3.
A Progression of Tone
It is in light and through light that we see. Consequently, drawing is a product of light, and all marks on paper are read in and by light. When we deposit a ribbon of pigment on a support, what we read is the contrast in lightness and darkness between the pigment and the support. Even the inscribed or etched line is picked out through light. A blind person may feel the contour of the engraved or raised line, but the line is envisioned in light.
In drawing, tone (sometimes called value) is an index of light. Lines, marks, rubbings, and smears can be made with drawing materials of different tonal values to create different gradations of light or dark. You can also achieve this gradation using one drawing medium, by increasing and decreasing the pressure you apply as you draw, thus leaving varying amounts of pigment on the drawing surface. On many occasions in the life room, and indeed in other drawing situations, students will “add tone” to their drawings by placing a series of smudges on the figure in the hope of making it look more “real.” The student may be trying to describe the texture or the anatomy of the figure, but in many cases all that they achieve is a dirtying of the picture because the marks they have made do not equate with the optical, intellectual, or expressive aspects of looking. As a result, the student is often frustrated by the effect that they have created.
The different ways in which tone can be used need to be addressed in order to avoid this confusion. Let us consider four distinct applications: outline, modeling, color, and cast shadows.
THE OUTLINE
The outline, as we have already witnessed in the silhouette (see Hand, Eye and Mind, Project Seven, page 15), declares the limits of the volumes of the figure when projected onto the picture plane. You need to consider the weight of the line that you use to draw the outline because you can establish different expressions and different readings of the three-dimensional world that you are depicting, depending on how you use the line.
Tone can be used to modulate the outline of a figure. In Greco-Roman, Byzantine, medieval, and folkloric art, and in the drawings of modern artists such as Pierre Auguste Renoir (1841–1919) and Aristide Maillol (1861–1944), a dark tone or value is bled into the form from the outline, creating a penumbra, or graduated shadow, around the inner edges. Artists use this technique to emphasize the volume of the forms – in other words, as an elementary type of modeling.
Shading can also be used outside the forms to qualify the space around them, creating the effect of air by emphasizing the difference between form and space. A highlight can also be used inside or outside the figure to model either the forms or the space. The technical terms for the deployment of tone in this way are endotropic (if it is used inside the form) or exotropic (if it is used outside the form), shadow (if it is a darker value) or highlight (if it is a light value).
Endotropic and exotropic tone can also be used (with restraint) where different areas of the same tonal value meet, in order to distinguish the edge where the two abut. In this case, tone should be applied with a broken mark along the edge, and it should become more diffuse as it moves into the area being worked. The edge needs to be broken in order to state that it is a tonal mark and not a second outline. These shadows and highlights are not actually seen in the subject, but they are part of the artifice of drawing and help to emphasize particular aspects of what is observed.
MODELING
Shadow can be used to model forms. By darkening the inside edges of convex forms (endotropic shadow), you can make the forms’ edges appear to push further into the picture space, causing the lit middle area of the form to come forward. This notion of the plasticity of form, however, assumes that light is hitting the form smack in the middle, and that the edges are, therefore, in partial or full shadow.
In the drawings of Renaissance artists such as Raphael (1483–1520) and Michelangelo (1475–1564), for example, there isn’t a universal light source for the whole figure. The forms of the muscles are dealt with as discrete masses, each meriting its own light source. Light is used to model each form as and when necessary; no matter where the muscle or muscle group is, it is lit centrally.
COLOR
Both the figure and its environment are colored. Different colors carry different tonal values. In a drawing, light yellow, for example, may appear as a very light gray, and deep purple as a very dark gray. When using a monochromatic scale – one without a hue (red, yellow, blue, and so on), but consisting of a range of grays from white to black – tonality is the only aspect of color that you can convey in a drawing. However, you can use tone as a pigment – filling in areas of a drawing to create contrasts for their aesthetic merit (drama, balance, and so on) – rather than as a description of light.
When light from a particular source falls on an object, the surfaces of the object that face the light source will be lit and the surfaces that do not face it will be in shadow. A shadow is produced that is an echo of the object, and falls (or is cast) onto another surface. This cast shadow is modified by its distance from the form and by the nature of the surface on which it is cast.
By taking into account and addressing the effect of light from particular sources (there may be several light sources, or you may elect to address only the primary source), you can produce a progression of tone on the picture surface that duplicates the pattern of light in the scene, giving further clues to depth and form. In many instances, you need draw only the shadow produced by one strong light source to achieve a strong reading of a figure, face, object, or scene.
While you are drawing the effect of directional light on a scene, it is crucial that you keep the mechanism of the eye constant; that is, you need to keep the pupils at a constant aperture (as in the “f” stop of a camera). The pupils usually expand and contract as they move through dark and light areas of the scene, and this will confuse the tonal information for a drawing. By squinting, you can restrict the pupils to one “setting,” allowing you to make consistent judgements across the complete scene. You can then make particular comparisons for details with your eyes open.
When you are doing a drawing that rests on observations of a directional light, your main aim should be to locate and record the effect of that light; you are describing the surfaces in light and those in shadow, and portraying the shadows that are being cast. Materials and textures affect the impression of light that we receive – the effect of light falling on fur differs from that on glass. However, in this chapter we are looking at light in relation to form and space rather than surface texture.
