DIVIDING YOUR WORK WEEK 6

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Francis Cunningham
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WEEK 6 Last week we were creating virgin white lines and dots with indenting tools, and previously we had fun with our erasers - cutting shapes into areas of dense graphite.

1 WEEK 6 Last week we were creating virgin white lines and dots with indenting tools, and previously we had fun with our erasers - cutting shapes into areas of dense graphite. Indenting created clean, sharp lines but of limited variety; and erasing suffered from the blurring of edges and an inability to create pure whites. So this week we ll continue our study of the reverse techniques. As a bonus, these techniques will not only overcome all those problems, they will also greatly simplify any drawing you undertake. Drawing involves planning, and planning includes the identification of differing areas of texture, visual importance, and contrast. Rarely do we have the painter's luxury of working directly on our canvas. We don t possess a wide brush to quickly transfer an image from the mind into a visible form. Nor can we remove our medium and start again from fresh. A painter can scrape the paint from the canvas, but the graphite artist is well advised to take a more controlled approach. Removing graphite from paper may raise paper fibres, flatten the surface texture, and leave insufficient tooth for succeeding applications of graphite to adhere to. The same risk applies to the application of graphite within a work in progress if the graphite being applied will not be a final part of that area's tone or texture, don't apply it! Don t experiment on your final drawing surface. At all cost, preserve the pristine surface of your paper until you are absolutely certain that the marks you are making are the true and required marks. An erased area, as you discovered, will never match the brilliance of an untouched one. DIVIDING YOUR WORK This is probably one of the most important lessons you ll learn, especially if you want to create complex, realistic drawings, because it will defeat the I can t do that, it s too difficult belief. By breaking down your drawing into manageable parts you achieve two advantages. First, it relieves the pressure caused by that daunting task. Second, and more crucially if you want to achieve realism, it allows you to focus on just one small area at a time. This focus generates a greater understanding of the area and the way that it fits into the overall study. It also removes the desire to hurry through the drawing, because each area becomes a drawing in its own right. How do you gain the patience to spend perhaps twenty-five hours, or even two hundred and fifty, on a drawing? The answer is to spend half an hour each

on 50 or 500 small drawings that join up to form what you previously considered to be a single drawing. The more you divide your drawing, the easier it becomes.

2 on 50 or 500 small drawings that join up to form what you previously considered to be a single drawing. The more you divide your drawing, the easier it becomes. You can divide by: Subject a cat on a mat. Position foreground, midground and background. Tone areas of dark and light. Texture a bucket and spade on a sandy beach. Understanding elements you fully understand and those that you don't. Area a selected section of your drawing. And more Even the most complex subject becomes manageable when it s broken down into its various parts. Each of those examples above can be further divided into any of the others. The bucket and spade, for example, can be treated separately from each other, and from the sand on which they rest. The toy spade may have a plastic blade and a wooden handle, which can be divided into separate textures, and the blade itself can be split into areas of dark and light tone. Instead of being confronted, and confused, by a complex arrangement of shapes and textures, we can now focus on just one manageable area at a time. DIVISION BY POSITION (foreground, midground and background) Here, these leaves against an old wooden barn present a potential problem how do we make the leaves stand out from the wall? If we attempt to draw them first, how dark or light should they be? What range of tones can we use? Bearing in mind that any matching, adjacent tones, used in both the wall and leaves, will make the leaves disappear! First, we can make three divisions: Background - holes through the rotten wood. Midground - wooden boards of the wall. Foreground - grasses or leaves. Of the three, which do you understand the most? Surely the background it consists of nothing but very deep shade. And if we draw that first, we ll have our lightest and darkest tones established, helping us to judge all the intermediate ones. There s another benefit too we ll be protecting the areas that we cannot yet make decisions about. Note: I added flat tone to the example above just to aid your understanding these tones are not in any way to be considered correct

