DRAWING FROM LINE TO LIFE Beginners Course

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1 WEEK 2 Remember last week when I asked you to draw blocks of tone with each pencil, and on the second line to draw as heavily as you could? The object of that exercise was make you produce the darkest blacks you could manage. Even if you think you ve achieved that goal, the chances are that you can go even darker. Achieving dense blacks really matters. Have you noticed that when you compare the work of different artists you often feel that the work of one is flat and lifeless where the work of another has a presence that grabs your attention? The simple answer often lies in the wider range of tonal contrasts used. As you will learn, it pays to widen your tonal range as far as you can so that your darkest darks really offset and boost your brightest whites. If you customarily draw with a light touch, your darkest tones (also known as values) will be relatively light. They set a limit to your available tonal range. Imagine that the other limit is the white of your paper, and you ll see that you are forcing all intermediate tones to fall between those two imposed limits. You cannot, you might think, alter the white of your paper but you can influence the density of your darks and blacks. By increasing your darkest tones from your normal dark grey to a near-black, you immediately widen the range of tones available to you. You have a whole new palette of greys to work with. And a further benefit you actually can brighten the white of your paper. The human eye will make allowances for an off-white paper and, if the content suggests it, read it as white. The intensity of that white is directly proportional to the darkest black. So by increasing the strength of your blacks you automatically increase the brightness of your whites too. If you draw, for instance, a really dark pupil surrounding a key highlight in an eye, that white highlight will shine with a brilliance you once thought impossible. Try to draw with the greatest possible range of tones. Your dense blacks and paper whites will work against each other to produce that attention-grabbing contrast. We can take this natural phenomenon a stage further we can dull all white areas that need not, or should not, be read by the eye as white. Consider that eye again if we lightly tone down the white of the eye, leaving only the highlight displaying the white of the paper, we further increase that highlight s brilliance! As an illustration, when drawing a landscape I used to leave skies white. But I soon learned that even the lightest of tones added to that sky would make my 1

2 true whites stand out. It concentrates the attention on the highlights and, by default, those highlights serve to make the darks appear darker. It s a win, win situation. APPLYING TONE Tonal values can be applied in a number of ways - cross-hatching, circular marks, random scribblings, zigzag shading, and the drawing of adjacent parallel lines (my personal preference). But for now I suggest you use the flat face of your chisel points and work horizontally from side to side. EXERCISE 1 Draw a box on your drawing paper about 2 x 3 (5 x 8cm) and just outside the box make a mark one-third down the height, then add a second mark two-thirds down. Take your 4B pencil and begin to shade the box. Start at the top and use as much weight as you can to produce a solid black. You re going to work in the top third of the box only, gradually decreasing the weight as you work downwards, aiming to decrease the tone almost to white as you reach the top marker you placed at the side. If it helps, you might prefer to begin at that top marker and work upwards to black what s best is whatever suits you. There s no need to be tidy, and it may help if you go over the area a few times. I tend to work my way down, and then back up again; slightly varying the angle of my shading to catch the light areas I missed. I might do this a few times before the gradation appears to be smooth. Now take your HB pencil. Begin right at the top, so you draw over your 4B, and repeat the exercise. But this time aim to decrease the tone to white as you approach the second marker. You should now have two-thirds of the box completed ranging from a mix of 4B and HB at the top, down to a mere suggestion of HB at the bottom of the midsection. Finally, using your 4H pencil, begin again right at the top. Gradually decrease the tone as you progress downwards until you leave the very bottom slim segment white. The top section should now have three layers of graphite (4B, HB and 4H); the central section should have layers of both HB and 4H; and the bottom third should contain only 4H that fades to white at the base. Practice this exercise a few times to gain the most benefit from it. 2

