Pencil basics

Studies in pencil










Still life sketches of made objects


 
Frottage and another texture

Frottage (art)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

This article is about a Surrealist art technique. For other uses, see Frottage.

In art, frottage (from French frotter, "to rub") is a surrealist and "automatic" method of creative production developed by Max Ernst.
In frottage the artist takes a pencil or other drawing tool and makes a "rubbing" over a textured surface. The drawing can be left as is or used as the basis for further refinement. While superficially similar to brass rubbing and other forms of rubbing intended to reproduce an existing subject, and in fact sometimes being used as an alternate term for it, frottage differs in being aleatoric and random in nature.
It was developed by Ernst in 1925. Ernst was inspired by an ancient wooden floor where the grain of the planks had been accentuated by many years of scrubbing. The patterns of the graining suggested strange images to him. He captured these by laying sheets of paper on the floor and then rubbing over them with a soft pencil.
Frottage has also been used in mail art.
word texture

Line and other marks



 
Contour

Contour - What is Contour Line in Drawing

Definition: A contour is the line which defines a form or edge - an outline. Contour drawing is the place where most beginners start, following the visible edges of a shape. The contour describes the outermost edges of a form, as well as dramatic changes of plane within the form.'Blind contour drawing' is when contour drawing is done without looking at the paper.
Contours in map making track across a surface linking points of the same height, so are very different in appearance and purpose to the contours referred to in visual art. This type of cartographic contour has more in common with an artist's 'cross contours', which are drawn to describe imaginary lines that cut across the form.

Also Known As: outline, pure contour,line, outlines

http://drawsketch.about.com/od/drawingglossary/g/contour.htm



Blind contour
Contour drawing is essentially outline drawing, and blind contour drawing means drawing the outline of the subject without looking at the paper. The end result doesn't matter - what is important is carefully observing the subject.


Cross contour
Cross contour lines are drawn lines which travel, as the name suggests, across the form. Cross contours may be horizontal or vertical, as on the right side of the example, or both. Often, in more complex forms, cross-contours will be drawn at varying angles.
http://drawsketch.about.com/od/drawinglessonsandtips/ss/crosscontour.htm


Contour drawing
 
Tonal study in pencil
Tone and Shape - are two of the 4 elements of drawing. The other two are line and texture.
In this commentary we will discuss the idea of plasticity and how it relates to the concepts of tone and form.
* Elasticity - is the visual push and pull of lights and darks which, when presented in a harmonious entirety, defines the three- dimensional forms of a portrait.
The human eye can discriminate between many more values than the 12 we generally use in a drawing. That means that the artist must "trick" the eye into believing that it is seeing more than is actually on the drawing paper. To this end we must grasphow light behaves and values are perceived.
The trick is to manipulate the eye's natural tendency towards finality, i.e., towards finishing a drawing even if parts are not actually there. But the eye only does that without protest if the plasticity is harmonious. Only then will the viewer emotionally connect.
The subject of creating harmonious plasticity is broad. In this commentary we limit ourselves to realistic portraiture.
* Tones - are just degrees of darkness and lightness. We generally limit ourselves to twelve discrete values.
To grasp how a form is rendered we need to grasp how light operates and how values enter into this. There are 2 properties of light relevant to drawing:
(1) Light travels in a straight line and bounces off surfaces.
(2) The intensity of light diminishes quickly with distance.
From these properties it follows that:
* As a form turns away from the light source it dims.
* When two planes face the light they will have different values if their distances from the light source are different. For instance, the cheek closest to the light source will have a lighter tone than the one which is farther away.
* The lightest light on a form is the "highlight". The highlight is always on a plane that is directly facing the light source.
* Most of a portrait's tone is so-called halftone. That is, anything in-between pure white and pure black. Halftone rendering is at the same time the most enjoyable and the most difficult part of drawing.
* As a form turns completely away from the light source it slowly descends into shadow, towards totally black (i.e., the absence of light). However, there is more to it.
* There is also reflected light from one plane onto another. Remember, light bounces off surfaces but with diminished intensity. So be cautious not to overdo your reflected light.
* There is also the crest of the shadow which is the darkest value on the form. This band of darkness lies between the darkest halftones and the reflected light. This band of darkness is called the Line of Appelle. It is critical to capture its form correctly because it determines the form's volume.
* As a form turns away from the light, the half-tone plane changes have a soft edge. The quality of this edge is determined by several factors the most critical of which are the amount of plane change, the intensity of light, and the texture of the surface.
* In portrait drawing there are also cast shadows which are hard-edged and very dark and are cast by one form upon another. An example is the shadow that is cast by the nose onto the cheek.
A superb exercise for comprehending the idea of plasticity is to sketch a white bowling pin. For a more controlled situation you can build yourself a black box with one side open that fully controls the light of one source and blocks out the light of other sources that could disturb the situation.
In closing, the use of the twelve-value scale together with the above tips allows you to create the necessary plasticity for your subjects.
http://www.articlesbase.com/visual-art-articles/guidelines-for-pencil-portrait-drawing-tone-and-form-in-relation-to-plasticity-736444.html