3 EXERCISE 1 Read the whole of this section first then copy this line drawing - you can make it any size you prefer and have the time to complete. Or you can print out the copy on page 13 directly onto your drawing paper. Tackle the drawing in this order: 1. Black gaps and holes between the rotten boards 2. The planks of weathered wood 3. The leaves Where two leaves cross, don t draw the outline of either at the junction, then you can later decide which is in front of the other. The object of this exercise is to divide the drawing into manageable sections, so you can concentrate on just one surface or texture at a time. This will divorce each stage from the others, but you should be aware of them. Although flat, boring tones would suffice, you ll find it much more enjoyable if you attempt to create textures and features, so bear these points in mind: When you re filling the gaps between the boards, it s extremely unlikely that the edges of two old boards will be completely parallel along both their lengths, so introduce some variation. Weathered wood is usually sun-bleached grey, often has gaps around knots (or holes where knots once were), and splits along the grain due to shrinkage. Wood, all wood, rarely exhibits much visible grain. So don t try to create an obvious wood grain just a suggestion of grain will give a far more natural appearance and save you a lot of time! How are the boards fixed? With nails? If you include two or three nails, think about the reality of the situation. Those nails will be rusty and will have rust stains running down the wood beneath them. It s these little touches that vastly increase the perceived reality. The base of the wooden wall is damp and rotten, and has fallen away in places. Wood doesn t break in clean lines. It splits up and down the vertical grain, leaving a jagged edge to angled or horizontal breaks. Study some if you can and add this to your mental store of information

4 If that sounds scary right now, keep the size small so the minimum of detail is required, or just use flat tones but you ll miss the fun! Step 1: Before you fill the black holes, sharply outline the leaves in black where they cross the holes. Your 2B pencil will do the job but see if using a harder grade, such as a sharp-pointed HB, will do better. Later, as you shade the holes around each leaf (with 2B or 4B), don t think of them simply as outlines pencil lines to shade up to but as the edges of living leaves. Keep those edges sharp. Step 2: When you ve completed the black gaps and holes through the wood, begin on the wood itself. Which method of applying tone do you think will work best? I suggest you use vertical hatching with tapered strokes, because it will follow the natural direction of the wood grain; and any distracting lines will be an advantage, as they will appear to be wood grain or splits. If you draw the wood too light, the highlights on your leaves will be dimmed. If you draw it too dark well, actually, you can t. You can paint it with Creosote or old engine oil if you want to. It s your wall. It s your decision. Personally, I d choose an overall mid-grey, so my leaves can be both darker and lighter. Also, picture the scene in Nature damp wood is darker than dry wood and the leaves would also shade the base, so I d gradually darken the wall towards the bottom. Step 3: At this point you should have white silhouettes of leaves surrounded by wall and gaps. You finally know which tones you need for them. First, draw an arrow in the margin as a reminder of which direction you choose to have the light shining from. Remember, the leaves (or broad grasses) will bend and twist, reflect light from curved surfaces, and have a subtle central rib running their full length. As you work your way along each leaf, make decisions: Is it curving towards you or away? You can choose either it s just an outlined white space. That s a definite advantage of working this way. Is this puppy s head facing you or facing away? It could be either

Where one leaf crosses another, is it behind or in front? If it s in front, it will cast a shadow on the one behind. You use that shadow to show the edges of the leaf in front never use line!

5 Where one leaf crosses another, is it behind or in front? If it s in front, it will cast a shadow on the one behind. You use that shadow to show the edges of the leaf in front never use line! You should quickly appreciate the benefit of working this way, as you now have a known tonal value bordering whichever section you re working on. It gives you: Control over how each part stands out or blends into the wall behind it Virgin white paper to work on, not an erased section The ability to create form within any outline that best serves the completed background environment The chance to concentrate on a single texture or surface I won t complete this exercise with you, because I don t want to influence your choices or methods of working but, as they say, here s one I made earlier The Gardeners Mike Sibley I used exactly the method you are about to use background before foreground, and the hatching of the door and boxes followed the grain of the wood. Please complete Exercise 1 now, before you read further

CONCENTRATING ON A SINGLE ELEMENT A drawing, any drawing, can be broken down and simplified in the way you ve just experienced. When you are drawing the wooden side of a barn, just draw wood.

