Shading

“ As this exercise in shading is very tiresome, it will be well to vary it by proceeding with another at the same time. The power of shading rightly depends mainly on lightness of hand and keenness of sight; but there are other qualities required in drawing, dependent not merely on lightness, but steadiness of hand; and the eye, to be perfect in its power, must be made accurate as well as keen, and not only see shrewdly, but measure justly. ”

“ Shading is made use of in order to give more variety to, and exhibit the beauty of, colour by means of gradation, to explain more clearly the design, and so on; it is not employed for the purpose of fixing the lighting of the composition from one point by means of systematically adjusted light and shade, or of making a form stand out so realistically as to almost project from the background.
In avoiding too much resemblance to natural forms it is not necessary to make things ugly ”

“ The shading, though sufficient, both in depth and quantity, if handled with skill, to have produced56 a due effect of relief—an effect which obviously has been aimed at—is so inartificially employed as to be useful only so far as it serves to impart tone and richness to the composition, and by contrast to increase its brilliancy. ”

“ This is why the much abused drawing and shading from whitened blocks and pots is so useful. Nothing so clearly impresses the general laws of light and shade as this so-called dull study.
98This lightening of shadows in the middle by reflected light and darkening towards their edges is a very important thing to remember, the heavy, smoky look students' early work is so prone to, being almost entirely due to their neglect through ignorance of this principle. Nothing is more awful than shadows darker in the middle and gradually lighter towards their edges. ”

“ In shading, as has been intimated, no attempt should be made to give a rounded or realistic representation of the flower used in the design, but merely an indication of the varied shades of color, as in the rose for instance, which often varies from a deep pink to so delicate a tint that it is almost white. Great care must be taken to have whatever shading is employed, worked so that in no place can the point where one shade begins and another ends be perceived. In this matter everything depends on the skill and taste of the worker. ”

“ All effects of light and shade depend not on the method or execution of shadows, but on their rightness of place, form, and depth. There is indeed a loveliness of execution _added_ to the rightness, by the great masters, but you cannot obtain that unless you become one of them. Shadow cannot be laid thoroughly well, any more than lines can be drawn steadily, but by a long-practised hand, and the attempts to imitate the shading of fine draughtsmen, by dotting and hatching, are just as ridiculous as it would be to endeavour to imitate their instantaneous lines by a series of re-touchings. ”

“ This rule of parallel shading is broken only when strongly marked forms, such as the swing lines of hair, a prominent bone or straining muscles, &c., demand it. This parallel shading gives a great beauty of 101surface and fleshiness to a drawing. The lines following, as it were, the direction of the light across the object rather than the form, give a unity that has a great charm. It is more suited to drawings where extreme delicacy of form is desired, and is usually used in silver point work, a medium capable of the utmost refinement. ”

“ A scale of shade may at once be constructed from this Table, by assuming the thickness of the shading line for the medium slope of 221⁄2°, which thickness must be suited to the scale, and to the degree of fineness and finish it is intended to give the drawing. Generally, [60] if the lines have such a relation to the scale of the drawing as to present a well-connected appearance, it will be found that fewer shading lines and a rather coarse texture will conduce more to clearness of expression than a finer texture, which tends to produce a dryness of style. ”

“ The shading or coloring of drawings by tints is more employed in large drawings than in small ones, and in Europe than in the United States; while on the other hand tinting by means of line-shading is more employed in the United States than in Europe, and more on small drawings than on large ones. ”

“ And, as will be explained in the next chapter, somewhat the same principle applies to the direction of the swing of the brush in painting.
Shading lines should never be drawn backwards and forwards from left to right (scribbled) , except possibly where a mystery of shadow is wanted and the lines are being crossed in every direction; but never when lines are being used to express form. They are not sufficiently under control, and also the little extra thickness that occurs at the turn is a nuisance.
The crossing of lines in shading gives a more opaque look. ”

“ The following additional remarks on colour shading are taken from Worthen’s ‘Cyclopædia of Drawing.’
A means of adding considerably to the definiteness of a coloured mechanical drawing, and of promoting, in a remarkable degree, its effective appearance, is obtained by leaving a very narrow margin of light on the edges of all surfaces, no matter what may be the angles they form with the surfaces that join them. This should be done invariably; we do not even except those edges which happen to have shadows falling upon them. ”

“ The effect of paint in the form of shading is naturally to obscure the glass. Up to a certain point there is not much harm in that; it counts for nothing as compared with the facilities of expression it affords. ”

“ An excellent example of shading is given in Figure 296, which is extracted from the American Machinist, and represents a cutting tool for a planing machine. The figure is from a wood engraving, but the effect may be produced by lines, the black parts being considered as simply broad black lines. ”

“ Growth.We study very carefully their growth or development. We use also casts of animals, human features, etc.
Shading.We endeavour to make our shading course a good foundation for painting. We give exercises in flat tinting and graduating to obtain power over the material (chalk, charcoal, pencil or otherwise) and to ascertain its possibilities. We draw from objects having flat planes such as a cube, placed so as to receive a strong contrast of light and shade ”

“ The lower and right-hand outlines of projecting parts will cast shadows, and the student should make them of extra width.
[181]
Fig. 249: In shading curves, divide the center line as before (see page 146) and describe circles from center, D; these lines are not to be shaded in penciling, but when inking. The figures represent two rings, A and C, and spaces, B and D. The outside of a surface is shaded according to circle 1, and the inside surface according to circle 2. This will give the desired shading, but it makes a drawing incorrect, and therefore shading is not used in working drawings. ”

