Drawing 1 class at ACAD - Value studies

My drawing class this semester is fantastic!  We have been studying the FUNdamentals such as values, tone and proportion as well as how to set up the drawing space and see a little bit differently.

I love this picture, its Philips back and the classroom set up, it has a certain melancholic quiet, at the top of his paper is his value chart and he studies the subject matter, my plaster shapes. This would make a great image for the back of a business card in my opinion.

Here they are all on their own. Of course, once the lights go out the artists need to adjust their eyes in a way that this camera has not to really see the variation of lights and darks and translate those with their pencils onto paper.

Here a student is getting shaded tones including reflected light one of the platonic solids. Nice work.

I start with values to help my sutdents visualize how light and dark, even in the absence of colour, plays a huge role in describing three dimensional objects on a two dimensional surface(the paper). To me this is one of the hurdles and challenges of good representational drawing skills.

The following session we work on toned paper and focus on getting proper relative proportions before we begin shading from light to dark. I think their works were very successful and will miss not having class next week due to the Thanksgiving holiday.

Shaded skulls on toned paper

There is no light, only dark and light.

In my Drawing 1 class shut down the overhead lights, to see new forms emerge in by the use of shadows. I set up some still life skulls so we could experiment with mark making to bring out the visual form.

I demoed how to see the shadows and light relationships by big form modelling the values. We worked on our paper which we toned by rubbing in powdered charcoal.

I placed the display items in front of my rich burgundy bed sheets to help establish a middle value from the get go.

Here you can see by focusing on the dark shapes and building from there the form emerges as if coming right off of the drawing paper.

Evrey drawer should practice these types of exercises and realize the importance of how we actually se and how we can translate that into drawing with out hands.

Without relying on line, simplified shapes of light and dark relate the form and its proportions convincingly and with great beauty. This is where art begins to happen.

Here the artist is not only contrasting the dark and light value she sees, but also how the material is soft or coarse on the drawing surface.

These students two drawings are tackled with their own individual touch and technique for two convincing yet individual takes not eh subject matter.

What do you see and how will you push and pull this image from the papers surface?

By the end of the class we turn don't he lights and had a look around the room at what everybody accomplished. I was very proud and very happy to see the work the entire class completed by the end of our time together.

Values, light and Dark

I began teaching my Drawing 1 course at ACAD again . This post is for the students who missed last class in order to help them catch up on anything they may have missed out on and for any followers and readers who find this stuff as fascinating as I do!   =:D

Last week we began in the realm of imagination and using line. Line is very powerful, as you draw it is like you are cutting through light. A drawing can be made with a line which separates dark and light.  But line only describes a form but does not give mass and body to it. We need to learn to describe three dimensionality with shading. In order to accomplish this we need to develop our value scale.

Using the tools of drawing each student completed a value scale by utilizing the variety of pencils H - HB - B - F, charcoal or pen and crosshatching. In this way we have a base line to compare the values in  the drawing.  In the above image of the value scale the lower strip has the middle grey value added as a comparison. This is incredibly useful information especially if you are using a neutral ground as your starting point.

The next step is understanding how to see how these things play out in reality on any given object. For this I brought out SHAPES!!!! Some people dread the shapes, I remember the groans at art school for spending days at this. I think they are a valuable tool for understanding drawing. It is such a powerful way to understand what you see and I still practice it from time to time.

We used white painted plaster and wooden shapes under a single light source to create very defined shadows. If you are working from home, find white stuff around the house, you can make shaped out of white paper, paint stuff yourself, use what you have, or buy these at art supply stores. The goal is to use the value chart as a comparison in order to  create drawings of the simple shapes defined in space by lights and darks. Below is an example as to how the values relate on the drawing surface.

At this point it isn't as important to me that you have the proportions absolutely correct, as we will be working on that tons later, what we are really after is the ability to blend the values to create smooth transitions of shadow. Hard edged shapes tend to not have blended shadows. This exercise is to draw what we see! To understand the core and cast shadows and to have the relationship between the light and the dark on these shapes relate properly to create a realistic drawing.  Remember: Draw what you see!

I have included some snap shots taken on my iPhone so they are not "superfantastique" by any means but they were from the class set up for those who missed and would like an idea what we worked on.  It is helpful to work with white painted shapes as they are less confusing to break down. It is also better to try this from life rather than photo as the camera does change the way we look.

There was no homework as we used the 3 hr class for demos and exercises and finished off by looking at what we created in the class. Next class we add to this by working on still life using what we learned with values and we will begin our pursuit of proportions. Ciao for now. Have a great week-end and CANADA DAY!

Shady dealings - Shape drawings

We create the world we see in terms of light and dark.

Today in my Drawing class, we are working on light and shadow using the shapes as reference.  As always, proper proportions are necessary as is the perspective from which you are viewing the objects you are drawing. So we begin by moving our desks closer to the lit objects in the centre of the room and prepping our drawing area for the task at hand.

Above is an example of the way light falls on objects and how we respond as artist with tone and shadow. The numbers represent the value range. We must keep in mind our value scale/ tone if the drawings are to describe the shape in space realistically.

For our purposes the optimal source of light is a single source of light where everything is illuminated by the same incident light. In our case we brought in a light source and turned out the rest of the lights in order to emulate the sun. This helps to eliminate the confusion that multiple light sources creates.

Begin by first drawing the shapes in their proper place and proportion. Determine the light and the dark tones then begin shading. The CORE shadow, which is the one on the object where the light is no longer hitting it, will be your darkest part ono the object. If the object has flat planes on the shape like a cube or pyramid, the shadows will be mainly toned equally throughout. Whereas when the shape is curved like a cone or cylinder or sphere the core shadow will be feathered as the light drops off as the surface curves.

Here is a drawn sphere with the terminology outlined in this class. It is important to keep in mind the difference between smooth and curvilinear and shapes as opposed to hard angles and surfaces which are much easier to shade.

You will notice that the cast shadows are not as crisp as they move away from the object. This is a lensing effect that must be properly drawn to make your artwork look realistic.  You can really see this emphasized in the above photo at the tip of the cone shadow at the bottom of the photo. Notice the shadow blurs out. The next thing to be mindful of is the reflected light that bounces back onto the surface. You can see here on this sphere how the left side is lighter in tone as it blends toward the core shadow. You want to have the transition be smooth when describing a smooth surface.


For reflected light to bounce back up onto a surface must be at an acute angle to that surface. IN this case the cone like pyramid shape (to the left) does not have reflected light hitting the flat area where the core shadow resides. The icosahedron object (to the right) has reflected light bouncing back up on its surface creating a lighter tone even though it is further away from the source of light and below the core shadow. If the shape like a cone or pyramid is sloping back away from the surface it is sitting on, there is no way fro the light to bounce up on it in order to create a reflected light in the shadow.
The surface must be more than perpendicular or overhanging the surface in which the reflected light is bouncing onto the object from.

Cash shadows cannot follow thru a core shadow. Instead they combine but do not increase in density.
When one objects cast shadow drapes across the core shadow of another object there should not be any criss cross lines and confusion. The pyramid to the far right cases a shadow over the cone object and where fit meets the core shadow they seamlessly blend together.

One good trick for seeing the values of the tons that I like to pass onto students is squinting. If you squint you will have a much easier time judging the many values int eh scene in which you are drawing. This also helps turn colours into values and to simplify the shapes that make up what you see.