Drawing Line & Shade Concepts

Line and Shade Drawing Concepts from Instructor:
by: Victoria Vebell - AIO Intermediate Illustration.

1. Drawing is creating the illusion of 3D space on a 2d surface.

2. There are no lines in the 3D world only edges seen by the contrast by what's behind it.

3. A line is an abstraction of an edge.

4. Lines create shape, shading creates form.

5. Light creates unity of form by all the objects having the same direction of the light source.

6. Shading is made up of different tones of value. All value is judge how light or dark it is by comparison to another tone.

7. The human eye can see about 40 different values.

8. A trompe l'oeile (fool the eye) artist can render maybe 15 -20 different values in a drawing.

9. A very good artist can render 10 different values.

10. Every good drawing must have a pure white and a pure black.

11. The more different values you can render the more realistic your drawing will be.

12. This is the basis for eye movement, the more contrast you create in an area the more your eye notices it and appears to come forward. The converse is true, the less contrast you have (the closer your values are together) the more that area recedes and your eye slides over it.

Think of it this way, on a sunny day everything looks clear and sharp.... more contrast of values. On a foggy day, the values are all muted and close together and everything seems soft and fuzzy.

13. Realistic rendering takes time and patience. Building up the tones to black will make your drawings more realistic and stronger.

14. Using vine charcoal is a bad choice for small work. Pencil or charcoal pencils both with a paper stump is the best choice.


Tip: to keep your shading from smearing, put a clean white piece of paper under your hand:)! Also if an area gets too dark, use a kneader eraser and dab it slightly. You also can re-establish your white areas by making a point with your eraser and draw the lights back in.

SOURCE:
Instructor: Victoria Vebell - Intermediate Illustration - AIO