Project One
GESTURAL TONE
Two thirty-minute drawings
Materials: 11- x 17-in paper, conté crayon or fine felt-tip pen
These drawings should be done almost lackadaisically, like a doodle. Pose the model and start to draw gesturally, swinging your drawing tool around the paper and trying to locate the whole scene at once, fluidly and easily. Aim to encapsulate the major aspects of the model in the first five minutes. Do not concern yourself with tone yet. Next, light the scene, positioning the light to one side so that the subject is lit dramatically. Darken the room too, if this adds to the drama. Be careful not to light the model from close to your own position as you will not see any shadow on the model and the figure will appear flattened.
Squint at the subject as you draw – this will allow you a consistent comparison between tones throughout your whole field of vision. Draw the patches of observed shadow, and use endotropic and exotropic shadow (again with the gestural spirit) to qualify the forms and space.
Approach the areas of tone with a gestural action, swinging the pencil or pen freely between areas of tone. Don’t allow yourself to fix on one area, but build up all the areas at the same rate.
Project Two
SUBTRACTIVE TONE
One three-hour drawing
Materials: 22- x 30-in paper (white), charcoal or black pastel (not oil-based), plastic eraser, kneaded eraser
In this exercise, begin by covering the paper with charcoal or pastel, and then draw into the layer of tone with an eraser to record the lighter areas.
Completely blacken your drawing paper with your drawing material. Rub it lightly with newsprint to create an even tone. Draw with your plastic eraser, using vectors of analysis (see Through the Window, Project One, page 22) to place the figure and environment lightly and loosely. Think about the composition at this stage as well. It should take you about fifteen minutes to map the figure.
Treat the figure and surroundings with equal importance. This kind of drawing only works if the whole view is integrated. Consider the whole scene as a patchwork of the three tonal possibilities. Tone is your subject here; not model, nor table, nor floor, only tone. Try to forget everything that you know about what is in front of you.
Illuminate the figure with a strong directional light, positioning the light source so that it creates interesting conditions. You could use underlighting or some other unusual type.
If the room is very dark and the light source strong, you will have a dramatic and marked contrast, known as chiaroscuro (from the Italian, meaning “light/dark”). Squint in order to see the light and dark tones. For nuances in the shadows you can use a half-tone, which should be closer in value to your dark. In effect, you are using three tones for this drawing, light, half-tone, and dark. While you are squinting at the scene, decide which parts fall into each tonal category and try to stick to this system.
Proceed by rubbing out the lightest shapes in the scene. The actual method of rubbing can leave expressive marks (which can sometimes look like a woodcut), which you may wish to honor. Make sure that you give equal attention to all parts of the picture – figure and background. Then move on to the areas that fall into the mid-tone range.
There may be occasions in this drawing when you become confused between concerns for color and those of cast shadow. Remember that you are trying to depict the effect of light as it falls on forms within your visual field in order to give substance and space to the scene that you are portraying. You may need to compromise in some of your descriptions of color. If a color is dark within the scene and there is a discernible shadow on it, you may have to describe the lit area of that color with a half-tone and the shadow area with a dark tone. If the color is so dark that the shadow on it is hardly discernible, use your darkest tone for the whole area of that color.
As the drawing progresses, you may wish to play with the way in which light or dark areas run across more than one form, letting the tone consume forms. Should you wish to differentiate between two elements in the picture, you can use endotropic or exotropic shadow, or a line, to denote the edge.
Project Three
ADDITIVE TONE
One two-hour drawing
Materials: 22- x 30-in paper, charcoal or black pastel, plastic eraser
The approach in this project is to begin by establishing broad areas of tonal value, and then working into them to differentiate form and volume.
Pose and illuminate the model and surroundings. Squint at the scene through half-closed eyes and determine the pattern of dark tones across the whole subject. At this stage, also determine in your mind’s eye the scale and composition of your drawing.
Quickly proceed to rough in the tonal areas – do not deliberate or hesitate. It is not necessary to measure, plot, or draw in the contours of the forms to bind the areas of tone together. Approach the drawing with a relaxed and intuitive approximation of the scale of the tonal areas. This part of the drawing should take you about twenty minutes.
Smudge your drawing with newsprint so that you have dark and mid-tones over the entire paper. There are a number of reasons for doing this. Firstly, it will push the dark tones back, so that they do not look like the last marks made on the paper. If they are not knocked back, they are likely to sit in front of the picture plane and fight against the illusion you are trying to create. In other words, they will read as deposits of dark pigment on the paper instead of shadows in space. Secondly, a mid-tone ground is created into which you can work highlights and on which you can reestablish the darker tones. Thirdly, it should make you less precious about reassessing and reworking your drawing. A drawing is seldom, if ever, right until it is finished.
Over the top of the smudged drawing, refind the scene in front of you with a line. This can be a gestural line, a continuous line, or vectors of analysis (for those who wish to be more deliberate).
Reassess and readdress the tonal balance. Use your eraser to create the light areas, and consider emphasizing or redrawing some of the darker ones. As with the previous drawing, consider using endotropic and exotropic shadows or highlights – with discretion – to distinguish the different features.
The line can be left as it is, or added to in order to describe parts of the scene in more detail. In either case, use the line advisedly. If you put outlines around all the features in the scene, objects will look like cardboard cutouts and the drawing will have no atmosphere. Let light or shadow break across the line, creating a drawing of atmosphere and light.
Remember that the first stage of this drawing is an approximation. As you develop the drawing, do not try to force what you are looking at to conform absolutely to what you put down to begin with. If you are consistent in your treatment of the different features in the scene, you should achieve a strong evocation of the incidence and effect of the light on the model and surroundings.