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RT START Start Art 5 18 www.painters-online.co.uk Basic shapes There are four shapes you should become familiar with: the cube, the cylinder, the sphere and the cone. These shapes and their shading form the basis of your drawings. If you can master the shading of these items, you’ve discovered one of the biggest secrets to drawing. Shading pattern The pattern found in round objects is light-dark-light-dark. That is, where light strikes a round object it creates the lightest light. As we move from this lightest light, shadows form (dark). Just before the opposite edge from the lightest light, we encounter another light area, called reflected light (light). Then we reach the shadow area (dark). Shadows and light It took two rolls of film to come up with this photo, right. When I finally got the shot I wanted, the lighting was very dark. That meant that the area below Shilo’s face was dark, as was her hair on one side. When drawing a darker subject, the secret is to draw what you see. That is, if you don’t see a detail, don’t guess, just draw it as a dark shape. You can’t be more “real” than the photo. Basic shapes You can shop for examples or props of the basic forms in most art supply and craft stores. Use them in different lighting situations and with different backgrounds to practise shading each form. If you can accurately depict them, you are well on your way to drawing realistic children. From left to right: sphere, cylinder, cone and cube Reference photo Let’s practise drawing the hair and face. Always check the proportions of your drawing before starting on the hair 1 Establish the direction of the hair Before I begin the hairs, I need to establish where the hair is going. I’ve drawn some lines to indicate the direction I’ll be “combing” the hair 2 Add the darks I like to see some darks as early in the drawing as possible. Because Shilo’s hair is darker than her shirt, I’ve used it as a working value scale. (A value scale is where the lightest lights to darkest darks are laid out side by side.) Create a working value scale by placing a dark midtone in your drawing, and leaving another area white on your drawing. Now you can easily see the full range of shades you’ll need to have to make an interesting drawing. Although my drawing has become dark, my pencil is kept sharp. The shine of her hair is from leaving the lights, not from lifting them out 3 Blend the darks I’ve completed one side of Shilo's hair and blended the darks at the base. It’s important that the lines remain lines and are not blended together—otherwise the hair will have a flat, decidedly “unhairlike” appearance