BEN LAUGHTON SMITH
  • Home
  • Gallery
    • Drawings
    • Paintings
  • Biography
  • Commissions
  • Tuition
  • Blog
  • Resources
    • Books
    • Materials
    • Académies
    • Websites
  • Contact

Depth and form

6/10/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
In most traditional art schools, the transition from drawing to painting is accomplished by means of studies in charcoal and chalk on toned paper. The idea is to get you used to working with light and dark tones simultaneously on a background similar to a tinted canvas. This was my first 'go' at doing this in the context of a nude figure and was a great learning experience.

It was particularly interesting how the addition of chalk enables you to think more easily in terms of the flow of light. With just charcoal and the white of the paper you have to achieve the lights negatively (by omitting to put down charcoal) but with a stick of chalk in hand you can actually identify the areas receiving the most light and simply draw it in over the grey of the paper. The result is a really pleasing sense of depth and form.

That said, it was initially difficult to resist putting chalk all over the place. In this figure there was a marked fall-off of light as the lower parts of the figure receded from the light source. Eventually, after some push and pull, I achieved a gradation of light which really adds atmosphere and gives a nice sense of the figure existing in space. 

*Those in the vicinity of Bristol can see some of my other figure drawing at the Royal West of England Academy 164th Annual Open Exhibition in Bristol which runs from 9th October to 27th November. 

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Ben Laughton Smith

    Contemporary works of art in the classical tradition.

    Archives

    June 2020
    April 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Gallery
    • Drawings
    • Paintings
  • Biography
  • Commissions
  • Tuition
  • Blog
  • Resources
    • Books
    • Materials
    • Académies
    • Websites
  • Contact