wherein an orientation of the elongate drawing material is such that the elongate drawing material resides within a plane of said handle.

12. The drawing tool of claim 4, wherein said first retaining means is disposed on a first end portion of said handle, said second retaining means is disposed on a second end portion of said handle opposite said first retaining means, and wherein said first and second end portions of said handle each having an axis different than said axis of said handle.

13. The drawing tool of claim 4, wherein said bores of said first and second retaining means each define an opening down one side, said openings of said bores each being defined along a length of said handle such that a part of an outer wall of said bores are missing at a leading edge of said handle respectively.

14. The drawing tool of claim 13, wherein said part of said outer wall of said bores is one third of a circumference of said bore.

15. The drawing tool of claim 4, wherein said open bores of said first and second retaining means being angled away from each other.

16. The drawing tool of claim 1, wherein said lever comprises a distal end configured to rest against a drawing surface to alter the angle of said forward tip of said handle, and wherein said lever is biased by a spring that is contact with said lever and said handle.

17. The drawing tool of claim 16, wherein said lever includes a pivot connection between said distal end and a proximal end of said lever, said spring is located between said pivot connection and said proximal end, and said spring contacts said lever and said handle.

18. A drawing tool kit comprising: a drawing tool comprising: a handle; a retaining means disposed on said handle, said retaining means defining a partially open bore having an axis substantially transverse to an axis of said handle, said bore being configured to releasably retain an elongate drawing material in an orientation substantially transverse to said axis of said handle; and a lever pivotably fitted to an underside of said handle, said lever being configured to be manipulated by a user to alter an angle at which a forward tip of said handle is used; wherein said retaining means is configured to retain an elongate drawing material by way of a friction fit; wherein said bore is configured to receive and releasably grip said elongate drawing material within at least part of said bore so that a full length of a side of said drawing material protrudes from said partially open bore beyond a defined imaginary line joining outer extremities of tips of said retaining means defining an opening of said partially open bore allowing said full length of said drawing material to be applied to a surface.

19. A method of using a drawing tool, said method comprising the steps of: a) providing a drawing tool comprising a handle, a retaining means disposed on said handle, a lever pivotably fitted to an underside of said handle, said lever being manipulated by a user to alter an angle at which a forward tip of said handle is used, said retaining means defining a partially open bore having an axis substantially transverse to an axis of said handle; b) introducing an elongate drawing material to be received in said bore so that said elongate drawing material is in an orientation substantially transverse to said axis of said handle so that a full length of a side of said drawing material protrudes from said partially open bore beyond a defined imaginary line joining outer extremities of tips of said retaining means defining an opening of said partially open bore allowing said full length of said drawing material to be applied to a surface; c) retaining said elongate drawing material in said bore by way of a friction fit; and d) controlling said drawing tool by applying a finger pressure to an uppermost portion of a part of said handle that comprises said retaining means.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

(2) FIG. 1shows a side view of a drawing tool according to a particularly preferred embodiment of the present invention;

(3) FIG. 2shows a magnified view of a part of the drawing tool of FIG. 1, illustrating an example retaining means;

(4) FIG. 3shows the drawing tool of FIG. 2 ready for use, with an example elongate drawing material retained by the retaining means;

(5) FIG. 4shows a top plan view of the drawing tool of FIG. 1, ready for use, with an example elongate drawing material retained by the retaining means.

(6) FIG. 5shows a side view of a drawing tool according to a another preferred embodiment of the present invention, illustrating first and second retaining means;

(7) FIG. 6shows a top plan view of the drawing tool of FIG. 5, ready for use, with example elongate drawing materials retained by the first and second retaining means.

(8) FIG. 7illustrates an example use of the drawing tool of FIG. 1 by an artist;

(9) FIGS. 8 & 9show respective side views of drawing tools according to other preferred embodiments of the present invention; and

(10) FIGS. 10 & 11show respective side views of drawing tools according to further embodiments of the present invention.

(11) FIG. 12shows an end view of a further embodiment of a drawing tool having a retaining means on the second end of the tool and preferably holding a disc shaped lead.

(12) FIG. 13shows a side view of the embodiment of FIG. 12, showing a bend in the handle and a preferred position for the user's finger.

(13) FIG. 14shows top and bottom plan views of the embodiment of FIG. 12.

(14) FIG. 15shows the embodiment of FIG. 14 in an example use.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(15) Referring to FIG. 1, there is a shown a particularly preferred embodiment of a drawing tool 10 according to the present invention. The drawing tool 10 comprises an elongate handle 12 of rectangular cross-section. The handle 12 serves as the body of the tool 10 and is made from a rigid plastic. The plastic may be a transparent plastic or otherwise may be partially translucent or opaque. The tool 10 is approximately 12 cm long in length, and is approximately 1 cm in width by 0.5 cm in height. Although it is to be appreciated that any other suitable dimensions may be used.

