Taking Time

Looking at the point of my pencil, it never ceases to captivate me, the idea of how refined form can possibly become if represented to the precision of that fine tip.  Such wonder lead me through creating this eye cast drawing to investigate the subtleties of form at Grand Central Atelier.  My drawing proceeded by taking time to carefully construct gradations that represented specific curvatures of form one section of form at a time.

While  making deliberately constructed sections of form allowed me to closely study each forms specific surface, I also had to consider those smaller aspects in relation to the larger forms on the cast.  With this drawing I noticed I was able to develop more of an ability to retain a sense of the structure of larger forms while making smaller changes to them.  Since I put careful thought into the structure of each form as I constructed them, as I refined the form I could gain a better sense of where I wanted the form to develop and which areas that needed to conform to the specific curve of form I intended to make.  However I often lost sense of the larger forms while working on smaller aspects, such as sub-forms like the folds in the eye brow.  A critique from Scott Waddell showed me how to evaluate the form in the simplest possible way in order to regain a sense of the hierarchy of larger forms to the smaller forms that sit on top of them.

While progressing with this drawing I developed more of an appreciation for the idea that the smaller forms only gain significance when in their proper relation to the larger forms that they depend upon.  Working in a slow form by form method can sometime cause loss of awareness to the integrated nature of form.  But I found that the more time I spend practicing to retain a sense of where I am modeling in relation to the hierarchy of the overall form of the cast I can develop a better sense and ability to properly place smaller forms and larger forms.  I will continue taking time to carefully study form with my upcoming cast projects.

Thanks so much to the great help from all of my teachers for cast drawing, Devin Cecil-Wishing, Patrick Byrnes, Scott Waddell and the teachers who sometimes came by to help and encourage me with my drawing, Josh LaRock, Jacob Collins and Colleen Barry.  I couldn't ask for better instructors.

Thanks again to all who supported my art material fundraiser for school (The Arthur Haywood Education Initiative).  I am very fortunate to be learning so much with the supplies.

A week at the Grand Central Atelier

To offer some insight into my daily experiences at the Grand Central Atelier I am sharing a post that describes a recent week at school that was very helpful for me.

Classes for the core program are in session from 8:30 am - 5:00 pm.  As a first year student I draw from the cast in the morning until 12:30 before having lunch in the school's kitchen through 1 pm when I return to the cast hall to practice block-ins until 5 pm.

Near the beginning of the week I received valuable advice one of my cast drawing instructors, Patrick Byrnes.  In my drawing the light indentation on the eye initially suggested more of a scoop than was actually apparent on the cast.  Patrick informed me of how to more accurately describe that area by slightly lightening the darker part of the form to turn the form more towards the light. While I draw my cast during the weekday mornings I also usually can overhear the advice from instructors, Jacob Collins, Ted Minoff, Will St. John, Josh LaRock and Scott Waddell as they teach the 2nd through 4th year students in the figure room,  and from Tony Curanaj in the still-life room on some afternoons.

One day a week in the afternoons, first year students sculpt copies of casts in clay.  My sculpture teacher Zoe Dufour has been helping us with sculpting. I am sculpting from the same eye that I draw from in the mornings. A picture of us working on cast sculpture can be seen on the GCA instagram page here. This practice has helped me to gain more of an understanding of the three-dimensional nature of form and encourages me to apply sculptural considerations to assist me in modeling form more specifically while drawing in graphite.  Since drawing at GCA is approached through the concept of turning forms darker in relation to how much form turns away from the position of the light source, drawing is essentially sculpting with pencil.

When Devin Cecil-Wishing, one of my cast drawing instructors, came by the cast hall I was about to begin modeling a new form.  I was initially planning to model the lower form underneath the eye, (and a strip of form can be seen where I started working in that area) but after Devin's recommendation to model the lower brow I decided to model that form.  Since the form of the lower brow is connected to a shadow edge it is easier to make a gradation out of that shadow.  Also, it was helpful advice from Devin to move to the forms above the eyelid since they are more curved than the forms below the eye, which allows for an easier task of modeling form where the curvature of form is easier to see.  Since the cast hall is lit by light coming through a large window some of the forms on the cast that are not as round appear even more subtle under the natural light.

