Silverpoint

10 studies · about 7 hours · 2 weeks at 20 min a day

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Two weeks for a complete beginner: kit, control, the value scale, and the first two master copies. Twenty minutes a day.
  1. 1
    The same landscape reduced to two values, three values and four values, showing that the design is readable at two and complete at four2 VALUESThe design. If thisfails, nothing saves it.3 VALUESCorot's working number.4 VALUESFinished. More steps addpolish, not strength.Notan: the arrangement of light and dark, Japanese for "light-dark".Squint until the scene collapses to three flat shapes. Draw those first.Every lesson in the Mass unit starts here.A drawing with a good two-value design and bad details beats one with perfect details and no design.

    Foundation · Corot

    How this program works

    A session format, a box of drawings, and the twenty-minute rule

  2. 2
    Nine pencil grades from 4H to 8B with the darkest value each can makeHARD · LIGHT · THINSOFT · DARK · FAT4Hlayout2HlightHcontourHBgeneralBgeneral2Bshadow4Bdark6Bdarkest8BblackH = hard. The higher the number, the lighter and finer. B = black. The higher the number, the darker andsofter.

    Foundation · Corot

    Your kit and your set-up

    The Grafwood row, the Blackwing point, the kneaded eraser, a board, and a light from the left

  3. 3
    View of Marino (recto)

    Foundation · Corot

    Meet the two hands

    A looking session: six drawings, no pencil

  4. 4
    The nine-step value scale from white paper to the darkest dark, with a pencil suggestion for each stepTHE NINE-STEP SCALE1paper24H32H4HB5B62B74B86B98BLIGHTS 1 to 3HALFTONES 4 to 6DARKS 7 to 9Most of a Corot lives between 2 and 6. Most of an etching lives between 1, 5 and 8.Beginners use 1 to 4 and wonder why everything looks washed out. Reach 8 and 9 on purpose.

    Foundation · Corot

    The first page

    A value scale and an honest baseline drawing to keep forever

  5. 5
    Ghosting: the pencil rehearses the line in the air several times, then lands once, moving from the shoulderGHOSTING A STRAIGHT LINEstart dotend dotrehearse 3 to 4 times without touchingWRONG · WRIST PIVOT CURVES ITRIGHT · SHOULDER, LOCKED WRISTLook at the end dot, not the pencil point. The hand goes where the eye is.

    Foundation · Corot

    Lines from the shoulder

    Ghosting, straight lines, and parallel sets

  6. 6
    A single continuous band that goes from almost nothing to full dark using pressure alonePRESSURE RAMP · ONE 2B, SIDE OF THE LEADfeather touchfull weight of the handincrease pressure smoothly, never in stepsDo ten of these a day for a week and your hand learns to dial tone like a volume knob.

    Foundation · Corot

    The pressure ramp and layering

    Dialling tone like a volume knob, and why layers beat force

  7. 7
    The nine-step value scale from white paper to the darkest dark, with a pencil suggestion for each stepTHE NINE-STEP SCALE1paper24H32H4HB5B62B74B86B98BLIGHTS 1 to 3HALFTONES 4 to 6DARKS 7 to 9Most of a Corot lives between 2 and 6. Most of an etching lives between 1, 5 and 8.Beginners use 1 to 4 and wonder why everything looks washed out. Reach 8 and 9 on purpose.

    Foundation · Corot

    The nine-step scale, properly

    Rebuild the scale with everything you now know, and learn to name values aloud

  8. 8
    Sketch for a Landscape (verso)

    Master study · Corot

    Sketch for a Landscape (verso)

    The two-minute envelope

  9. 9
    La Cervara, the Roman Campagna

    Master study · Corot

    La Cervara, the Roman Campagna

    The three divisions of light, in paint

  10. 10
    Sketchbook: Norham

    Master study · Prout

    Prout's sketchbook: Norham

    What a real field page looks like