(16) In the example of FIG. 1, the tool 10 has been fabricated by an injection moulding process according to conventional techniques.

(17) The handle 12 is substantially planar and defines a longitudinal axis that runs along the length of the handle 12. At the first end of the handle 12, there is located a retaining means comprising a partially open bore 14 having an axis substantially transverse to the axis of the handle 12. The bore 14 is formed as part of the injection moulding process, but can otherwise be machined later if necessary. As shown in FIG. 2, the bore 14 is approximately circular in cross-section and is sized to accommodate an elongate drawing material, such as a graphite lead, of a specified diameter.

(18) The bore 14 is open down one side, along its length, such that the outer wall of the bore is missing at the leading edge of the handle 12. The open part of the bore 14 therefore serves as an opening through which to receive a cylindrical graphite lead 16, by way of a push-fit action, which securely holds the lead 16 in place via friction within the bore 14, as shown in FIG. 3. The diameter of the bore 14 is just sufficient to receive a graphite lead 16 of specific size and hold it in place, without damaging or snapping the lead.

(19) Of course, it is to be appreciated that the bore size will depend on the size of the graphite lead to be used by the artist, and therefore different tools will be required for different graphite sizes. Typical graphite lead sizes for art purposes range from 3 mm to about 10 mm or more. Hence, the tools (and bore) can be sized appropriately as necessary.

(20) As shown in FIG. 3, when the graphite lead 16 is fitted to the tool 10, a portion of the outer surface of the lead protrudes beyond the open walled part of the bore 14, along the length of the lead, which extends in both directions either side of the bore 14 transversely to the axis of the handle 12 and along the axis of the bore 14 (as shown in FIG. 4). As a result, the artist can then make use of the full length of the lead to effect shading on a drawing surface, such as paper, when the lead is applied to the surface of the paper (not shown). In this way, potentially large areas of the paper can then be shaded by manipulating the tool 10 to drag the graphite lead 16 across the paper to produce gradient shading effects.

(21) An advantage of using cylindrical leads is that when the current edge becomes worn, the lead may then be rotated within the bore to present a new edge (i.e. curved face) to the drawing surface. However, if at some future time the artist wishes to completely replace the graphite lead 16, for example due to all edges of the lead wearing down or to replace it with a different grade of lead (i.e. hardness or blackness) of the same diameter, he/she simply pushes the lead 16 out of the bore 14 and push-fits a replacement back into the tool 10.

(22) Referring now to FIG. 5, there is shown another example of a drawing tool 20 of the present invention. However, in this example the tool 20 includes a second retaining means located at the opposite end of the handle 22 to that of the first retaining means. In this example, the first retaining means is identical to the bore 14 of the tool 10 of FIGS. 1 to 4, and therefore is adapted to receive graphite leads in the manner as described above. However, in the tool 20 of FIG. 5, the second retaining means comprises a partially open bore 28 that is sized to receive and hold a graphite lead 16b of a different size as to that of the first bore 24. Of course, it is to be appreciated that both bores 24 and 28 may be of the same size, depending on the particular tool.

(23) The second bore 28 is the same in form (except internal diameter) to that of the first bore 24 and therefore it has an axis that is parallel to the axis of the first bore 24, which in turn requires that both bores have axes that are transverse to the axis of the handle 22.

(24) Hence, it is possible to mount graphite leads 16a, 16b that are each orthogonal to the handle 22, so that the full length of each lead can be separately applied to the surface of the paper. As a result, the second graphite lead 16b can be used to effect additional shading (optionally at a different grade of hardness or blackness) to that of the first graphite lead 16a, with the combined shading of both leads being complementary to the aesthetic appeal of the finished drawing. The second graphite lead 16b is simply push-fitted into the second bore 28, as in the manner of the first graphite lead 16a, and is held via a friction fit. Should a replacement lead be subsequently required, the artist need only push the lead 16b out of the second bore 28 and insert a new one.

(25) The use of the drawing tool will now be described in respect of the tool of FIGS. 1 to 4. However, it is to be appreciated that a tool having two-bores is operated in much the same way as one having only a single bore, except that the artist has the option to rotate the tool to make use of another graphite lead of potentially different size and/or grade of thickness/blackness.

(26) During use, as shown in FIG. 7, the artist grips the handle 12 of the tool 10 and may typically extend his/her index finger 30, so that the artist's finger 30 rests on the graphite lead 16 at a point 32 along its length. To effect shading on the paper, the artist presses the body of the lead 16 against the surface and drags the tool 10 across the paper in a curved motion, as indicated by the arrow 34. (Of course, in practice the motion may be linear or a combination of curved and linear, as required).