Later in the afternoon I took a break from practicing block-ins to see the work in progress from Colleen Barry's stucture drawing class.  It was very informative to see the work 3rd and 4th year students were making in that class and to learn about how they were approaching figure drawing through discussions with them.  The information I have been learning about the figure and form has been beneficial to me while I work on a portrait commission painting after school during the week nights.  One night one of the cast drawing instructors, Justin Wood, was able to stop by the studio in the school that I was working in and offered some very helpful advice on how I can reference master paintings to assist with painting my portrait commission.

Later in the week while I was drawing my eye cast in the cast hall, I could hear the echoes of Scott Waddell's advice in the morning coming from figure studio.  I decided to take a break from my drawing to see how the 2nd year students were progressing with their figure drawings.  I was amazed to see how refined their drawings were turning out during the second week of their month long pose and gained insight into how they pace themselves on their drawings.

During my lunch breaks I have been working on master copies while I eat.  Anthony Baus has an incredible library that he left the school in his Perspective Lab.  I have been utilizing some of his books to make master copies, such as the Carracci copy shown above.  These studies from 17th century artists has given me insight into how I can develop my own compositions, such as the one shown above on the right.  On my way back from lunch I walked past the gallery within GCA, Eleventh Street Arts, and was very inspired by the still-life show on view.  With a greater sense of how my studies are leading to more expressive works of art, off to the cast hall I returned to practice block-ins for the afternoon.

A 4-hour "tippy cast" block-in completed during an afternoon.

My cast block-in instructors, Brendan Johnston and Scott Waddell, come by during the week to give us 1st year students very helpful advice on how to approach making proportional drawings, called block-ins.  Now we are working on the practice of "tippy casts".  With this exercise we tip the casts at various angles that make the object less recognizable.  Through representing the shapes students can develop the ability to accurately copy shapes that are seen, without being influenced by the idea of trying to make a drawing that leans towards the symbolic idea of what one expects a face to look like.  While Scott Waddell and Brendan Johnston are in the cast hall I am also able to benefit from hearing the painting advice they give to the 2nd year students who are working on cast painting and I can watch as they demonstrate painting techniques on student's cast paintings to clarify how to model form.

One afternoon Josh LaRock was nice to stop by the cast hall to help us out after he finished teaching the 3rd and 4th year students in the figure room. While giving me advice on how to adjust my block-in, shown above, he suggested that I would benefit from approaching setting up my cast differently the next time.  The cast that I was blocking in did not have large unified light and dark shapes due to how I positioned it to the light and the angle that I was viewing it at.  Practicing tippy cast block-ins with a cast under a stronger lighting effect would make it easier to draw.  Josh's advice made sense to me that the practice of comparing shapes is easier to manage when the shapes are split into large and obvious light and dark shapes.  Later that afternoon I could hear some excitement from the figure room that the 3rd and 4th year students were painting in and stopped by to find that they were remarking on a figure painting that Josh LaRock brought to the studio.  Viewing the amazing figure grisaille painting of "Sheena"  that he made while he was a 2nd year student at GCA left me feeling so inspired and lucky to study at GCA.

By 5 pm  the ringing of the timer from the figure studio sounded and I could hear the 3rd and 4th year students thank the model for posing.  With that, the weekend has just begun, with more tales from the Grand Central Atelier to come when this cast drawing is done.

In progress...

Thanks again to all who supported my art material fundraiser for school (The Arthur Haywood Education Initiative).  I am very fortunate to be learning so much with the supplies.