3 BURNISHING You may have noticed that your 4B has changed its appearance? Where once it looked grainy with spots of white paper showing through, it is now a more dense and solid black. This is because the successive layers of harder grades burnished it by breaking up the grains of 4B and forcing them deeper into the tooth of your paper. The final 4H layer did the same to both the 4B and HB layers, further smoothing the appearance. A soft grade will often benefit from being layered with a harder grade. Try 2B over 6B, or 2H over HB. You may also be wondering why I told you to start with the softer, darkest grade? Well, on many papers (especially my favourite Mellotex plate finish) you cannot successfully layer a soft grade over a hard grade. On smooth papers in particular, not much tooth exists, so an initial layer of a hard grade, such as 2H, will fill the available tooth, leaving nothing to hold the large grains of a softer grade. Also graphite grains are flat and plate-like (unlike charcoal, which are rough and irregular), so you will find then skidding over each other. Don t believe me? Take your 4H and scribble or write your name heavily on your paper, then, equally heavily, coat the area with your 4B. Except possibly on the softest of papers, you ll find your 4B will skate over the 2H and leave it in full view. BLENDING Now you ve completed the exercise we ll try some basic blending. Either scan the last exercise, if you wish to post it to Drawspace for assistance, or just read on and take the next step. Blending involves the gentle distribution of graphite grains so they take on a smoother appearance. This might result in the removal of conspicuous lines within the area of tone or just a smoothing of its gradations. There are many methods available but we ll just cover the use of your finger. But never use your finger directly oil from your skin will transfer to the paper and attract graphite. Graphite is similar to forensic fingerprint powder that will adhere to the slightest trace of oils. To prevent this from occurring, wrap your finger in tissue paper. I variously use toilet tissue and paper kitchen towels. Begin by wrapping your index finger in toilet tissue then start blending at the bottom of your box, using a light circular motion. You re rearranging the particles, not trying to force the graphite into the paper. Work your way gradually up to the top, but stop short of your initial application of 4B. The first thing you will probably notice is an overall lightening of tone, as the tissue absorbs a certain amount of graphite. Why not begin at the top? Well, that would deposit a layer of 4B on your tissue, which would be carried to all lower grades. Instead we ve picked up the 4H first, which will be unnoticeable if it is deposited further up. And why stop short of the top? Try it, with a fresh piece of tissue, and see what happens. The 4B will be markedly reduced in intensity. 3

4 GRAPHITE APPLICATION So far, shading our way down our box, we ve not had to consider the edges. However, a large area will inevitably need to be shaded in sections, which requires an application that will not show the joins between them. Apply your graphite lightly. Graphite deposited on the surface is more useful to us at this stage than graphite deposited in the tooth of the paper. To achieve the gentlest of applications, use this illustrated method of holding your pencil. Here I m drawing in arcs, working from my elbow, and my little finger resting on the surface controls the weight applied to the pencil. Although not shown clearly here, my hand is resting on a scrap of card to prevent oil from my skin contaminating the surface. Vary the length of each line. If all your lines stop at the same point it will leave a visible, hard edge down your paper. Adjacent shading will overlap the edge, create a double layer of graphite, and render it even more noticeable: By varying the length of each line and feathering the ends gently lifting the pencil clear of the paper at the end of each stroke adjacent shading will join seamlessly: EXERCISE 2 2B, HB and 2H on coarse paper prior to blending. Blending with kitchen paper towel from dark to light. Completed blending For this exercise just repeat the illustrations above. Here I used a rough watercolour paper with a heavily textured surface, and it s probably easier for you learn this technique on similar course paper. Use radiating strokes of your pencil, gradually reducing the weight and gently feathering the end of each line. Do not return and draw back up, as this creates a square, blunt end to the line that blending cannot correct. 4

5 As in exercise 1, first apply the 2B, starting with some weight in the top-right corner (or top-left if you re left handed), then add HB over the 2B, but extend it further. Finally apply 2H over the other two grades and extend it almost to the bottom-left corner. Leave the corner itself white. We re going to attempt to produce a smooth gradation of tone from one corner to the other, but not necessarily to white. Leaving the corner white at this stage will ensure it only receives graphite carried by the blender, which will give a very smooth appearance. Remember that blending redistributes graphite, so the direction of your blending dictates the final result. Follow the example above and blend from dark to light, which produces a small gradation of tone (black to light grey). To achieve a greater gradation (black to white instead of grey), blend from light to dark to prevent the softer graphite being dragged over the light areas. Carry out your blending with lightly applied, circular movements of a paper kitchen towel wrapped around your finger (it picks up less graphite than tissue). Work in overlapping arcs down towards the lightest area, considerably reducing the weight of the blending as you approach it. Finally, you might consider changing your circular blending to lightly stroked, radiating lines, so the white corner receives just a little redistributed graphite. Your towel picked up soft graphite from the darkest corner then, having mixed it with the central HB, picked up HB graphite and spread that over and into the 2H. Finally, having picked up 2H, the resulting graphite mix was spread evenly over the rest of the area. As a refinement, use a clean towel to blend in the reverse direction, working towards, but not reaching, the darkest corner. This will brighten the lighter area by removing graphite. Try it. Blending has its limitations - it will lighten dark tone and darken light tone by redistributing graphite from one to the other, but it cannot obliterate a hard edge, or seamlessly blend dark to light if an area of white intervenes. It s your pencil that produces the graduated or evenly toned area and not your blender, which serves only to smooth out irregularities. When the preparation is carried out with care, and due attention is given to the application of the required tones, blending will correctly perform its function. LAYERING Don t think of blending as a shortcut - either as a way of speeding up the coverage of an area of little interest or as a way of suggesting form in an area that is not understood. Blending is a delicate operation, should only be carried out to produce a particular effect, and requires proper care in the preparatory stages. Before you decide to blend, always bear in mind that it will partially flatten the tooth of your paper. If additional drawing needs to be carried out in that area, 5

