contact us | about us | privacy | how to draw blog

The Elements of Drawing by John Ruskin On First Practice Sketching from Nature On Color and Composition EXERCISE X Lay a coat of the blue, prepared as usual, over a whole square of paper. Let it dry. Then another coat over four fifths of the square, or thereabouts, leaving the edge rather irregular than straight, and let it dry. Then another coat over three fifths; another over two fifths; and the last over one fifth; so that the square may present the appearance of gradual increase in darkness in five bands, each darker than the one beyond it. Then, with the brush rather dry, (as in the former exercise, when filling up the interstices), try, with small touches, like those used in the pen etching, only a little broader, to add shade delicately beyond each edge, so as to lead the darker tints into the paler ones imperceptibly. By touching the paper very lightly, and putting a multitude of little touches, crossing and recrossing in * The use of acquiring this habit of execution is that you may be able, when you begin to color, to let one hue be seen in minute portions, gleaming between the touches of another.every direction, you will gradually be able to work up to the darker tints, outside of each, so as quite to efface their edges, and unite them tenderly with the next tint. The whole square, when done, should look evenly shaded from dark to pale, with no bars, only a crossing texture of touches, something like chopped straw, over the whole.* Next, take your rounded pebble; arrange it in any light and shade you like; outline it very loosely with the pencil. Put on a wash of color, prepared very pale, quite flat over all of it, except the highest light, leaving the edge of your color quite sharp. Then another wash, extending only over the darker parts, leaving the edge of that sharp also, as in tinting the square. Then another wash over the still darker parts, and another over the darkest, leaving each edge to dry sharp. Then, with the small touches, efface the edges, reinforce the darks, and work the whole delicately together as you would with the pen, till you have got it to the likeness of the true light and shade. You will find that the tint underneath is a great help, and that you can now get effects much more subtle and complete than with the pen merely. The use of leaving the edges always sharp is that you may not trouble or vex the color, but let it lie as it falls suddenly on the paper: color looks much more lovely when it has been laid on with a dash of the brush. and left to dry in its own way, than when it has been dragged about and disturbed; so that it is always better to let the edges and forms be a little wrong, even if one cannot correct them afterwards, than to lose this fresh quality of the tint. Very great masters in water color can lay on the true forms at once with a dash, and bad masters in water color lay on grossly false forms with a dash, and leave them false; for people in general, not knowing false from true, are as much pleased with the appearance of power in the irregular blot as with the presence of power in the determined one; but we, in our beginnings, must do as much as we can with the broad dash, and then correct with the point, till we are quite right. We must take care to be right, at whatever cost of pains; and then gradually we shall find we can be right with freedom. I have hitherto limited you to color mixed with two or three teaspoonfuls of water; but, in finishing your light and shade from the stone, you may, as you efface the edge of the palest coat towards the light, use the color for the small touches with more and more water, till it is so pale as not to be perceptible. Thus you may obtain a perfect gradation to the light. And in reinforcing the darks, when they are very dark, you may use less and less water. If you take the color tolerably dark on your brush, only always liquid (not pasty), and dash away the superfluous color on blotting paper, you will find that, touching the paper very lightly with the dry brush, you can, by repeated touches, produce a dusty kind of bloom, very valuable in giving depth to shadow; but it requires great patience and delicacy of hand to do this properly. You will find much of this kind of work in the grounds and shadows of William Hunt's (of the Old Water-color Society) drawings. Exercise X: Light and Shade

Get all the animals listed on this site in an easily printable format. Also learn how to draw mice, monkeys, butterflies and a phoenix. Instant download. $7. Learn to draw a new animal every week. Enter your email address below and we'll send you a free drawing lesson every week. Email: The Elements of Drawing by John Ruskin On First Practice Exercise One: Shading Exercise Two: Outlines Exercise Three: Gradation Exercise Four: Pencil Drawing Exercise Five: Drawing Letters Exercise Six: Drawing Trees Exercise Seven: Watercolor Practice Exercise Eight: Drawing Stones Exercise Nine: More Watercolor Practice Exercise Ten: Sketching from Nature Sketching Trees Sketching Trees 2 First Sketches Painting Practice Drawing from Photographs How to Draw Quickly Drawing Shadows What To Draw How to Draw Plants How to Draw Plants 2 Three Laws of Drawing Light and Shade Drawing Water Drawing Clouds Color Materials Using the Right Color 24 Essential Colors Mixing Colors Using Colors Color Techniques Color Gradation Watercolor Tints Using Black and White Compound Colors Warm and Cool Colors Draw with Care Composition The Law of Principality Law of Repetition Law of Continuity The Law of Curvature Law of Radiation The Law of Contrast The Law of Interchange The Law of Consistency The Law of Harmony