Hand Cast Drawing Process

This is one of the final posts describing what I learned during my time studying at The Cambridge Street Studios.  Things just didn't work out for me there and I will no longer be studying at The Cambridge Street Studios. I will be continuing the classical curriculum elsewhere and I will continue making blog posts about what I am learning.

Click here to view a higher resolution image (the drawing is 15" x 7" inches)

While I was working on my drawing of the hand cast, shown above, there were many discussions of ideas between the instructors at The Cambridge Street Studios and me and this post is a summary of the ideas and processes that have guided me through that drawing.  Footnotes are included in this post to indicate which sentences in this post are summarizations of ideas that the instructors at The Cambridge Street Studios have explained to me.

The modeling process that I have been using is focused on trying to understand the three-dimensional structure of a form and its relation to a light source.  That understanding is then translated onto my paper by first outlining the shapes of the planes on a form, so that I may sculpt the planes by using value to represent areas of a form that are turning towards or away from the light.¹  I used a few different approaches for sculpting the form on my drawing of the hand cast that offered different advantages for each stage of this drawing.

3-Day Modeling Process
 At first it was taking me a long time to move on from the areas above the wrist because I kept going back to rework my modeling in those areas.  Once I began using a 3-day modeling process (that Jeremy Deck was taught by Angela Cunningham and that he taught to me¹) the drawing began to progress much more quickly and pushed me to make more confident decisions while modeling.  The 3-day modeling process that I used is as follows.

For each daily 4 hour drawing session I would focus on modeling about a square inch of form.¹  The process of modeling each form  began with selecting the simplest path on a form that contained the most value range for that form.¹  (Paths like this that describe the three-dimensional arc of the surface on a form are known as a strips of form.)  Then I would outline 3 or 4 distinct planes on that strip of form, while trying to make sure that the strip of form on my drawing appeared to diminish or advance accurately in perspective.¹

Then I would turn each of those planes darker or lighter in value based on how much each of those planes were turned towards or away from the light source.¹  While working on this strip I had to do much comparing of the planes that I had previously modeled in the wrist to try to ensure that the value hierarchy would be consistent across the entire drawing.  I would start modeling a strip by first placing the value for the down-most plane or the the plane that was most faced towards the light.¹  Then I would bend the remaining planes down in value as they turned away from the plane that faced most towards the light, or if I started by first placing the value for the down-most plane I would bend the remaining planes up in value as they turned towards the light from that point. I would often have to adjust the shape and value of each plane once all the planes on strip of form were drawn in order to more accurately represent the shape and value of each plane in relation to each other.¹
      This stage of the modeling process offers one the ability to resolve many of the important aspects of accurately representing a form.  Focusing on the shape and value of each plane in relation to each other can ensure that the large planes on a strip of form are accurately shaped and positioned towards or away from the light source.

After I did my best to organize the large planes in a strip of form I would proceed to model a form by trying to be more specific about how subtly each section of the form was positioned towards or away from the light source.  I first focused on modeling a representation of the form without details.  There were many bumps, scratches and small subtle plane breaks on the cast that were distracting from the overall volume of a strip of form.  I would ignore those details in order to focus on representing the more obvious form.¹  After I attempted to model the more simple version of a form I would include the details that I saw on the cast on top of the simple version of the form that I had modeled.¹

I would continue to model adjacent strips of form by using the same process described above.  After an adjacent strip had been focused on individually I would try to be specific about modeling the transitions between the two adjacent strips on a form.  Once all of the strips on form were modeled on my drawing I could evaluate the entire mass of a form in relation to the other forms previously modeled and could make needed adjustments.  This process continued form by form for the drawing below the wrist.  Below is a diagram of the 3-day modeling process that further illustrates how I would progress through modeling a form by focusing on a square inch of form each day.

Day 1- I would focus on modeling a square inch of form.

