View of Marino

Why this one

It teaches that a line placed exactly can carry a whole building, and that the paper does the rest.
The envelope, the sighted angle and comparative measurement all show on one sheet with nothing to hide behind.
It is the opposite of the late charcoals, and you need both ends of Corot in your hand.

From your kit

The whole kit →

1Grafwood 2H, H 2H, H for layout and line. Long points from the Blackwing on everything up to B.
2Kneaded eraser and the Mono Zero press-and-lift corrections only; the Mono Zero for a single sharp light.
3Alpha sketchbook 9 x 6 draw at the book's size and keep the proportions; date the page.

In general, this study asks for

Drawing pad or smooth cartridge
2H and H with long points
HB for accents
Kneaded eraser
Sandpaper block

The plan

5 stages · ~95 min

1
Read it for five minutes
5 min
Before any mark, look. Where is the town on the sheet (measure it against the width)? Where is the horizon of the far ridge? Which lines are long and which are short? Say aloud what is left blank.
Checklist0 / 2
- I measured the town's position against the sheet width
- I found the three longest lines on the sheet
2
Envelope the three masses
15 min
Draw a rectangle in the sheet's proportion (about 7 by 10). With the 2H, enclose the town, the tree group and the main ridge line as three simple shapes. Sight the angle of the ridge against level. Measure the town's width as a fraction of the page. Nothing else yet.
FigureEnvelope first. Half your time belongs here.
Checklist0 / 2
- Town, trees and ridge are each enclosed in a simple shape
- The ridge angle was sighted, not guessed
3
The town, one line at a time
35 min
Switch to the H. Place the town's lines one at a time: ghost each, land it once, pressure so light the line is barely there. Roofs first, then walls, then the few window marks. Where Corot leaves a wall open, leave it open.
Check the town against the envelope every five lines. If it grows, stop and measure again.
Cleveland Museum of Art
Corot, View of Marino (recto), 1827. graphite.
The town, upper right: compare your count of lines with his.
The Cleveland Museum of Art · Gift of Robert Hays Gries
Checklist0 / 2
- Each line was ghosted and committed once
- The town did not grow past its envelope
4
Terrain and trees
30 min
The hillside: five long contour lines from the shoulder, following the slope, none of them straight. The trees: lobed outlines drawn by their negative shapes against the paper, then a few strokes of hatch on the shadow side only.
Resist shading. If your hand wants to add tone, put the pencil down and look at the original again.
FigureDraw the shape of paper beside the tree; the tree arrives.
Checklist0 / 2
- Terrain is five or six long lines, not a texture
- Trees are contour plus a touch of hatch on one side
5
Compare and note
10 min
Side by side with the original. Where did you add? Beginners always add. Where did you darken? Write one sentence on the sheet: what did he leave out that I wanted to put in? Date it, box it.
Checklist0 / 2
- I wrote down what I added that he left out
- Dated and in the box

What it should look like

A pale, exact drawing with more empty paper than you were comfortable leaving.
A town you could count the lines of, each in the right place.

Where it goes wrong

Shading crept in. Empty paper feels unfinished. Lift it out with the kneaded eraser. The emptiness is the drawing.
The town is too big. It is the interesting part. Measure it against the sheet. It is small.