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Start Art 8 52 www.painters-online.co.uk THE FIVE ELEMENTS OF SHADING Basic realism As well as a good understanding about colour, I firmly believe that the foundation for any realistic rendering, regardless of the medium, can be found in the five elements of shading on the sphere. I start every new student with this valuable lesson. If you can create a believable and realistic depiction of a sphere (for example, a ball on a table), the ability to render everything else is right at your fingertips. When rendering a sphere, each of the five elements will correspond with a shade on a value scale.The sphere on this page has been created using a monochromatic colour scheme of burnt umber and titanium white.The paint swatches beneath the sphere PRACTICE THE FIVE ELEMENTS OF SHADING correspond with the five elements of shading. Use these different tones as a guide. 1 Full light This is the white area, where the light source is hitting the sphere at full strength. 2 Reflected light This is a light grey. Reflected light is always found along the edge of an object and separates the darkness of the shadow edge from the darkness of the cast shadow. 3 Halftone This is a medium grey. It’s the area of the sphere that is neither in direct light nor shadow. 4 Shadow edge This dark grey is not at the very edge of the object. It is opposite the light source where the sphere curves away from you. 5 Cast shadow This is the darkest tone on your drawing. It is always opposite the light source. In the case of the sphere, it is underneath, where the sphere meets the surface.This area is void of light because, as the sphere protrudes, it blocks light and casts a shadow. Try the example below, and commit to memory the five elements of shading.These five elements are essential to realistic painting. Let’s paint this sphere together using ivory black and titanium white. Identify where the five elements of shading will be and look at the value scale shown in Stage 1. Look and see how the value scale with the brown tones compares with the grey tones. It is important to make the depth of tone for each box the same for both. For example, the No. 3 brown tones should be the same value, or darkness, as the No. 3 in grey. If the brown scale were copied on a black-and-white photocopier, it would look the same as the scale below right. STAGE 1 Mix your colours Value No. 5 is pure ivory black. Mix a very small amount of titanium white with ivory black until you match the No. 4 dark grey.When you are happy with your colour, take some of the dark grey and mix a little more titanium white into that to create the No. 3 halftone.Add some more white to that to create the No. 2 light grey.Value No. 1 is pure titanium white. 1 Full light 2 Reflected light 3 Halftone 4 Shadow edge 5 Cast shadow 1 3 4 5 2 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 You will need… l Paints: ivory black, titanium white l Brushes: No. 4 sable or synthetic round, No. 6 sable or synthetic filbert l Other: mechanical pencil, ruler t