Day 2- I would focus on a new strip of form but would allow myself sometime to rework areas in the strip of form from day one.¹

Day 3- I would focus on a new strip of form but would allow myself sometime to rework areas in the strip of form from day two and even less time to rework areas in the strip of form from day one.¹
 Although I primarily focused on completing a square inch of form each day with this process, I did break from that habit somewhat by only completing half of a square-inch of form on some days. 

 This process was helpful for developing more confidence in my decisions as I modeled a form.  Developing confidence in one's decisions while modeling is an important skill to develop because the direct painting process with oil paint that I will use allows for little to no reworking of painted areas once they have dried.

Some progress photos of my drawing of the hand cast are shown below to illustrate what I mean by the drawing progressing form by form.  Many of the photos show multiple forms that have been modeled, but each form that was drawn in the process was first focused on individually.

 
 

A Reworking Process
I tried my best to accurately represent each form as I progressed through the front of the hand but made many severe mistakes that were made obvious once the entire front of the hand was in my drawing.  The reworking process that I used was intended to better organize the planes on my drawing to make my drawing more accurately represent the structures that I saw on the cast.

Before reworking                            After reworking
Note, I only reworked areas below the wrist in these photos.

Due to not enough consideration of the value hierarchy of each form in relation to each other I was presented with a drawing that did not accurately represent the value organization of the large planes on the cast. A reason for why I did not consider the value hierarchy enough was because I was too focused on only determining the values on each form by only trying to understand each plane's position in relation to the light source.  This resulted in a drawing that lacked the organized specificity of the values of the planes that I saw on the cast.  During the reworking process I had to embrace the fact that the values of the planes that I saw on the cast were a result of each plane's specific orientation to the light source.   Before the reworking process, I could compare the position of one plane to another to see that one plane would be slightly more facing the light than another.  But the specificity of exactly how much each plane was facing the light source was so difficult to determine by only evaluating and trying to retain an idea of where each plane is facing that it was more useful to check what I understood by comparing how light or dark the values of the planes on the cast appeared in relation to each other before I decided on the value for a plane on my drawing.¹

The reworking process that I used to try to organize the planes on the front of the hand was made easier with the use of a few thought processes.  In order to stay focused while reworking the front of the hand I would only work on trying to correct one area of a form at at time.  I started reworking on the left side of the hand and reworked form by form until I made it over to the right side of the hand.  During this process I had to be extremely careful to make sure I was making decisions that were well investigated in order to prevent myself from making more mistakes.

Outlined areas of planes that appear to group together into similar values because the planes within the shapes face in similar directions.

During this reworking process I would first consider how the values of the shapes of the planes on a form grouped together with the values of the shapes of the planes on the forms surrounding it.   While I was trying to group the values of the large planes on my drawing I also made sure to be specific about the gradations, made by micro-planes turning towards or away from the light source, within those large planes in order to represent the subtle three-dimensional structure within each of the large planes.

   

A useful evaluation tool is to compare how the cast looks with one's eyes out of focus to how one's drawing looks with one's eyes in focus.¹  Looking at the cast with one's eyes slightly out of focus reduces the amount of contrast that one sees on the cast so one can better see the cast in a compressed value range that is more similar to the compressed value range on one's drawing.¹  This is helpful for  determining if the compressed value relationships that one sees on the cast , with eyes slightly out of focus, are similar to the value relationships that one sees on one's drawing with their eyes in focus.¹  Once the values of the planes on a form were better relating with the values of the planes on the surrounding forms I would focus on larger areas of connecting forms.

Two clear areas of connecting forms, outlined in brown, with a directional path across, outlined in red.

Of course all of the forms on a cast are connected but some forms clearly flow into each other along a distinct directional path; like waves following a directional current to flow into one another.  An area of connecting forms is evaluated by rolling over the forms in a directional path while looking back and forth from one's drawing to the cast at the same pace that one is pointing their pencil at the same place on their drawing that they are looking at on the cast.  This type of evaluation is as if one was a surfer riding a tide, evaluating if the waves of form on one's drawing feel like the waves of form that one sees on the cast.

