Blocking-in Drawings

The Necessity of Blocking-in

It has ever been a difficult matter for teachers of drawing to instill in the minds of beginners the value and importance of blocking-in: that is to say, getting the general shape and relative proportion, of the component parts of the picture before endeavoring to describe, in line or tint, any of the minor details or even main characteristics of the picture.

The group or figure as a whole, rather than the objects in a group or the minor details in a figure, are the points to be fixed at the outset, with guide-lines, as few and faint as possible. Every change in direction should be thus indicated.

The purpose of this may be made clear when it is stated that it would be advisable to get the general shape of a tree before drawing the individual leaves thereof.

Blocking-in has more than an immediate valtie to the pupil, for its use as a method of initial procedure induces a correct habit of observation. It maintains and increases the tendency to look at the whole before the parts, to seek mass rather than detail. For all time it broadens the style of the artist.

Example of Blocking-in – The manner of blocking-in, as shown in Fig. 1, is the way to start a copy of Fig. 2. Pick out the general direction of the lines in the original where simple geometrical figures may be formed.

After the exercise of a little imagination the eye can form lines that correspond with forms with which he is familiar, such as the square, the triangle, trapezoid, etc. It may be well to reiterate that the blocking-in lines always should be represented in the drawing by pencil marks so faint that they can be easily erased as soon as their presence is no longer necessary.

Figs. 3 and 4 are additional examples of the blocking-in method.