Adding Tones in Drawing

As we have learned earlier, we’ve got to draw with respect to the light. In the subject, there’s the highlight and the shadow.

In my earlier example, where is the highlighted part of the ball? Where is also the dark part of the ball? Since the ball is on the table, where is the shadow of the ball on the table? These questions are actually easy to answer. You just have to observe the subject and the composition as a whole. Once we have the answers, we can start drawing.

On a piece of paper or sketch pad, lightly draw a circle using your HB pencil. This is your ball. Now lightly draw a horizontal line outside of the ball. This is your table. You just made your drawing’s outline. This is also what we call a two-dimensional drawing. If you want to make your drawing three-dimensional, you’ve got to erase your outline by putting in your tones so that you can define the light and the dark parts of the ball and the table. Use your 6B pencil this time. If you want the tone to be darker, just add pressure on the sketch pad using your 6B pencil. Try doing this in your background since the background is the darkest one. Put in tones in the subject defining the highlight as well as the shadow of the ball. After this, add some tones in the table area darkening the part of the ball’s shadow on the table. If you don’t see anymore your outline but just light and dark tones then congratulations, you just made your first three-dimensional sketch. See the one that I’ve made. Feel free to use other subjects if you want to practice some more. Try geometrical shapes first. Good luck.