These thought processes were very helpful for organizing areas of form on the front of the hand and I included these thought processes into my process to better evaluate a form before I moved on.  After I reworked the front of the hand I continued through the drawing until I finally reworked the drawing after all the forms on my drawing were included.  

Preparatory Studies
I received far less instruction while working on this cast drawing, as compared to my drawing of the ear cast and found that working through issues myself was very beneficial to the understanding that I gained.  A useful exercise that was helpful to me in trying to understand how I would approach modeling forms was to make preparatory studies in my sketchbook.

Preparatory study from my sketchbook

Before I approached modeling the finger and pole on my drawing I made a preparatory study of it in my sketchbook during time that I was away from school.  I did much thinking about the area of form that I would model each day and how I would approach modeling each form.  I included numbers on each of the strips for a form so that I could plan out how I would approach modeling each form.  Working on preparatory studies such as the one shown above felt very much like doing homework before taking a test.  I learned a lot from drawing the hand cast that should help me on the projects that I work on in the future.


Footnotes
¹ Jeremy Deck, personal communication, 2013-2014.

Comparing The Values Of Planes

Although the values of planes on a form are caused by a logical relation of how much each plane is facing a light source(s), the differences in the values of those planes appear so subtly that it can be very beneficial to utilize thought processes that make comparing the values of planes easier.  Two of those thought processes are described in this post.

 For each form that I have to model I investigate the location of the point on each form that is most facing the light, also known as the high form light.  To identify the location and value of the high form light it is helpful to evaluate the difference in the position of each of the planes on a form as they relate to a center, which is the light source.

I used concentric circles to illustrate the shape of a magnetic field in this diagram because they are simpler to evaluate than the actual shape of a magnetic field.  Although the shape of magnetic fields are not technically shaped in concentric circles, the shape of a magnetic field has the same geometry as concentric circles. 

 A useful analogy in identifying the high form light is to imagine dragging a magnet on top of each form.  If I imagined the light source as projecting a magnetic field outwards from the center of the light, that is strongest at the center of the light, the magnet on a form would be most attracted to the area of the magnetic field that is closest to the center of the light source.  The magnet on the plane that is most facing the light shows where the high form light is located on a form.

The diagram above shows how magnet A is striking the magnetic field closer to the center than magnet C, because magnet A is facing the light source more than magnet C.  One can imagine the directional path that one would drag a magnet across a form in any direction, whether horizontal, vertical or tilted sideways in order to investigate the position of the high form light on a form.

I used the idea of the magnet and the magnetic field to determine which plane was most facing the light source and then could compare how much the other planes on a form darkened in value away from the high form light plane.  This thought process was also very helpful in managing the hierarchy of value for each of the forms that I tried to represent in my drawing.

Simplifying Forms

The forms and transitions on a cast are made up of planes. A plane is a flat surface of any size that faces the light in a specific direction.

An example of three large planes that are lighter or darker based on how much they are facing the light.

 The planes on a cast can be examined down to the point where the planes can be viewed as tiny microscopic planes, known as micro-planes, each facing the light in specific direction.  But this type of evaluation can become so overwhelmingly complex that it can be useful to identify a larger value hierarchy by simplifying the cast into large planes.

A painted study of the planes on a cast.

By simplifying the planes that generally face in the same direction into larger planes one can more easily get a sense of the effect of light over the entire cast.  Because it can be difficult to pin-point which of the many planes on a cast are generally facing in the same direction it is useful to examine the cast by squinting and looking at it slightly out of focus.  By simply evaluating the large value relationships one can more easily determine which planes are grouping together in value because they are facing in a similar direction.  I referred to the study shown above throughout the process of modeling my cast drawing when I was concerned with the large relationships on my drawing.

