Sketchbook Week 13: Chiaroscuro
Three Drawings (These will be worked on during class on November 29)
Subject: Value Scale and Drapery
Materials: View Catcher, vine charcoal, HB, 2B, 4B charcoal pencils 9"x11 3/4" Strathmore 400 paper, kneaded eraser, blending stump.
The focus of this assignment is to continue building your facility in developing a drawing that communicates the idea of form in space through light and shadow.
Drawing #1
1) You are to complete a ten-step value scale (1” squares) using your charcoal pencils and blending stump to create a seamless gradation from black to white. 1 hour thirty minutes.
Drawing #2
1) Use a light colored piece of cloth or towel and place it over an object to create interesting folds in the drapery. Use a soft general light overall and then spotlight the drapery from one side to give you more contrast to work with.
2) Use your View Catcher to select an interesting cropping of the drapery to work with in creating your composition. Using your HB charcoal pencil, draw lightly defining the general directional forces and proportional relationships. 5-10 minutes.
3) Follow the general approach you used in the value studies in the sketchbook assignment for Week 11; you will gradually build up your values with cross hatching layer upon layer of gray; remember to define the overall value shapes first, beginning with value 2 on your 10-step value scale. Use cross-hatching, directional hatch marks and contour hatch marks and blending with the stump as you feel they are needed; trust the confidence you are developing with the extensive practice you've had this semester. Your goal is to clearly define the volume of the drapery in space through light and shadow. 1 hour.
Drawing #3
1) Use the drapery in a new arrangement with two objects in a still life. Think of the interaction of shapes, directional forces, and values. Use your View Catcher to select a view that you find visually engaging.
2) Define the directional forces and general value shapes using your HB charcoal pencil. 10 minutes.
3) Start by rubbing vine charcoal into your paper, establishing a value 6 gray overall. Use your eraser (kneaded first, followed by the nylon eraser) to define the high-lights and reflected lights (keep the reflected lights darker than the areas directly illuminated by the light). Use your charcoal pencils to begin developing the darker areas of value with the goal of creating the clarity of form which you see in the drapery. Develop the drawing so that you have areas of white, gray, and black. You do not have to define everything in value as you see it; you may want to leave some areas less defined for compositional interest. 1 hour 30 minutes.