Learning About Light And Shade

A light and shade drawing is capable of expressing any object.

It is better than an outline, because the shadow on any object varies with the form of the object, and therefore describes it.

If you study outline drawing, you can improve gradually by beginning to add light touches suggesting the most important features.

Keep changing these touches without erasing, until you finally get the form correct.

I did the sketch of a tomato using that method.

Effects of different lights

Objects are seen under very different illuminations; they may be exposed to:

• direct light, either sunlight, moonlight, or any artificial light,
• and this light may be strong or weak;
• or they may be seen under the diffused light of a gray day,
• or of a room with shaded windows, or of a starlight night.

The direct light may come from one or several sources. All of these variables come into play when you are fiddling with light and shadow.

The first aim of any artist is to learn to see the form, light, shade and color effects of an object before him.

Making A Pencil Drawing

A drawing must be natural.

If you wish, you can still simplify a subject and leave out the detail seen in light and shadow.

In this drawing, I shaded the inside of the box, under the darker edge, but it hasn't scanned well enough to show that. Even so, it's not a glaring mistake, is it?

It?s only a matter of careful study and practice that will lead you along the path to drawing with light and shade.

Once you get there, you will notice that you are more capable of expressing yourself artistically.

When you draw, you only need to produce the strongest impression of the spirit of the subject. That is, the impression it has on you.

The transition from outlines to light and shade will become a natural process. The touches required to obtain the form will often blend together and suggest the light and shade effects of the object.

Outline study leads to that of values.

A natural continuation is to make a shaded drawing, without the use of a background.

The trial lines should follow the surface that they represent and give the effect of shade.

These shade strokes help give character to the object.

You can then darken the shadows, add accents and finish the drawing.

This natural process of making a light and shade drawing is the same process that the most famous artists practiced, in the past.

You can make the simplest change to your outline drawing by representing the shadows.

Suggest wider shadows by thickening the outline. That is called an accented outline drawing.

This basket is an example of an accented outline drawing.

It looks a bit more interesting than a uniform outline.

It's not a very good drawing on my behalf, but I hope you can see what I mean.

I found the easiest way to start this drawing, was to draw the oval shape of the lip of the basket first.

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The Next Step

With this shoe drawing, you can see the shadow upon the heel.

This gives the contrast of the masses of light, shadow and cast shadow.

Shadows and cast shadows produce a stronger impression of nature, something that can?t be obtained from an outline.

Whenever a cast shadow of an object is shown, the shadow surface adjoining the cast shadow should be represented too.

So, do you see the right side of the box is shaded? That is called the shadow surface.

Also, do you see the shadow of the box upon the surface where it sits? That is called the cast shadow.

Without light, there is no shade. You can depict light and shade however you want to, because you - as the artist - are the creator!