Dissecting A Cast

When presented with the amazing complexities of a cast one can be overwhelmed at first glance.  But by becoming familiar with the components that make up the complex structure that one sees on a cast one can more easily approach the task of representing such a fascinating cast.  As far as I know, the structure of a cast is made up of two simple components, forms and the transitions between forms.
   
Identifying Forms

     When looking at the hand cast shown above one can see many bulges.  These bulges are called forms.  A form is most often a bulge, known as a convexity,  but sometimes a form is a dent, known as a concavity, seen on the surface of a three dimensional structure.

     Often many of the bulges on a cast appear so subtle that it can be difficult to distinguish the boundaries of individual forms.  One can consider a form's boundary to continue through the transition into another form, but in order to simplify my thought process I define a form's boundary as the ending points of a form's convexity.

This illustration used the background image taken by Snowdonia

A form's boundary is just like the edge of a valley between mountains.  The edge of the valley that defines a form's boundary may be more distinct between some forms more than others, but between the bulges of any forms there is always a boundary.  

     

     Depending on how opposed forms are and how much the forms are facing the light these boundaries can be very difficult to distinguish on a cast.  To see these boundaries on a cast one just has to search for where the convexity of each form tapers off to transition into a new form to determine the boundaries of a form.  To better see these boundaries it is useful to look at a form from many angles.  Another thought process that I have found helpful in determining a form's boundary is to imagine spreading my fingers down in all directions from the point on a form that is most facing the light until they meet the bottom of a form's convexity.

Outlined boundaries of the large forms on the hand cast.

     I used the logic of investigating the boundaries of a form to map out the boundaries of each of the larger forms on the hand cast.  I avoided trying to identify the smaller forms, known as sub-forms, that sit on top of the larger forms in order to more easily get a sense of the larger forms that made up the majority of what I saw on the cast.

Evaluating Transitions

 The areas of transition between the forms on a cast connect the forms together.  

A section of a transition area in red that connects two forms together.

Specific points along a transition that are important to take note of are the ending point of convexity on a form, the middle of a transition between two forms and the beginning of the convexity of a new form.  A useful analogy for evaluating the transition areas between forms is to imagine how it feels to transition from one hill on a roller coaster to another.

This illustration used the background image taken by Karyn Christner

The diagram above shows how it feels to be at different points in the transition from one hill to another on a roller coaster that is moving from the hill on the right to the hill on the left.  The point where one is most scared after plummeting down the steep hill of a roller coaster would be comparable to the ending of convexity on a form.  The point where one is most calm would be comparable to the end of the transition from the form that one just came down and the beginning of the transition upwards into a new hill.  The point where one is beginning to feel anxious again is comparable to the bottom of the convexity on a new form before it begins to turn upwards towards the highest point on the hill.  This roller coaster analogy was helpful to me while I evaluated the transitions between forms on the hand cast. 

By focusing on the aspects of the forms and transitions on the hand cast I was better able to represent the cast in my drawing that will be described in an upcoming blog post.

Practicing Graphite Handling

I have been struggling with graphite handling but practicing a few simple exercises has been helpful.  When my instructors at The Cambridge Street Studios suggested that I find out which hardness of pencils easily produce specific values and advised that I practice drawing imaginary strips of gradation, I saw a direct connection to how those exercises would help me to develop control with the graphite medium.  My instructors also suggested ways to manipulate the graphite medium to produce more consistent results, which are described in this post.  Footnotes are included in this post to indicate which sentences in this post are summarizations of ideas that the instructors at The Cambridge Street Studios have explained to me.

Although the graphite medium can be difficult to control, the tools are not the enemy, they are the artist's friends but one just has to get to know them first.  By becoming familiar with how graphite can be manipulated and practicing simple exercises with the graphite medium one can better control the results of one's drawing.

Handling the graphite medium is based on pressure, meaning that the more pressure that is applied to a pencil the darker of a value that is produced.¹  So it is important to know how to manipulate the pressure on one's drawing materials to result in the values that one intends to produce.
 There are 4 factors involved in producing and maintaining an intended value with graphite.