(27) As the lead 16 is securely held by the tool 10 at approximately its mid-point, and therefore is not being directly gripped by the artist, the artist is free to selectively position his/her finger 30 at any point 32 along the length of the lead 16 to increase the downward pressure on the lead at that point, thereby producing an enhanced shading effect (as indicated by the dashed arrow in FIG. 7) on the paper located under or near that point of the lead. Hence, the artist has much greater control over the degree of shading as the tool 10 is dragged across the surface of the paper, which allows for better control of the gradient within the shading.

(28) As a result, many different kinds of gradient shading effects can be produced than otherwise would be possible if the artist were to simply hold the lead between their fingers, as this can be difficult to reliably control, while the selective application of pressure enables the graphite to be deposited on the surface according to the pressure differential established along the length of the lead 16.

(29) Moreover, as the artist is also able to place at least one finger directly on top of the part of the handle 12 that comprises the bore 14, he/she can then directly manipulate the direction and motion of that end of the handle as the tool is dragged across the surface. In this way, the artist can reliably control both the motion of the tool and the pressure applied to the graphite lead 16, which enables him/her to achieve any desired shading shape and/or effect.

(30) In addition, further effects can also be achieved by twisting or tilting the handle 12 of the tool 10 as it is dragged across the surface of the paper, as again this action can vary the pressure along the length of the lead 16, which can cause it to selectively

(31) The pressure differential along the graphite lead can yet further be controllably altered by varying the shape of the handle of the tool. Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, other examples of the tool can include either a kinked or disjointed handle or a substantially curved or arcuate handle. In each case, the artist is able to manipulate the handle while selectively applying pressure to a point or points along the length of the graphite lead.

(32) In addition, the tool 10 may also be adapted to include means for further facilitating the raising and lowering of the forward tip of the handle (e.g. the end at which the first bore resides), to allow even more controlled manipulation of the tool, and in particular, to aid twisting and rotation of the tool relative to the drawing surface. Hence, as shown in FIG. 10, a protrusion 40 or projection on the tip of the handle 12 may be provided, which is disposed so as to come into contact with the drawing surface (not shown) when the handle 12 is angled near or close to the perpendicular to the drawing surface (e.g. the normal to the plane of the paper). In this way, the tool 10 may then be lifted away from the paper by using the protrusion 40 as a pivot point, enabling the artist to manipulate the tool with little or no significant effort. As a result, it is found that the tool is even easier to use and thus permits greater control over the degree of gradient shading.

(33) Referring to FIG. 11, a similar function may be achieved by the use of a pivoted lever 42 on the underside of the handle 12, which is biased by way of a spring 44. The lever 42 is operated by the pressure of the artist's fingers, which allows the lever to be compressed and released against the action of the spring 44. The distal end of the lever rests against the drawing surface (not shown) and hence manipulation of the lever 42 relative to the handle 12, alters the angle at which the forward tip of the tool 10 may be used. Therefore, again greater control of the tool can be achieved, while further facilitating lifting of the handle away from the paper to thereby controllably manipulate and twist the tool 10.

(34) The preceding arrangements are consistent with any of the embodiments disclosed herein and hence may be used interchangeably with, or in addition to, any of the features described in relation to the foregoing examples, without limitation.

(35) Thus, the drawing tool of the present invention provides artists and craftsman with significant advantages in terms of rendering complex and aesthetically pleasing shading effects, while remaining under the complete control of the artist and yet being easy to hold and use. In addition, the tool may be used by both left- and right-handed artists, without any loss of control or functionality.

(36) The tool is found to be particularly well suited for life drawing, as discussed previously, since the tool is able to produce relatively large areas of gradient shading in a relatively short period of time, which hitherto has been a significant difficulty for artists who use the more traditional shading techniques, requiring the graphite to be held by hand. Hence, shading can be accomplished very quickly using this tool, and by altering the length of the lead that protrudes from either side of the bore, the width of the drawn gradient shading can be proportionately varied, such that a longer protruding length would give rise to a wider area of gradient shading, and vice versa.

(37) Moreover, it is envisaged that the present drawing tool may be a valuable teaching aid for children and art students, as it enables them to render realistic gradients and shading much more easily and quickly than traditional drawing methods. With the current emphasis on easy techniques that produce instant results, graphite/pencil drawing has been largely abandoned by schools and art colleges. However, the present drawing tool can itself produce instant results, and may help put graphite/pencil drawing back on the curricula, and may possibly assist many more people to discover the rewarding and valued art of drawing.

(38) Although the drawing tool of the present invention is ideally suited for rendering a reliable and controllable gradient shading on a drawing surface, it will be recognized that one or more of the principles of the invention may extend to other artistic, and potentially non-artistic, applications, whereby a hand tool is required to controllable apply a layer of material to a surface such that a pressure differential can be exerted by a user to achieve different thicknesses across the layer, e.g. such as in gluing applications etc.

(39) The above embodiments are described by way of example only. Many variations are possible without departing from the invention.