6 CONCENTRATING ON A SINGLE ELEMENT A drawing, any drawing, can be broken down and simplified in the way you ve just experienced. When you are drawing the wooden side of a barn, just draw wood. Where grass overlaps it at the base, draw around it. You're drawing wood your concentration is on wood you're living wood! Later, when you begin to draw the grass, you will have full control over the white leaves that overlap the barn wall, and you can highlight them, push them into the shade, or make them as dominant or subtle as you wish. Where any two textures or elements meet, ask yourself which is dominant. Which will logically control the tones of the other. If you draw the grass first, the tones used within the blades will control and limit the tones available for your barn. If you draw the barn wall first, you affect but don t limit the tones you can use for the grass. Which is logically dominant from the point of view of physically drawing them? Which is easier to engineer to overcome the limitation imposed by the other? No contest the barn wall wins on all counts. It's so much easier to engineer the blades of grass to stand out from, or blend into, the barn. Don't try to draw many textures at one time. To draw realistically, you must understand the area you are working on; feel its texture; experience its threedimensionality. You're creating your own world one step at a time. In order to transmit your mental image of wood through your hand and onto paper, don't try to draw grass at the same time. If you're drawing the deep confines of an old wooden crate, you need to experience the deep shadows diluting into mid-tones as they approach the light. You know what it looks like in reality; so don't dilute your image by suddenly trying to draw the wood around the opening. If you concentrate on and live one element at a time, you'll build a reality into your work. The method in use Establishing the background before the foreground gives much greater control over their visual separation. You can draw into the white foreground silhouette after you have established the tones surrounding it. When you begin to draw a foreground element, you can control its tones to make it stand out - or not, if that is your aim. You can see here that the foreground rope has been isolated, to give control over how it stands out from the background. The rope passes in front of both the dog's white leg and the dark ground, so drawing the rope first would have dictated the tones available for both the dog and the background. By drawing both first, the rope can now be engineered to stand out and to blend into the ground at its lower end

7 DIVISION BY TEXTURE Just suppose, for a moment, that the farmer had repaired that barn wall you were working on, and he used (as farmers do!) an old piece of sacking, fixed with bent nails. That presents you with three textures: wood, sacking, and rusty steel. Make life simple for yourself. Outline the sacking and nails, and then totally ignore them as you surround them with your drawing of the barn wall. Next, fill your mind with thoughts of old Hessian feed sacks and begin to create the area of sacking - feeling and experiencing the texture as you draw. Finally, picture or research rusty nails and complete the white spaces that represent them. DIVISION BY UNDERSTANDING To draw any area effectively, you must be able to experience it in threedimensions, to feel its texture, and to know how it relates to surrounding areas. Imagine the drawing of a dog you re involved with is complex but you have a good understanding of the section you are working on, but suddenly that understanding ceases - you re having a problem understanding the way the rear of the belly meets the top of the rear leg. What are you to do? Leave it. Work around it. Draw the rear leg first, then the dog s back, so you work around and finally return to that problem area. By the time you reach it, your understanding will be clarified, so you can confidently draw the belly up to that previously 'unknown' junction. In the meantime, you haven't polluted the virgin white of that belly area with trials and tests of possible line and tone. No matter what you are drawing, work your way around problem areas. As you draw, each area will suggest the treatment of the content of those surrounding it. Eventually, your drawing will return to the problem area that, now surrounded by enlightened and confident drawing, will very often cease to be a problem at all. DIVISION BY AREA How often have you been enthusiastic about a new drawing but been scared to begin, because it s a daunting project? It happens to me all the time, but I have a solution. I divide the drawing up into manageable sections not literally and rigidly with lines, but mentally. When you were drawing that barn wall earlier, did you attempt to draw all of it or just one plank at a time? Not only do I recommend you choose to draw a single plank, I d also suggest you think of the top half as being a drawing in its own right. When you re satisfied with it, move down into the next drawing. Not only does this division concentrate your attention, it also relieves any stress you might have about completing the overall drawing. Remind yourself that a hurried drawing never succeeds and Any drawing is only as good as its weakest part

8 REVIEW You ve practiced the system of dividing your work into position background, midground and foreground areas and, although you may not have been aware of it at the time, you used other division methods too: You divided by tone when you drew the black gaps and holes separately from the wooden wall. You divided by subject when you completed the leaves separately from the wall. If you drew the wall one plank at a time, you divided your work by area. You concentrated on only drawing the wood, and so divided your work by texture or surface. The complex, three-dimensional shapes of the leaves were your problem areas, where a lack of understanding was to be expected. You correctly isolated the problems by drawing around them then, with the background established, found that the problem was greatly reduced. And you again divided your work by area when you worked out the form of each leaf and drew it independently. This drawing business is becoming easier by the minute! But, wait. There s even more to come DETAIL and TONE LAYERS Even when you ve divided your drawing into manageable sections, you can still divide it further by using layers to divorce detail from shading. Detail then Tone. Detail is often simple to comprehend, especially if viewed as a collection of abstract shapes, marks, and textures, and line best suits their depiction. Tone, which describes the lighting, colour, and three-dimensional form of the area, is best suited to an application by a broad, flat pencil point with a complete absence of line. So why mix the two? This method of division offers you great freedom. Instead of trying to understand and depict both detail and shaping at the same time, the two are separated, which allows you to concentrate on the detail without any regard to the actual shaping. The results may surprise you

