Tonal Drawing
When we look around our environment, to the objects that make up the space we are in, we see the world by perceiving colour and tone. Tone, also commonly referred to as value, determines how light or dark we recognise something to be. Understanding the properties of value perception, although not extremely difficult, is immensely important for all drawings, whether you aim to create a realistic or abstract depiction of your subject. This is because a wide range of tones will turn a mediocre drawing in to a vibrant one.
It is for this reason figure drawing presents the artist with a complex arrangement of tones that need to be selectively interpreted into drawn marks. However it takes practice and lots of it in order to judge accurately how light or dark a relative value/tone is. One way to develop our understanding of tone is to begin by categorising the values we see; looking for the lightest of lights, the mid tones, and the darkest of darks. The beginner artist may wish to practice observing value on a still life object, this will allow the artist to observe how light shifts, casting shadows and bounces off of a form. However you may find you will have more success with this exercise if you have one primary light source; allowing you to properly control the value.
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