The "Value" of Drawing

When drawing in pencil or charcoal, you must translate the colors of nature into black and white.  To do this, you pretend that your eye is a camera loaded with black and white film, and it only sees colors as black, white, or various tones of gray.  These tones are called the “value” of an object.  To better determine the value of something you are about to draw, squint your eyes and determine if the object is close to white, a light gray, medium gray, dark gray, or black. 

A red apple would translate into a fairly dark, almost black shade of gray.  A green pear would become a medium gray in your drawing, and a lemon should probably be drawn as a very pale gray, almost white. 

Since there are hundreds of subtle variations of gray in the values of objects, most artists try to simplify a picture into just a few values, which make it easier to draw and produce a more satisfying pictorial design.  A great picture can be made by concentrating on just three values—almost white or very light gray, a medium gray, and a dark gray.  Add a few touches for detail, and you’ll have a great drawing!

Shape Up!

The key to successful drawing is to learn to draw things as you SEE them.  If they're round, draw them round--square draw them square.  If they're light, make them light.  Dark make them dark.  They once you learn the "craft" of drawing you can be creative and express yourself as an artist.  But there are some basics to learn first, and I can't emphasize enough the fact that learning to draw begins with learning to SEE.

Every object you see has a structure based either on the cube, the cylinder, the cone, or the sphere.  Any object is one or a combination of these four geometric solids, a solid being something with three dimensions:  height, width, and depth.

Even though all objects are based on these four solids, the shape is modified in various ways that depart from the strict geometrical form.  This fact, to me, simplifies drawing because I can determine which shape the object resembles and draw that shape, then modify it with whatever details I want to include.  The cube, for example, can be elongated to form an object resembling a quarter pound of butter.  Or, if you cut it into thirds, and it looks like a box you might wrap a gift inside.

Now take a box from your pantry and place it on a table.  Cubic shapes will vary but they all have a top, a bottom, and four sides.  The top will usually catch the most light.  The side closest to the light will be a medium in color or value, and the side away from the light will be the darkest.

Sit low in a chair and draw the box at eye level.  Then sit up straighter and straighter to draw it, and you’ll see more and more of the top of the box.  Notice how the corner of the object closest to you seems taller, and the sides and corners further from you seem shorter.  This phenomenon is what we call perspective—it’s what makes your drawings appear realistic, because things seem shorter as they vanish away from you.

Now draw one of your tables.  Start with a basic cube, then fill in the details, making certain that the leg closest to you is the longest, and those on the sides appear shorter.  As you concentrate on the perspective of an object, you will be able to draw it in such a way that it appears real.  Now practice, practice, practice!

Ready, Set, Draw!

Since I’m an artist, I would like to share with you a few basic principles of drawing.  The pencil is the most basic medium to learn with in producing art, so let’s start there.

In making any kind of drawing and a soft-lead pencil and a sketchpad, and I recommend a pad at least 9x12 inches in size.  If you are interested in drawing landscapes, then you will want to hold the pad horizontally as you draw.  Most landscapes show earth and sky, and the place where these two meet is called the horizon.  With few exceptions, it should never be placed midway between the top and bottom of your picture.  This will produce a static and boring picture.  The most satisfactory results are always achieved with the horizon somewhere below or above the center of the paper.

Also, symmetry vertically should be avoided.  It is balance, not symmetry that is pleasing to the eye, so place your “center of interest” (such as a house, an old barn, a boat, a twisted oak tree) on one side or the other of the center of the page.

As you look at the scene you are about to draw, you will notice that everything recedes toward the horizon.  Many things contribute to this effect—color and value graduations, the diminishing sizes of objects, such as trees, and the converging of parallel lines as they lead away from you.  So if you’re center of interest is an old shack, you might draw a meandering path of rock or dirt up to the structure.  Or you could sketch trees or shrubs or rocks that diminish in size as they go back.  Also, you might give more detail and perhaps stronger shadows to your center of interest, and hazier, grayer tones to the surrounding object, which will cause the viewer to look at all the drawing but continually settle on the main thing you want him or her to see.

I’ve found that art is a measure of talent but a lot more the amount of time one is willing to practice, so get outside and draw, draw, draw.  I bet you’ll improve with every sketch!

Wrap it Up!

Sometimes writing endings to stories is more difficult because the techniques aren’t so clear, but there are a few guidelines we can follow:

1.      The ending needs to make sense.

2.      It shouldn’t be anticlimactic.

3.      Don’t’ make it confusing.

4.      The conclusion should come when the interesting part of the story is over and occur on a high note.

5.      Story line shouldn’t disintegrate before the ending. Must have tension to the last page.  When action and suspense dominate, the climax must come at the end, preferably on the last page but at least in the final chapter.

6.      In an action packed story, don’t glide to the end.  Readers want that slam on the brakes ending.  You must maintain action and suspense to the last line.

7.      Tie up loose ends or major ones, like who was the murderer?  The reader should understand what has happened.  Endings that keep the reader in the dark are not effective.  For one thing, the reader will go away unsatisfied, and that will influence his attitude toward the writer, resulting in a long grudge.

Shakespeare always tied things up.  He never left a major unresolved question for the reader to ponder.  The only time a writer can get away with leaving a question unanswered is when it’s a pleasant question, and he or she wants us to decide how it ends, as in Gone With the Wind. 

However we end the story, the main thing is that the reader not feel cheated.  Expectations must be met!