Silverpoint

The nine-step scale, properly

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.
FigureThe nine-step value scale
FoundationLine + Mass

The nine-step scale, properly

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

Make a value scale with genuinely even steps, and start the habit of naming the value of everything you look at.

Difficulty
Time
about 0.5 h
You draw with
All five pencils
The nine-step value scaleLayering, not pressureAn even field of tone

Why this one

  • Unit 1 of the program: Instrument Control.
  • A scale with nine even, matte steps.
  • Three objects drawn as flat shapes of named values that read correctly when squinted.

From your kit

The whole kit →
  1. 1Kneaded eraser and the Mono Zero press-and-lift corrections only; the Mono Zero for a single sharp light.
  2. 2Alpha 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
  • All five pencils

Watch first

All videos →

All six mark families in one sitting.

YouTube
Cross-hatching drawing techniques: pen, ink, pencilArt Prof · Cross-hatching taught as a value system, which is how the etchers used it.Line quality: cross-hatchingLZM Studio · On the quality of each individual line inside a hatch, which is what separates Meryon from a beginner.

The plan

4 stages · ~41 min
  1. 1

    Rebuild it

    12 min

    Nine boxes again. This time each box is a flat-tone field made with layers, matte, even. Fill 9, then 5, then 3 and 7, then the rest. Compare with your Day One scale from the box. Keep both; the difference is your first evidence.

    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.
    FigureLights 1 to 3, halftones 4 to 6, darks 7 to 9.
    Checklist0 / 1
  2. 2

    Name the room

    12 min

    Look around the room you are in. Say aloud the value of ten things: the ceiling, 1. The wall, 2. The shadow under the table, 7. The inside of the open doorway, 8. Do it fast and do not agonise. Then look at a Corot and do the same.

    Pond at Ville-d'Avray, Corot, late 1860s
    Cleveland Museum of Art

    Corot, Pond at Ville-d'Avray, late 1860s. oil on fabric.

    Corot, Pond at Ville-d'Avray. Name the values: sky, water, far bank, trees, trunk. Toggle the squint view to check yourself.

    The Cleveland Museum of Art · Elisabeth Severance Prentiss Collection

    Checklist0 / 1
  3. 3

    Draw the names

    12 min

    Choose three objects on your table. For each, name the value of its lit side, its shadow side and its cast shadow (for example 2, 5, 7). Then draw the three objects as flat shapes filled with exactly those values, no outlines, no detail. Values only. Squint at the drawing and at the table; they should match.

    Checklist0 / 1
  4. 4

    Self-check

    5 min

    Tick each item honestly. If one is a no, the session is not finished; go back to that step.

    Checklist0 / 3

What it should look like

  • A scale with nine even, matte steps.
  • Three objects drawn as flat shapes of named values that read correctly when squinted.

Where it goes wrong

  • Everything named between 2 and 5. Beginners under-read darks by two steps, always. Find the darkest thing in view, call it 9, and re-scale everything against it.

Log this session

Start the clock when you pick up the pencil. Stop it when you put it down. Log it. Every session counts toward the box.

00:00of ~30 min

Status

How did it go?

Up nextSketch for a Landscape (verso)