6 blending with medium to heavy pressure may make further layers difficult, or even impossible, to apply. Layering, however, doesn t suffer from this limitation. As long as the order of application is correct - always hard over soft - additional layers will be possible. The penultimate exercise this week will introduce you to layering as an alternative to blending. Actually, you have already been layering. It s what you were doing before you blended the previous exercise using ever-harder grades of graphite to produce an overall flat or graduated tone. Layering is a prolonged process but offers much greater control and flexibility, and without the overall lightening of tone that blending produces. EXERCISE 3 I suggest you work in a 2 x 3 (5 x 8cm) or smaller area, as you will be able to control it without having to shift your gaze. Simply reproduce this illustration. The darkest band at the top was drawn with 2B and then extended downward to just below the halfway point, using progressively less pressure. Next a layer of HB was applied over the 2B and drawn down to the three-quarter point. Then a layer of 2H was applied over the previous two layers and almost down to the bottom. Finally a layer of 4H was drawn over the entire area. These successive layers not only permit fine control over the overall tonal gradation, they also blend the graphite granules of the softer grades, giving them a smooth, polished appearance and increasing their intensity. Layering preserves the sharpness of edges and detail, and is particularly ideal for foreground use. Compare this blended example (right) to the layered one above. Produce both yourself and then compare them to see which is best suited to which application. Don t blend unless it will produce a positive enhancement to your drawing. Blending will not just smooth your shading, it will also soften all edges. Leaving some texture in a drawing often gives a lively quality that can be drowned by over-blending so, before you blend, think about its necessity and where in your drawing the blending will appear. Logically, blending works best for the midground or background - it s where the eye expects to find a blurring of detail and soft-focus edges and textures. 6

7 EXERCISE 4 This Lily should allow you to practice your skills. It s just an exercise in creating form through shading, so you don t need to include any detail unless you want to. And leave the lines if it helps. Although nothing in life has a line around it, I ll forgive you this time and leave it in my version (below) too. You can either copy the line drawing on the last page, or print out the light grey copy directly onto your drawing paper. The size is a generous 4 x 4 (10 x 10cm) so you can reduce the size if you wish. Choose a size that you feel comfortable with but is not so small that blending becomes a problem. To blend in very tight spaces, try folding a piece of towel into a conical point and using that or use a stump or tortillon if you have one. Using the techniques you have learned this week, shade the Lily to reveal its three-dimensional form. Use the illustration below to assist you if you wish. I used the full-size version and it took about an hour to shade, using HB and 2H pencils and a little 2B. You may find it helpful to: Decide which direction the light is coming from, then ask yourself Will this area be in partial shade or brightly lit? or Will this petal cast a shadow on the petal below it?. Build up tone gradually (next week we ll look at ways of adjusting it). Work dark to light. Begin each line of shading in a dark area and draw towards the light, using less weight as you progress, and finally feather the line to white. Draw in the direction of growth. Imaging this Lily has veins radiating out and up from each central rib. Any lines that remain visible after blending will then appear to be both natural and intentional. Draw darker than you think is necessary, as blending will lighten it. Don t worry if it doesn t look right just concentrate on applying the tone and blending and layering. Tip: Begin by making this little area black, then begin your shading from that point. With both black and white references now established, all your tones will fall into place as you draw. And don t be surprised if you find yourself drawing much darker than you expected to. 7

8 FINALLY Tone drawing demands some prior thought. Before you begin, stand back and think about what you are about to draw. Identify in your mind the area of darkest tone and the brightest highlights. WHAT TO SEND IN THIS WEEK Please write the exercise number alongside each image you send in. Exercise 2 The exercise of blending the radiating lines. If you need assistance with this exercise, send in exercise 1 as well. Exercise 3 The exercise of layering tone without blending. You don t need to be tidy just concentrate on producing the graduation of tone and don t worry about the edges. Exercise 4 The Lily exercise. Please try to complete this exercise. I m willing to critique even if only one or two petals have been completed, but my assistance can be much more comprehensive if you complete the study. Next week So far you ve been applying graphite to produce varying tones without having to consider the best ways to apply them. Next week we ll look at line and its uses, and how we can use it to control the application of our tones. Happy shading! Cheers. Copyright: All text, images and exercises included in this course are the sole copyright of Mike Sibley 2009 and revised No reproduction for commercial purposes, in whole or part, will be permitted under any circumstances. Applying for written permission from Mike Sibley may permit extracts for display or promotional purposes only. Mike@SibleyFineArt.com Website: Drawing from Line to Life: Videos: 8

9 Copy this guideline drawing or print out the light version on the next page directly onto your drawing paper. You won t be able to erase the lines but they will be very faint. 9

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