-The sharpness of the point on one's pencil.

When initially laying in an area of value it is useful to use a slightly blunt point that has a bit of an edge to it.  Such a point is made by sharpening one's pencil and then rubbing it into the paper until the desired point is produced.  A point like this can easily be pushed against the paper on the flat side to produce an even value, while at the same time one can rotate the pencil to the sharp side to fill in any lighter areas that may have resulted from an uneven application of graphite from the flat side of the pencil.¹
A point that is much duller than the point pictured above will distribute graphite in unintended directions and will produce uneven values.  Also, initially laying in a value with a point that is much sharper than the point pictured above often causes the point of the pencil to grind into the paper, which results in distinct breaks in an area of value.

When tightening up an area of value a sharp point can easily fill in small areas that are too light.¹

-The angle that the pencil is held at.

Holding the pencil at a more perpendicular angle to the paper allows for more pressure to be applied, which often produces a darker value.

Holding the pencil at a more parallel angle to the paper allows for less pressure to be applied, which often produces a lighter value.

-The pace of applying graphite.
 

I have been applying graphite in an area by consistently pushing my pencil from left to right or vise versa, while often going back a bit to maintain a consistent value.¹  Applying graphite in this way is like gently pushing the graphite on the pencil onto the paper to produce an even value.¹  Then an area of value is tightened up with a sharp pencil that fills in lighter areas.¹
Applying graphite slowly can allow for one to easily maintain the amount of pressure on one's pencil, but applying graphite too slowly can cause distinct breaks in the application of graphite.  Applying graphite at a fast pace can allow for one to easily maintain the amount of pressure on one's pencil, but applying graphite too quickly can cause spots that have been skipped over on one's drawing.
According to Jeremy Deck, a balance must be found between the amount of pressure that is applied on a pencil and the pace at which it is applied in order to maintain a consistent value.¹

-The amount of pressure applied.
The amount of pressure needed to easily produce an intended value may vary with the degree of hardness of the pencil that one uses.  With little pressure applied each hardness of pencil will easily produce a consistent value that may be desired by an artist.¹  But one can alter the amount of pressure on one pencil in order to produce many values as well.
I have often found it useful to limit the amount of pressure to be used in drawing an area of value by using progressively harder pencils to tighten up an area of value after it has been laid in with a softer pencil.¹  According to Jeremy Deck, extremely hard pencils , such as a 6H, can be used with little pressure to more or less distribute the graphite that is already on the paper into the lighter spots on an area of value.¹

There are 2 factors involved with producing a value with a kneaded eraser.

- The shape of the eraser

A round point on an eraser that is covered in graphite is desired to gently lighten darker areas within a value and the size that one makes the point is dependent upon the size of the area that one intends to lighten.¹

-The angle that the eraser is held at.

By holding the eraser at a more perpendicular angle to the paper one can apply more force to lighten darker areas of value.

By holding the eraser at a more parallel angle to the paper one can easily apply little pressure to gently lighten darker areas of value.


Graphite Exercises

 

Everyone has their own graphite handling tactics and practicing value scales and drawing imaginary strips of gradation can help one to quickly discover how much one needs to alter the factors for controlling graphite and the kneaded eraser, described above, in order to produce intended values.  These exercises can be completed within any desired time frame as long as one focuses on finding ways to alter one's process to produce a desired result within a set time frame.
After each attempt at these exercises I have found it important to determine why one approach worked better or worse.  Without knowing the reasons for improvement it is difficult to improve consistently.  In my opinion, from my experience, progress from these exercises does not come from mere practice.  Rather, progress from these exercises comes from identifying how one can improve and then applying that knowledge consistently to one's habits.  These exercises have been so beneficial to my understanding of how to control the graphite medium that I wish I had focused on them before I even started my first cast drawing.  I am still looking for ways to significantly improve my graphite handling and if anyone would like to share their graphite handling advice with me please let me know.


