Silverpoint

9 studies · about 17 hours · 4 weeks at 20 min a day

Night and dusk

Subtractive drawing: lay the dark, take the lights out. Whistler's Venice, Lalanne's bridge, Palmer's tower and sunrise, Menzel's falls, and Corot's cliche-verre scratching.
  1. 1
    An even field of tone compared with a streaky one, with the stroke pattern that produces eachWRONG · ROWS AND HARD STOPSRIGHT · OVERLAPPED, FEATHEREDrows with gaps, pencil stopsdeadfeathered ends, each passoverlaps the last by halfLift the pencil as it leaves the paper, like a plane taking off. Hard stops make dark ends.

    Foundation · Piranesi

    Flat tone and the smooth gradient

    A square that looks like grey paper, and a ramp built from layers

  2. 2
    Souvenir of Ostia

    Master study · Corot

    Souvenir of Ostia

    Your first negative drawing

  3. 3
    Nocturne: Palaces

    Master study · Whistler

    Nocturne: Palaces

    A canal at night, drawn with what is left out

  4. 4
    Le Pont des Arts

    Master study · Lalanne

    Le Pont des Arts at dusk

    A bridge, a lamp and a dome drawn as masses in failing light

  5. 5
    Ruins of the Château of Crémieux (Isère)

    Master study · Daubigny

    Ruins of the Château of Crémieux

    A dark landscape with a ruin on the ridge and the sky as the only light

  6. 6
    A Woodland Study

    Master study · Palmer

    A Woodland Study

    A dark wood with one lit path, in brush and wash

  7. 7
    The Lonely Tower

    Master study · Palmer

    The Lonely Tower

    Palmer's night, to set beside Corot's: a point of light in a web of line

  8. 8
    Opening the Fold, or Early Morning

    Master study · Palmer

    Opening the Fold, or Early Morning

    A sunrise built from line: the brightest thing is the least drawn

  9. 9
    Falls of the Rhine at Schaffhausen (Rheinfall von Schaffhausen)

    Master study · Menzel

    Falls of the Rhine at Schaffhausen

    Falling water as lifted light, with stumping as the second tool