الظلّ والضوء والمجسّم
Art & Design · Key Stage 2 · The School
The tonal scale
Draw a strip of six boxes running from white to black, each one a step darker, with no jumps. Most people can only manage three real tones and it shows in every drawing they make. This strip is a technical exercise and it is worth doing more than once.
How light makes a shape look solid
On a lit sphere there are five things to find: the HIGHLIGHT where light hits directly, the LIGHT area, the mid-tone, the CORE SHADOW (the dark band on the turning edge), and REFLECTED LIGHT bouncing back from the surface below. Then the CAST SHADOW on the surface itself, which is usually darkest right where the object touches.
Why the core shadow is not at the edge
This is the detail that separates a flat drawing from a solid one: the darkest part of the object is not its outer edge but the band just inside it, because the very edge catches light bouncing off the table. Get that one right and a circle becomes a ball.
Put a ball on paper with a lamp to one side. Draw the circle, then find five zones. HIGHLIGHT: the brightest spot facing the lamp. LIGHT: around it. MID-TONE. CORE SHADOW: the darkest band — and it sits just INSIDE the far edge, not on it. REFLECTED LIGHT: a lighter rim at the very edge, from light bouncing off the table. Then the CAST SHADOW on the table. Leave that rim light and the ball sits in space.