Tonal studies - art projects

Arts & Activities, Sept, 2002 by Geri Greenman

We are illusionist in our attempt to create the sensation of three-dimensionality on a flat, oftentimes white, picture plane. We have tricks we can use: placement on the picture plane; smaller or larger; less or more detail; overlapping; shading; curvillin-ear lines for rounded objects; and those wonderful, convincing cast shadows.

The first big assignment with my art introduction class was to incorporate into one large form study these illusionary devices, along with our understanding of value scales and how light affects objects.

We had practiced with a sphere and a direct light source. We smudged graphite onto our sketchbook pages, lifting off to indicate that circular glow where the light hits the spherical shape. Values changed to very dark farther from the light, and we observed the surprisingly beautiful, reflected light, right near the darkest area of the form, that bounces off the table's surface and back up onto the sphere.

I moved the spotlight to show how the cast shadow pools differently from various directions. Then, placing the spot back to match our in-progress shading, we rendered the cast shadow.

Cast shadows make believers out of us all: that shape, reminiscent of the object, but stretched away from the light, going from the richest darks closest to the object to its own subtle value scale as it travels farther from the object. WOW! It's effective, it looks three-dimensional and, depending on our skills, it can look like we can pick the object right off the page.

My beginning students appreciate realism, and one of their goals is to achieve it, which is often validated by others. With this end in mind, we arranged three to five wooden architectural forms and other objects on old mat board. We were careful to watch our placement, making sure that there was interesting negative space in and around the grouping, which intensifies the beauty and visual flow of a composition.

Once the forms were composed we taped them down to the board. The students then sat around the various arrangements and drew thumbnail sketches of them. (I also set up some silverware for them to choose from.) I checked the progress of each student to make sure they didn't "melt" the shapes together, which would keep the objects fiat, denying them their own "space" on the paper. Once approved, each student enlarged his or her sketch onto 18" x 24" paper.

This was a big challenge for them, as the size alone was daunting. Since I was going to give them a choice of medium, they needed a larger space on which to work. I brought out black china markers and oil pastels (white and black only). Since the oil pastels are like crayons, small objects would have been much too difficult for them to render, so they immediately understood that the objects needed to be large.

The few that chose the china markers had a difficult job: to bevel the grease pencil on sandpaper and apply the values carefully, giving the appearance of a lithograph, with subtle values grabbing the paper's texture. Those who chose this technique did a remarkable job, especially given the size of the paper needed to be covered!

The rest of the class was able to blend the oil pastels on top of one another to create subtle gradations of white, grays and black. This too was a messy medium for the students; they had to be careful not to swipe their arms across their work. It helped to keep a paper towel under their hand so it wouldn't smudge where their hand rested, and to clean up any glops of pastel that stayed on the drawing. The students performed admirably. The drawings are convincing, dramatic and well-executed--with such a difficult medium with which to work.

These tonal studies are crisp, sculptural, and some are almost painterly. I am proud of how well my students did and the lovely results they achieved.

Geri Greenman is head of the art department at Willowbrook High School in Villa Park, Illinois, and is a Contributing Editor for Arts & Activities.