“ In the endeavour to gain greater relief, shading and tinting the wood were resorted to, the shading being generally produced by scorching, either with a hot iron or hot sand, and the tinting by chemical washes and even by the use of actual colour, but the result is usually hardly commensurate with the labour expended. ”

“ Fifth: The shading of a character was in some way essential to its proper understanding, but not the exact place where that shading fell.
Sixth: The dots were necessarily modifications, but not their shape or nature.
Seventh: This shading might indicate the end of a word.
Eighth: If so, the shading of two contiguous characters would show the first one to be a word of one letter. There are but two words in the English language of one letter—a and i—and in the specimens before me but one character, that of [] , which shows shading, next to another shaded character. ”

“ The idea to be impressed is, that when we want to represent an object with crayon and that object is flat, we draw straight lines to represent its surface; and when the object is round or partly so, we draw curved lines, conforming them to the surface of the object. [Pg 58] Light and shade in nature have each their different qualities. Light expresses form while shade obscures it; consequently, in the light places of an object we will see its grain or texture, and that grain or texture will gradually become obscured as it enters the shadow until it is entirely lost in the deepest shadows. ”

“ Putting this into more ordinary language, we should say simply that the strong contrast of light and shade masked such effects of harmful color-contrast as were present. There is, however, another case where we are not so indifferent or so lenient: if two objects are placed near each other in a painting, and there is good reason why both should display the same color with equal intensity, if one is painted with rich color, the other with a pale or dark shade of the same color, then the latter will look either washed out or dirty, and a bad effect will be produced. ”

“ Like him, great sovereign of art, I have sketched my figure in light clear tones of supple yet solid color; for shadow is but an accident,—remember that, young man. Then I worked backward, as it were; and by means of half-tints, and glazings whose transparency I kept diminishing little by little, I was able to cast strong shadows deepening almost to blackness. The shadows of ordinary painters are not of the same texture as their tones of light. They are wood, brass, iron, anything you please except flesh in shadow. ”

“ The form of the shadow was described in the last Section. To produce the shadow, the same tint is used as for the ground, two or three successive applications being sufficient to increase the intensity to the requisite degree; or a neutral tint may be used, composed of indigo, burnt sienna, and a little lake. After [47] the shadow has been put in, the outlines on that side should be strengthened by going over them again with the pen. By drawing the trees in elevation, an opportunity is afforded for the display of artistic skill far greater than the foregoing method admits of. ”

“ To return a moment to the problem of color: illusion is frequently lost through a failure to adjust the shade of the high-light and shadow to the tone of the foundation grease paint, or natural complexion. The commonest offence is the use of an unmixed, unblended slate for shadows, and white, and high-lights, whether the underlying color be florid, sallow, pink, or pale flesh. ”

“ On this I begin my color scheme in both opaque and transparent color, recognizing the "natural facts" already explained to you, that is, the skies and high lights being solidly opaque, the shadows being equally transparent. This process requires certain modifications to be made in the darks of the original drawing. The dense black shadow under the eaves of a roof, for instance, are not in nature as black as the charcoal, but perhaps a rich, warm brown. If the ground is in sunlight, it is a dull, golden yellow and reflects the yellow glow of the sand beneath. ”

“ Next to this, the situation, colour, and quantity of shadows; these being infinite, may be variously managed. At the same time, it requires much more observation and study to shade a picture, than to merely draw the lines of it. No fixed rule can be given for this; but, after having got the outline free and flowing, endeavour, by various trials, on other bits of paper, to leave the masses of shadow and light broad, so as to convey an appearance of space and extent. In the infinite gradations of shade, and the blending of them, nature has no determined law. ”

“ As in nature, a shadow is formed by obstructing the light, so in the technic of coloring the shadow is obtained by the annihilation of the light-color. By combination of a primary color with a harmonizing secondary color of equal strength, we obtain the right shadow tone of the first color. In this way, by experiments in mixing, the right shadow tones, which form in a multi-colored edge, the gradual transitions of primary colors can be easily detected. ”

“ But without the most intense application this is not possible; and practically, it will be necessary for you, as soon as you have gained the power of outlining accurately, and of laying flat colour, to learn to express solid form as shown by light and shade only. And there is this great advantage in doing so, that many forms are more or less disguised by colour, and that we can only represent them completely to others, or rapidly and easily record them for ourselves, by the use of shade alone. ”

“ Therefore when we speak of 'drawing light and shade' we mean drawing broad masses of light and shade, giving the right balance—neither too much nor too little value to each light, each shadow, each east shadow. Drawing objects in light and shade with a pencil point is a tedious business. ”

“ When you have finished constructing the cut-out 222shadow figures, your next problem will be making the scenery. Composition and pattern are extremely important in shadow pictures, for nothing in the world reveals the fascination of dark and light more than the shadow play. If you can recall the beauty of the landscape in a heavy winter snowstorm when the branches and trunks of the trees are velvety black against masses of white, you can appreciate this. Every tree has a characteristic silhouette which everyone recognizes. ”

“ Everything casts a shadow, and if you see a shadow you may be sure there is some body to cast it, though the shape and size of the shadow may be wholly unlike and out of proportion to the object which throws it. A tree casts a shadow, a house casts a shadow, a needle casts a shadow, even a hair—where the shadow is, there is some substance to fling it; where great blame is cast, there is some occasion for it. ”

“ This wonderful contrast of bright and dark, of glitter and solemnity, the splendour of sunlight and the solemnity of shade, can only be fully appreciated in southern or eastern countries. The pitch of light being higher the shade seems deeper, and yet it is a shade full of colour always. When the sun sinks, in the short afterglow everything seems fused in an atmosphere of luminous colour and half-tone, which transfigures and glorifies everything. ”