Art Is Easy to Make!

Lesson Four - Making a 2 Dimensional Paper Surface Depict a 3 Dimensional Object - Light and Shadow

BEGIN WITH SPHERES

Place a sphere on a table. Adjust your light source so it only hits the sphere on one side creating a highlight, a middle tone, a dark or low tone, a reflected light, and a cast shadow. Let this drawing be a compromise between what you actually see and the way you know light should behave in hitting the sphere. Also you can add a second light source and observe and draw how this affects the sphere. Draw the sphere with many different light sources. You will learn a lot about how light effects the dark and the volume.

EGGS, APPLES, AND MORE

Use charcoal or pencils to draw the eggs. Draw these eggs 5 times life-size. You will find it more challenging to draw larger. Overlapping is the most positive means of indicating the illusion of three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional surface. If objects don't overlap the effect is shallow.

Try drawing 2 apples not overlapping. Use colored pencils for your next drawing. You can use the water pencils and blend with water if you wish. Draw 3 apples, overlapping them. Notice the difference.

Draw 3 pieces of alike fruit: pears, apples, oranges, lemons, etc. Do not use any line in this drawing. Only draw the light and dark areas. Notice the difference in texture of these objects.

Try drawing a dozen apples on a large piece of paper, newsprint, the floor, whatever. Notice where the apples look flat and where they look 3 dimensional.

It's always a good idea to study several paintings or art books of the masters paintings of still life or other subject matter. Go to a museum and just study one part of each painting, such as the apples, the cloth, a vase.

4TH DIMENSION

Speed of your line. In order to show speed you must draw firmly and fast. Objects that move can be very difficult to draw. Water and clouds are both good subjects. Grass that is blowing and moving. Trees in a wind. Try photographing all these movement visions so you can see the stopped image. If you have a computer then select one area of a cloud or water and blow it up 10 times and study that. It looks just like those spheres or eggs as far as light and dark . . . . no lines too! Water with reflections of boats, etc. can have the appearance of many sharp edges, although the lines are broken and appear to move.

WATER

If you had to design material with a water theme, what would your design look like. Try it. Remember when using a silk screen the colors usually have to be in contained areas. Does it look like paint by number? Look at Peter Max paintings and designs. This exercise will help you understand what it takes to make water say water, and clouds say cloud, and apple say apple, in 2 dimensions.

SET UP A STILL LIFE

Set up a still life. Draw only the negative shapes - the shapes between the objects. Be sure you use the correct tone and value in these negative shapes. Look at your drawing. Do the negative shapes form an interesting pattern on the page? If not then rearrange the objects and draw the negative shapes again. Again check it to see if these form an interesting pattern.

DRAWING WITH A PROJECTON OF YOUR IMAGE

Some artists use this method all the time.

ENLARGING WITH A GRID

To use just one section of the gridded photo or drawing as an abstract:

Use two L-shaped pieces of paper over the photo or drawing. Squeeze them together making a frame around a small area of the photo or drawing. Move this around until you select the most desired area. This tiny area can be enlarged in just the same way as before.

COLLAGE INSPIRATION

Cut up a drawing or photo or magazine picture. Rearrange it in a new order and paste down. Try leaving it in original order and just slightly eschewing the pieces when you glue them down. Or some of the pieces might be upside-down. Draw a grid over this.

Cut up some old drawings. Paste them back together in a new arrangement. Lay tracing paper over this collage. Picking out the best areas, draw a new drawing on the tracing paper. Go wild, grid it out and paint it!

Try using color or just black and white pictures. Grid it.

Draw from any one of these grids.

Use a small black matt to isolate areas so you can choose.

Now try drawing on huge paper.

You can buy paper that's 10' wide, or more. If you don't have the source for large paper then paste together smaller paper to at least 6' size . . . the edges will create even more interest. Artists always love edges!