Supermarket shop
got only 3 objects for study tone


tonal Study different objects






AND CONE IN INK


Reflected light

Definitions

To discuss shading, I am using a set of words with very particular meanings, which are defined here. Other publications may not agree with all my terminology...

...But I'm the one who's right.

Make sure your browser is stretched out far enough to the right to include whole illustration.
Definition Menu

Light Source  Secondary Light Source
Light (zone)

Halftone

Shade (zone)
Medium Light
Highlight
Low Light
Core of Shadow
Reflected Light (as a light source)
Cave
Cast Shadow

Light Source

The most luminous element affecting any given environment.

This might be, for example, the sun, or, if the sun is obscured by a cloudy overcast, then the overcast becomes the light source. The nature of the light source plays a critical role in form description.

Photograph of lamp mounted to ceiling, illuminating white plastic sheet.

Secondary Light Source

Less luminous (than light source) elements affecting any given environment.

On a sunny day, the sky is a secondary light source to the sun. Highly reflective surfaces can act as secondary light sources. The influence of illumination from secondary light sources is important, but can never exceed the influence from the primary light source.

Photograph of lamp mounted to ceiling, illuminating white plastic sheet.

The plastic sheet is acting as a secondary light source, as it reflects illumination back to the ceiling.

Light (zone)

The area on form which is receiving illumination from the light source. You can cast a shadow over the lit side of form.

While secondary light sources can illuminate shade zones, the contrast of intensely illuminated light zones precludes any part of the shade zone from being as light as any part of the light zone.

Halftone

The area along the boundary between shade and light where there is a visible mix between shade and light.

Halftone is found only where textured form turns from light, and is not the edge of a cast shadow.
Because halftone contains light, you can cast a shadow over the halftone area.
Many people have trouble conceptualizing the halftone area, so I have made a page with much more detail about this area.

Shade (zone)

Area where the light source cannot illuminate, due to form turning away, or to light blockage by a shadow casting body.
You cannot cast a shadow over the shade zone.

Medium Light

Area on form receiving a greater level of illumination from light source.

Highlight

A reflection, focused or diffuse, of the light source.

The reflection of the lamp is the highlight. Because the surface is very glossy, we see a reflection of the light source. An eggshell finish on the same surface would soften the focus to such an extent that you would not be able to identify the lamp anymore; but this area would contain the highlight just the same.

Photograph of lamp mounted to ceiling, illuminating white plastic sheet.

As the observer moves about, the highlight moves; while light from illumination is fixed. This is due to a basic rule about reflection, to be discussed later.

Low Light

Area on form receiving a lesser level of illumination from light source.

Core of Shadow

This is a compound effect:

1. Within shade, due to the relative position of observer to an object in open space, some parts of form bounce less reflected light back into our eyes, thus appearing darker. Typically, this area will be a plane turned toward us.
2. The second factor -- completing the definition -- is the presence of a lit side of the form. The illuminated side turns from the light, into the darkened plane facing you. All these factors work in concert to create the core of the shadow.

Reflected Light (as a light source)

Reflected light acts as illumination from non-primary light sources.

Reflected light influences color or lightness level on all parts of the form, but its influence is most evident in the shade zone. Reflective surfaces illuminate nearby forms, even if weakly. As light sources, reflective surfaces cannot illuminate as strongly as the primary light source. The sky can be thought of as a reflective medium.

Photograph of lamp mounted to ceiling, illuminating white plastic sheet.

Cave

Extreme recessions where, due to a closed configuration, light is prevented from reflecting back to your eye.

Cast Shadow

Light rays travel in a straight-line path out from the source. Objects block light rays from continuing along this path.
Areas behind the light-blocking body will not be illuminated. These areas are said to have a shadow cast over them.
The boundary of a cast shadow can be plotted by running a straight line from the light source to the edge of the light blocking form, down to the next surface.
At the boundary of the shade zones, cast shadows have a different edge quality than halftones. Cast shadows have penumbras. Soon I will develop a section describing the nature of penumbras.

http://www.art.net/~rebecca/ShadeDefinitions.html

Study of reflected light