9 These examples (enlarged to twice their size) represent two textures of hair and a feather. Nothing has been used except 2B line of varying length. The left-hand hair could be on a Wolf, and the central sample from any shaggy animal. In both cases, care has been taken to leave white spaces between the pencil lines. These spaces will accept the layer of tone that will provide the three-dimensional shaping. The feather shows the use of sharp 2B line to display its outline and coloured bar, and HB indications of ruffled filaments. Both examples of hair have now received layers of 2H and HB tone. The HB was used to produce the overall three-dimensional shaping, assisted by the 2H in the lighter areas. The 2H was also lightly applied to dull any remaining white content except where a highlight was allowed to exist. The feather was treated in a similar manner but only with 2H. Note how the central rib was first established by simply omitting any application of tone, and then its lower edge was gently toned with the 2H to suggest its rounded appearance. This will always give a sharper, cleaner image than applying tone overall and then attempting to erase it along the rib. Never apply graphite where it is not ultimately required

10 Step 1: Establish any blacks and elements of line, paying no attention to the lighting or shaping. It s often much easier to understand the surface texture and features once your eye stops trying to take tonal values into account. Where once you may have seen a Black Labrador s coat as being one smooth mass of hair, you can now study the direction of those hairs and how they stack in layers and even notice for the first time, tiny but important flaws that give it character. Step 2: Lightly apply layers of tone to build up the three-dimensional shape so it conforms to the direction and quality of the light. Use harder grades for this HB to 4H as their finer grain structures will enhance the smooth appearance. These Grizzly Bear and Wolf drawings (shown actual size) both extensively use this technique. Working on just a small area at a time, perhaps just a half-inch (12mm) square, aids both concentration and understanding. The detail (line) layer creates white hairs by simply drawing the shadows between them. These marks also describe the hair texture and direction of growth. All tone is omitted so the hairs remain virgin white. Now a tone layer is applied. Some applications may be global, describing the overall lighting, shade, and three-dimensional form; and others may be local, perhaps enhancing a particular hair. Further layers may be added as required. Now, unique to this method, adjustments can be made with Blu-Tack (or a kneadable eraser), as the tone layer can be incrementally removed without affecting the detail layer beneath. Repeated partial removal and re-application of tone layers can produce wonderfully subtle results. And for extra subtlety, try drawing the detail and tone layers and then, gently and repeatedly, remove both until the slightest trace remains. It's almost impossible to draw with that degree of finesse - something that this system overcomes

11 EXERCISE 2 Copy this feather or, if you feel more comfortable, use it as a base to draw your own. Omit the feathery base if you wish. Personalise it in any way you wish (extra splits in the filaments etc), but do maintain the curve, three-dimensional form and shading. Be realistic a small drawing may be more manageable than a large one Increase the contrast to create more impact a darker cast shadow and lighter highlights Interpret there s no need to faithfully copy Draw all line-based features first If you outline the feather s edge where it casts a shadow, your line must be lighter than, or match, the value of the shadow a line drawn darker will always remain visible Hint: Draw that line first. Ignore the shadow below and use the line to sharply create the shaping of the bottom edge of the feather When outlining the splits between the filaments, draw up into the point with a sharp pencil. If you begin drawing at the top, you will not achieve a sharp tapering point. Apply tone last Leave the central rib white until the finish, when you will be able to judge the tone and shaping required. Use harder grades in light layers to achieve a smooth appearance

12 FINALLY You may have found this week especially hard if you are used to working up the entire drawing. Persevere. Working on a whole drawing is often taught and works well for some styles of drawing and in certain situations; but not if you want to build in a true feeling of reality. You must give your mind the freedom it needs to concentrate on forming an understanding of the shape, texture or object you are working on. WHAT TO SEND IN THIS WEEK Exercise 1 The completed exercise involving the barn wall and leaves. Exercise 2 The feather using the Line-then-Tone method. Next week By now you know the basic techniques and how to manage them, and you re one step nearer to producing your first workshop drawing. So next week we ll look at more ways to break your drawing down into manageable elements when we study preparation methods... and the secret ingredient! You ll soon be putting a drawing together one that doesn t rely on copying a single reference source! Enjoy your week! 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:

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