Drawing White Objects

Notice the shadows

My niece has just started to draw--so I suggested she try to draw white objects and drawing from life, not photographs.

Why White?

One of the best ways to do this is to draw simple white objects against a white background.

Why?

1. There is no distracting color
2. There is no distracting pattern
3. You can see value clearly
4. See how shading shapes an object
5. learn the temperature of white
6. Understanding the difference between contour shadow and cast shadows

White is Not Always White

Notice the contour shadows

When we think of white we think of the absence of color. Not so! Have you ever gone looking for white paint in a paint store? How many shades of white are there? White has color. Actually white has all of them! But lets not get into that. White also has temperature. There are warm and cool whites. Whites that tend towards the yellow, whites that tend towards the blue. How does this effect drawing with graphite? Even a white egg will have value shifts in its contours.

See all the shades of white

While it is a challenge to draw, using white objects against a white background will teach you more than almost any other drawing exercise. Drawing these from life will help you focus on their true shape and size. Working with a couple of similarly white objects will also help you learn to evaluate relative size, placement and even texture. One of the classic drawing exercises used for many years in drawing classes the world over is drawing a white bowl of eggs. Or a simple grouping of eggs on a white tablecloth. Many an art student remember this and shudders! 

Simple shapes are not simple

Also by drawing white you are not deceived by differences in color intensity nor distracted by pattern. When you are first learning to draw ( and even after if you are honest) you will find different colors will catch your eye first or distract you from other objects around it. This is natural. We all have our own color preferences and sometimes dislikes. When you are using a monochrome media, like graphite, interpreting these colors into a value rich drawing can be both rewarding and a little confusing. Learning to judge which red is brighter, lighter or should be more value rich then the mustard yellow or purple can lead to really exciting drawing. Learning to focus also on the contour shading of an object, seeing the small value changes in a solidly colored object will help you draw that Chinese vase so it looks real, round and almost popping off the page instead of like a flat cutout.

Where are the edges?

To draw well, whether it is hyper-realistic or fantasy, abstract or cartooned, you need to understand the difference between cast shadows and contour shadow. You can read all you want. You can copy master drawings, use photographs, but until you do it yourself, from life learning to make your own judgments, you will not really experience the whole joy and freedom of drawing.

Learning the technical side of the art is freeing. Just as learning the scales when learning to play an instrument gives you the muscle memory to move with the rhythm of the song learning to see the contour shading frees you to draw what you see accurately. This makes it easier to manipulate objects when you want to. Understanding them helps you turn them inside out and create believable imaginary objects.

All white but not the same color

Back to the Drawing Board, or Rather Class

Had a fantastic week in drawing class.

 

 

Everyone made good progress at creating their own art.

 

 

Betty, who struggled with the idea of negative space last week, got it. She did not know it, of course. That is the way it happens. The week before, I had her doing a negative space exercise which really threw her. It usually does when you try to do this. This is normal! We have a short stool at the Renaissance Art gallery, just the right size to put on the table and drive drawing students crazy. Now driving them crazy is not the aim of this exercise, just one of the added bonuses! The aim is to get the student to notice the spaces in a work of art. These can be just as important as the objects and effects the overall success of any piece. But to deliberately work in negative space will make the best student go cross-eyed!

 

 

Betty, like most students got very frustrated! Normal. But it is vitally important that the beginning student becomes aware of this. Many of us stumbled on this ourselves but it is much easier to master if you have someone to clue you in. Betty did the exercise, and did rather well, although she did not think so herself. We are not always the best judges of our own progress.

Well, this week we worked on drawing accurately and judging distances. Most people tend to think of judging distances only with distant objects, like cows in a field. But judging distances also means within an object from your point of view. Such as the distances between legs, uprights and braces in say, The stool sitting a few feet away on the floor of your drawing studio.

 

 

accurate drawings require accurate observations

Well Betty undertook to draw that *&^** stool again. This time she was trying to draw the stool, not the spaces around it. Did rather well, but suddenly, she said. "Ah! I am drawing those spaces!" This is how she was getting the placement of the legs, rungs, braces etc. correctly, using the size and shape of the negative spaces to double check herself! Erecka! Breakthrough!

 

Mary Anne is working on a portrait of her grandson. One of the consequences of doing a successful portrait of one of your grandchildren is that you must do them all! These portraits are being done in colored pencil. Colored pencil takes time and commitment. (some say doing any art in color pencils means you should be committed!)

Mary Anne conquers solvents

 

Getting a really saturated portrait mean a lot of hard work. Keeping the details from smearing calls for a delicate hand. And using solvents to blend the many layers necessary for a really good, saturated colored pencil painting takes nerves of steel. So this week I helped Mary Anne in working with colored pencil and solvent.

 

Word of caution to those of you working in colored pencil. Don't buy the cheap stuff! Only use mineral spirits/paint thinner you get from a quality art supply house. Do not use stuff from the hardware store. It is false economy. And use a light hand. We use rather cheap acrylic fine paint brushes for this. The solvents are hard on the brushes and destroy brushes. Watercolor brushes are too soft for this. You want something that is a little stiffer. Mary Anne also learned to use a larger stump to blend her background.

 

Speaking of backgrounds. These should not simply be afterthoughts. While you do not want a lot of detail, this does not mean you should not give them a lot of attention. In many ways the background can set the overall tone of the painting. If dark and moody, or with a lot of clutter, etc. your overall impression of the painting is set by the background. Think about it. A lot!

 

 

 

Julia's colored pencil painting

 

One person who has gotten the hang of fully saturated colored pencil is Julia. She worked a scene form how to train your dragon 2. She found out just how much work a good background takes. Julia work hours on this painting.

 

 

 Julia has moved on to working on her original story, in her case a fairy tale, complete with pen & ink illustrations.

Other students are working on their own original graphic novels. Interesting story lines. They are at the creating characters stage. working out just who these people are  and the universe in which they live.

Drawing From Life, June 2014

 

 

Everything is beautiful and everything is interesting. Look around and see what is really there. Notice the texture. Notice the surface. Are the edges hard or soft? How does the light hit it? Examine it. Shadow and shading change constantly.

 

Drawing from life, ea. From what you see, it different from drawing from a photograph.

 

When you draw from a photograph, you are in essence coping the photographer’s composition, or point of view. The lighting, distance, arrangement are all ready laid out for you.

 

But when you are drawing from objects you have selected and arranged, it is different. Also, your perception of these objects are much different from when you look at them in a photograph. Photographs are flat.

 

Looking at the real objects gives you to sense of 3-dimension you will never get from a photograph.

 

Walk around and move objects. Let the arrangement be your selection not  what someone else selects.

Still Life: 3 Red Pears

Three Red Pears

A still life.

 

Wednesday Art Classes at the Renaissance Art Gallery are starting a new still life. We have done still life drawings before, but we have worked from still life settings that I assembled.

This one is different. 

This one the students have assembled. 

They all must contribute to the set-up and concept.

3 Red Pears in a white bowl.



First we had 3 red pears.

 

 

 

Very nice pears.

 

And a white bowl.

 

Not bad.

 

Sitting on the table it was fine, but could we do more? Change the way we look at the setup?

 

3 pears with room lighting
 

How about looking at the lighting?

 

 

Pears taken with flash

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lighting is an important part of any work of art. Where is the light coming from? How strong is it? How does it effect the shadows and shading?

 

Working with different light and light sources we could see just how much different lighting effected now only shadows, shading but color itself! Opening the blinds and setting the bowl where the natural light from the window could fall on it, totally changed the entire look of the still life.

 

3 Red Pears, photo taken in natural light