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The Elements of Drawing by John Ruskin On First Practice Sketching from Nature On Color and Composition SKETCHING FROM NATURE Fourthly. You will find it of great use, whatever kind of landscape scenery you are passing through, to get into the habit of making memoranda of the shapes of shadows. You will find that many objects of no essential interest in themselves, and neither deserving a finished study, nor a Dureresque one, may yet become of singular value in consequence of the fantastic shapes of their shadows; for it happens often, in distant effect, that the shadow is by much a more important element than the substance. Thus, in the Alpine bridge, Fig. 21, seen within a few yards of it, as in the figure, the arrangement of timbers to which the shadows are owing is perceptible; but at half a mile's distance, in bright sunlight, the timbers would not be seen; and a good painter's expression of the bridge would be merely the large spot, and the crossed bars, of pure grey; wholly without indication of their cause, as in Fig. 22 a; and if we saw it at still greater distances, it would appear as in Fig. 22 b and c, diminishing at last to a strange, unintelligible, spider-like spot of grey on the light hillside. A perfectly great painter, throughout his distances, continually reduces his objects to these shadow abstracts; and the singular, and to many persons unaccountable, effect of the confused touches in Turner's distances, is owing chiefly to this thorough accuracy and intense meaning of the shadow abstracts. Studies of this kind are easily made, when you are in haste, with an F. or HB. pencil: it requires some hardness of the point to ensure your drawing delicately enough when the forms of the shadows are very subtle; they are sure to be so somewhere, and are generally so everywhere. The pencil is indeed a very precious instrument after you are master of the pen and brush, for the pencil, cunningly used, is both, and will draw a line with the precision of the one and the gradation of the other; nevertheless, it is so unsatisfactory to see the sharp touches, on which the best of the detail depends, getting gradually deadened by time, or to find the places where force was wanted look shiny, and like a fire-grate, that I should recommend rather the steady use of the pen, or brush, and color, whenever time admits of it; keeping only a small memorandum-book in the breast-pocket, with its well-cut, sheathed pencil, ready for notes on passing opportunities: but never being without this. Continue to Drawing from Nature

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