Footnotes
¹ Jeremy Deck, personal communication, 2012-2014.

Sculpting While Blocking-In

The block-in process is broken into a two-dimensional phase of copying shapes as they flatly appear on the picture plane and a three-dimensional phase of  evaluating how much each line segment is advancing or receding in space.  My instructor at The Cambridge Street Studios has recently been encouraging me to move on to the three-dimensional phase sooner in my process.  He explained through drawing demonstrations and discussions about the block-in process that the development of a block-in can be advanced closer to the final appearence without hindering the accuracy of the block-in after the placement of the large shapes are generally in place.¹  I have been experimenting with different ways to advance my block-ins after I place my large shapes and have found that combining the two-dimensional and three-dimensional phase at an earlier stage in the block-in process has allowed me to increase the pace that I proceed through a block-in.  An example and explanation of this process is below.

I quickly and lightly placed the shapes of the face while I constantly checked how the shapes were relating to each other through use of point to point measurement and comparative measurement.  It was useful to focus on a single shape that I could see most clearly, in this case the shadow under the nose, and built the shape relationships out from there.

 I strengthed the clarity and placement of the shapes in my drawing in the next pass. Then I lightened the lines of the nose that I would be drawing over during the next stage of three-dimensional thinking.

Combining Two-Dimensional Thinking With Three-Dimensional Thinking

If one were to represent the edge of a shadow shape on a sphere as being composed of many distinct line segments, as shown above, one could see how the line segments diminish in perspective as the edge of the shadow shape recedes in three-dimensional space.  The shapes that appear flatly on the picture plane, such as the shadow shape seen on the sphere, also exist in three-dimensional space and the position of the shape in space is make known by how much the line segments on the shape's edges advance or recede in perspective.  In the next three-dimensional phase I proceeded by sculpting how much each shape was advancing or receding in space by using line segments that advanced or receded in the perspective of my drawing.

I then just began to think as three-dimensionally as I could about the shapes on the face during the next stage.  Meaning that I was imagining my lines as advancing or receding in space while I was drawing a shape, with the intent of sculpturally representing the shapes of the forms that I saw.  For the form of the nose, I started at the ball of the nose and drew what is seen in the image above in one pass with some use of my eraser to try to clarify the shapes I was drawing.  I found that the more specific I could be about the many details along the edges of the shapes while I was drawing them gave me more to relate my next decisions to as I sculpted around the shape of the nose with line.

    

The main difference between this process and how I was drawing before is that I was not just focusing on how much a single line was advancing or receding in space, instead I was sculpting the entire mass of a shape by manipulating how much my line segments advanced or receded in the perspective of my drawing.  By doing this I was able to consider the two-dimensional appearance of the shapes while thinking three-dimensionally at the same time.

For the most part, this stage of the drawing proceeded by sculpting around a shape with line with little use of my eraser.  But, when I encountered issues with the placement of a shape during this process, as I did with the cheek, I had to lighten it with my eraser and return to more of  a two-dimensional way of placing the shape on my drawing.  Once I better placed a shape two-dimensionally on my drawing I could return to a mindset of sculpting the shape three-dimensionally with line.  Much point to point measurement was used to try to maintain the relationships of each shape to the other shapes in the portrait.  The images below show how I progressed through the drawing with the same process.   

This process made it apparent that by spending more effort to try to quickly and properly place the shapes in a drawing the block-in can much more quickly be approached three-dimensionally.¹  And if one retains clarity of the character of the shapes while they are sculpting the shapes three-dimensionally with line, one can begin to think three-dimensionally while developing the two dimensional shape at the same time.  The exclusion of the many intermediary stages between refining shapes two-dimensionally before thinking three-dimensionally about the shapes made this process much faster than how I had been drawing before.


Footnotes
¹ Jeremy Deck, personal communication, 2014.