Tone and Form

For this Tone and Form exercise I showed observation's of shadow and light formations on the surface of two candles. My light source was a very strong daylight lamp, which did not allow any reflective light on the opposite side of the light source and strongest highlights.

2b pencil on A4 sketch paper


Tonal Studies

For the Tonal Studies I wanted to try different media to compare the outcome.

My preferred media is pencil and I love the control of a 2b which enables very soft shading to hard cross hatch lines.

Charcoal worked well so long as I could resist the temptation of smudging it with my finger, although the lines are a little thick and would suit a larger sketch.

Pen gives a dramatic effect with deep dark lines to produce very heavy shades. I did find this difficult to show the lighter shades next to the highlighted arrears.

Water colour pencil was the hardest for me to use as it not so easy to see any hatching lines unless they are wide apart. I found myself try to press like I would my 2b pencil to attempt to make the colour deeper in the shadows with little or no effect. May be the pencil was sharp enough for this study.

Carrot - 2b pencil and coloured pencil

Stapler - charcoal pencil

Mug - 2b pencil

Spoon - No 5 drawing pen

 

At first I found I was temped to graduate the shade from the highlighted side of the light source to the dark heavy shading on the opposite side. It was only when I studied the objects for a while, that I started to see all of the reflective light on the surfaces. The spoon not only had lines of light running down the handle but it also bounced light into the wooden worktop, way in front of the handle. The scanned picture does not show this to the full effect as drawn. I found this fascination the way two shadows were appearing when I was careful to have my lamp at the same angle as the natural light coming from the window.  I spent more time studying the objects, shadows and highlights than I did drawing them.