I had the opportunity to practice some basic drawing skills last weekend. Going back to the ‘drawing’ board once in a while is a good idea; it keeps you from getting lazy!
Shading gives an object a three dimensional quality. Additionally, that object casts a shadow onto whatever background it rests upon. Being able to correctly add these to your drawing will make it realistic. The object I practiced this weekend was a sphere. I’ll show you the progression. There is specific terminology for the lines and shadows, but I skipped those for simplicity’s sake.
First, and obviously, you have to draw a circle. Using a jar lid as a template, I traced. Next you have to decide where the light source is coming from. In my drawing it is coming from the right. Further into the drawing I will make adjustments to the direction slightly, but this works for getting started. The ‘light’ lines will give you the basic dimension of the cast shadow, as well. The cast shadow of the sphere will be roughly perpendicular to the light lines.
Next, I shaded the circle as if the light was coming slightly above and in front of the light. On a sphere, there will be no straight lines, all the shadows will be curved. And the shadow will fade gradually with the curvature. The second photo shows a 1 to 5 scale of tones from light to dark. Notice that the darkest part of the sphere doesn’t extend all the way to the surface it’s resting on. That’s because there will be a little reflected light from the surface. The cast shadow will also consist of a gradation of shades with the darkest being directly under the sphere.
Now it’s time for subtle adjustments. Notice in the first photo, the the darkest part of the shadow on the sphere is higher than in the second. This shadow should meet up with the shadow cast on the the surface. I corrected it by the second photo. Next, in above photo, there are still distinct lines from when I drew my original circle. Find them on the lower left and upper right of the sphere. Those kind of lines don’t exist in nature. Finally, the cast shadow is too far forward based on where I’ve placed the light source. This angle needs to be adjusted. Here is the final result:
I don’t pretend to be an expert; in fact I’m still learning a lot of the basics, still. However, I thought this might encourage others to pick up the pencil or pen and give it a try. Have a great Friday!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this subject. It has always fascinated me but never developed the skill.
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Give it a try, Peter. Be patient! You will enjoy the process!
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Thanks For the encouragement Meg. If I come up with something worthy of sharing I will pass along.
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Wonderful! Please do!
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Looks pretty damn good. It definitely has a 3-D effect. Great job. 😃
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Thank you! It took a long time and a lot of erasures!
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I believe it. I’d go through an entire gym erasure if it were me. 😃
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🤣
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Awesome, realistic shading!
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Thanks so much!
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Dry good Meg. 👏🏼
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Thank you, Paul! 🙏
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I meant to say very. 😂😂
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I figured that out! 😉
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Great post! As an artist myself it’s always a good reminder to go back to the basics. This is where I started and it was very helpful even now!
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Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed. 🙏
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Great post! I’m off to try it out now. 😉
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Wonderful! Thank you!
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That really looks great! Thanks for the detailed instructions.
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Thank you! 😃
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Looks like you’re having a ball ha. And talented stuff as always.
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I am! And thank you as always!
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This post is awesome Meg! I am so glad you came up with this tutorial on shading, which i seriously lack because i draw off and on just for the fun of it, not really trying to draw from the scratch learning the basics. This is very useful to me and i will definitely try it! Come up with more such blogs, will you? I am quite selfish here, i know, knowing that you are a versatile person, writing, drawing, painting and photographing; still i ask for more!
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I thought you would enjoy this! I’m actually just passing on some lessons another artist showed me, so I can’t take the credit for the idea, only the execution! Maybe I’ll try to do a drawing progression once in a while. I’m so glad it was helpful!
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Thanks. Look forward to the next one!
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Cool,it’s nice..
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Thank you!
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Looks great. Learning the light and shading techniques are important.
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Thanks so much! Yes, a essential skill!
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