Drawing / WORKING FROM A DARK GROUND
- Step 1: Cover your entire sheet of GOOD quality paper with COMPRESSED charcoal. You can trim down your paper to fit on your drawing board. (DO NOT USE NEWSPRINT OR VINE CHARCOAL) use your hand to smear it to get a black velvety surface.
- Step 2: Do a series of thumbnail compositional studies. (You must include at least 1 ground plane, minimum of 3 objects, (Fabric/boxes don't count as objects).
- Step 3: Using your clicker eraser or kneaded eraser, layout the over all composition of the thumbnail onto your good paper. (NO DETAIL AT THIS POINT), just light lines indicating the general location of objects.
- Step 4: Start to erase out the light values to create form.
- **Tape a piece of newsprint to the front of your drawing as a cover sheet to prevent it blurring or rubbing onto other people's drawings. You can store them in the designated flat file for our course section.
TIPS:
- Squinting as you look at the still life allows you to more readily see the highlights and deep shadows.
- Take a photo of the still life with your phone. (Just in case an object gets moved), you can also convert the image to grayscale, mono (B&W) to see values.
- Make sure you take advantage of all your tools. (Kneaded eraser, clicker eraser, white erasure, blending stump, along with your charcoal pencils and a white pencil)
- If you erase too much, simply blend in some more charcoal.
- Use your white pencil to add extreme highlights in detailed areas for extreme highlights only. Don't use white pencils/conte to color things in white.
- Use your charcoal pencils for adding back in fine dark lines.
- Place a sheet of newsprint under your palm as you draw to prevent blurring. You can store your drawing in the designated flat files for our course.
