Basic Art: Lesson 3: Shading

Light is a very important subject in art. We are visual beings and have grown up relying on our eyes for information. Light and its interaction with objects can tell us alot about a surface or an object. Is the object shiny, slick, pointy, rough? A lot of the information we gather with our eyes is interpreted by its shading.

Many of us are subconsciously interpreting information that we see without realizing it. It is because of this that your first step in learning about shading is to grab a variety of items with different attributes (such as round, rough, shiny, colored, black, white, cubed, etc) and place them outside in the sun and indoors with a (preferrably movable) light source. Carefully, consciously, watch how the light interacts with the object and make mental notes as you do so.

What did you notice? You may have noticed several things that you haven't realized before. There are names for different types of shading and light. Here is a list of some terms regarding light and shadow. Direct Lighting: Area of an object with lighting directly hitting it. Reflective lighting: Area of an object with lighting hitting it as a result of bouncing off another surface. Cast Shadow: Shadow created from an object. Core Shadow: Area of darkest shade on an object. Secondary/Tertiary light planes: Areas receiving light but not from a direct light source.

Shading (in black and white) comes in 3 colors, Black, White and many shades of Grey. In order to learn to differentiate the Greys, we will need to do an exercise in shading.

OK! Lets begin!

Step 1: grab a piece of paper and a drawing utensil (preferrably a harder pencil)

Step 2: Draw a rectangle 11 inches long and 1 inch wide. Divide that rectangle into 11 one=inch squares and write 0 to 100 in increments of 10 above each square. These numbers represent the percentage of darkness in the block (100% is pure black and 0% is pure white)

Step 3: Proceed to color in the rectangles to match the percentages as much as possible. Color lightly! (this may take several tries but will help in understanding shades better)

Step 4: As you work on this (slowly) you should take a step back and look at the picture. Can you see the difference in shading between each square?

After you feel comfortable with shading, find a simple object to draw (ball, cubed, cylindrical, etc.) Place it under a light (indoors for now so you can take as long as you want). Take a moment to observe the shading. Draw the object (remember what you've learned from basic art lesson 1 and 2). Shade the object using what you have learned in the previous exercise. Remember that you can use shading to show realism but you can also use it in any way you want. Try different things and come up with your own personal style.

Well thats it for this episode of Basic Art.. remember to rest your eyes every once in a while. Take a moment and step back and look at your work from afar as well.

Basic Art: Lesson 2: Line Weight

The line is a very important aspect of any drawing. The definition of a line is: "A mark that defines the contours of a shape." It defines the edge of a shape. This becomes important in making objects pop out of a drawing or separates two objects in space. The line seems to be a tool to define characters, shapes, objects etc. in art. While the last statement is true, that is not all it is used for. Lines also have personality, when they are given some weight.

This second lesson is about how line weight can be used to fool the eye into seeing depth, or giving an inanimate object life and personality. Lines in art can have differing thicknesses, or weight. Try drawing a line across a page with very little pressure on one end, very hard pressure in the middle, and medium pressure at the other end. When this technique is used in conjuction with drawing, a whole new way of conveying feeling or personality is opened up to the artist.

For this next Lesson we will need drawing utensils (I prefer pencils), paper, and Dried Leaves or something non-static in shape with a 3 dimensional feel. Try using pencils with differing hardness or softness. (B is soft and H is hard. The higher the number the softer or harder the lead is. For example: 6B is very soft, 6H is very hard and HB is right in the middle)

OK! Lets begin!

Step 1: grab a piece of paper and a drawing utensil

Step 2: find an object (strap it down so it doesn't move)

Step 3: Use the contour line method from Lesson 1 to draw the outline of the object. Whenever the object gets closer to the eye, apply more pressure to the line. (Try rotating the utensil as well to get more surface area of the ink or lead onto the paper)

Step 4: Make sure that the lines of the objects are consistent, the furthest part of the object from you should have the thinnest line on the paper. Conversely, the closest part of the object should have the thickest line.

Step 5: As you work on this (slowly) you should take a step back and look at the picture. Can you see depth? Does the object look like its coming out of the page towards you?

The technique above does accomplishes several things. First, it builds off of lesson 1 and continues to train your eye and hand coordination. Later on, if you feel like it, you can just use a super fine lead and go back to a picture and manually add line weight. Secondly, This gives you the ability to start to fool the eye in seeing 3 dimensional shapes. I will not go into how to use this in conveying personality, except to say: " Experiment with it, try sharp, dark lines and flowing curving lines. Go nuts!". I say this because I personally feel that there is no right or wrong way to add personality to your art. You have to add your personality in your way. If you want to emulate something you've seen, then study it and try to see how they have applied line weight to their work.

Well thats it for this episode of Basic Art.. remember to rest your eyes every once in a while. Take a moment and step back and look at your work from afar as well.

Basic Art: Lesson 1: Contour Lines

Art is not a natural born ability. It is merely a skill that requires tons of practice and a trained eye. Anyone can become an artist and produce great pieces of work given that they put in the time and effort needed. As time goes on the work will become better and the time required to create it will be shortened.

The first lesson will be Contour drawings. More specifically (blind contour drawings). A contour line (for the purposes of this lecture) is a curved line that connects two points on the page. A blind contour drawing means that you draw a complicated object, such as your hand, without looking at the paper you are drawing on. The reason I chose this as my first lesson is because 1) you need to train your eyes to be very observant of the subject being drawn, 2) you have to train your eye and hand to work together, 3) everyones blind contour line drawings will not look like what they are supposed to so its ok if you think you suck at drawing.

OK! Lets begin!

Step 1: grab a piece of paper and a drawing utensil

Step 2: find an object (it doesn't matter how difficult you think it may be)

Step 3: place the paper and object away from each other, so that you won't be able to see the paper when looking at the object.

Step 4: pick a point on the object and place the pen/pencil at a corresponding point on the page (don't look!)

Step 5: follow the object (slowly!) with your eyes and as you move around the object with the eyes, move the pencil in the same direction/speed with your hand. (DO NOT LOOK)

Step 6: Look at your work when you're done..

(GASP!) it looks horrible!!! which is just fine.. and how it should be. The importance here is not in the result but in the method. If you followed the steps above exactly, you would've drawn an outline contour without lifting the pen or pencil. Once you do this enough times (at least 3 times) and feel comfortable with that you can start adding inner contour lines (without lifting the pen or pencil). After accomplishing that (at least 3 times) then you can move onto drawing blind contours and picking up the pen if you need to.

Well thats it for now.. remember to take breaks.. because if done correctly, you will be concentrating and straining your eyes for 30 minutes at a time. Do this often until you feel that your eyes can observe minute details and your hand/eye coordination is improving.