the atelier method
workshops should have prepared you for this stage somewhat. As explained in the first two
workshops, begin your drawing by establishing the top and bottom of your chosen face or figure. Between these two lines, map out the basic proportions, including the height against the width. Draw in the gesture with a series of
created is the key to getting to grips with chiaroscuro. A more common scene would
involve not only extremes of dark and light areas but also the more subtle interplay with the mid-tones in between. So imagine that same ballet dancer on a dark stage, except picture him this time with the light source coming from the side of the stage. Suddenly a different sort of beauty emerges. Gone is the clarity of the outline. Parts of his body now appear as dark as the background and in places it is difficult to see where his body ends and the background begins. Now his body is a patchwork of masses of light, dark and mid- tones that fuse with the background. As the light moves across his body, it reveals the musculature, moving around the form of his limbs and torso. The question is: how do you represent this on your canvas?
Workshop 3
There is a wonderfully simple way to capture the figurative scene outlined above. Our natural instinct would be to draw a perfect outline of the dancer’s form and fill in his muscles individually with various degrees of dark and light, much like a cartoon, before then painting in the background around him. Instead of doing this, the example
opposite shows how you could attempt to see the dancer as a patchwork of abstract shapes or ‘masses’ – differing areas of shadow, mid-tone and light. The difficulty comes in putting those masses in the right place but the previous
70 Artists & Illustrators
TOP Scott Pohlschmidt, Marrakesh Study, oil on canvas This plein air painting illustrates the use of light against shade RIGHT Nick Bashall, Portrait of a Young Boy, charcoal on paper From simple initial masses you can work up considerable subtleties
verticals, horizontals and diagonals, as demonstrated in the previous articles. This should not be an outline of the figure; this is should merely act as a scaffolding. And then, within that scaffolding, you should be able to carefully delineate or mark out the shadow edges, where the dark meets light – the exercise opposite shows this procedure in more detail. While attempting to see the whole
before the parts and establishing these abstract shapes within the scaffolding, you should avoid rushing
to add the details. Instead, refine the masses as much as required and only once you are happy with them should you begin to luxuriate over the detail. At Lavender Hill Studios, we take
our pupils through this chiaroscuro stage in charcoal because it is the quickest and simplest medium by which to demonstrate this process – it has none of the extra complexities that come with brushes, mediums, supports or colour! Applying charcoal in mass is also
a perfect preparation for oil painting, because oil paint is also applied in masses. This is why we teach the four basic principles in this order, so that oil painting becomes the last stage in our teaching of the basics. Next month: introducing oil paints and colour to the mix. For more information on Lavender Hill Studios and the courses they offer, please visit
www.lavenderhillstudios.com
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