Tone and Form

Observing shadow and light formations on a surface

The purpose of the is exercise was to give objects a feeling of depth using shading. I used a few different mediums to practice tone and form.  I found it easier with charcoal pencils.  I also used several different hardness pencils on each drawing.  It was quite difficult to get an even tone.  I discovered that it is very important to really look at the objects and try to draw exactly what you see and not what you think the drawing should look like.

Tonal studies

The following drawings were an experimentation with hatching techniques.  I started with the four boxes to test different effects.  I then drew 4 apples using different pens and pencils to vary the effects of hatching.  It was useful to try and get different results using the same subject.  I then picked up various objects from home to practice giving a 3 dimensional form to the objects using just hatching.

I tried drawing a hand with this technique but the proportions are not really correct, nor the position of each finger.  I found this quite a difficult subject to draw.

Below is a drawing of a wooden dodo and a favourite pewter teapot of mine.  I chose to do this in colour pencil and spent a lot of time on it.  I really tried to limit the shading just to cross-hatching.  Unfortunately is is a little smudged from a pencil drawing on the opposite page but I am quite happy with the result.

In the drawings below tried to portray the casting shadow as accurately as possible.

     

Research point – Odilon Redon

I wasn’t quite sure what I was looking for when researching Odilon Redon so I choose this painting below because it had lots of tone and texture.

Unfortunately when I look at it now I can see that the head it far too small but the shading is not too bad.  I used oil pastels for this which is a very different medium to the original. 

 

This second drawing was made in soft pastels and pen but was very difficult as there was a lot of detail in the original.

Check and log

How difficult did you find it to distinguish between light from the primary light source and secondary reflected light?

I struggled with this quite a lot, especially as there was always natural light in the room and therefore reflecting onto the objects as well as the directed light. I really had to look and analyse where the light was coming from and how it projected onto each object.

How has awareness of light and shade affected your depiction of form?

These exercises have made me look far more when drawing and not just drawing what I think I see and expect my drawing to look like.  I need to practice and analyse light sources more to really understand this but it had created an awareness that is critical to future studies.