Silverpoint

Squint and notan

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.
FigureNotan: two, three, four values
FoundationMass

Squint and notan

Three thumbnails from Corot, three from your window

Reduce any landscape to three flat values in a two-inch thumbnail, from a master and from life.

Difficulty
Time
about 0.5 h
You draw with
2B and 6B, sides of the lead
SquintingNotan: two, three, four valuesThe nine-step value scale

Why this one

  • Unit 3 of the program: Mass: the Corot Half.
  • Six two-inch rectangles of three flat values each, with no lines in any of them.

From your kit

The whole kit →
  1. 1Grafwood 2B, 6B 2B, 6B for the darks, on their sides for mass. Long points from the Blackwing on everything up to B.
  2. 2Pitt Matt 8B to 12B for the big tone passages: matt, so the dark mass reads as tone, not shine.
  3. 3Kneaded eraser (warm it) and the clean Mono Zero lift the lights out of the mass; the Mono Zero for sky holes and lit edges.
  4. 4Alpha sketchbook 9 x 6 draw at the book's size and keep the proportions; date the page.
In general, this study asks for
  • Copier paper
  • 2B and 6B, sides of the lead
  • A window with a view, or a landscape photo

Watch first

All videos →

Squinting, value scales and why beginners under-read darks.

YouTube
Practice simplifying values with notan studiesProko · Two- and three-value notan, the exact exercise the Mass studies start with.How to simplify your light and shadow shapesDrawing Tutorials Online · Shadow shapes as flat masses first. Shown on a portrait, but the principle is identical for a tree or a tower.

The plan

4 stages · ~44 min
  1. 1

    Corot in three values

    13 min

    Open La Cervara and use the squint toggle. Draw a two-inch rectangle and fill it with what the squint shows: a light shape (sky and far mountains), a halftone shape (the valley), a dark shape (the near ground). No lines, no detail, side of the pencil only. Three minutes. Do the same for the Pond at Ville-d'Avray and Environs of Rome.

    La Cervara, the Roman Campagna, Corot, c. 1830–31
    Cleveland Museum of Art

    Corot, La Cervara, the Roman Campagna, c. 1830–31. oil on fabric.

    Corot, La Cervara, the Roman Campagna. Squint it to three values and draw those three.

    The Cleveland Museum of Art · Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund

    Checklist0 / 1
  2. 2

    Your window in three values

    13 min

    Look out of the window. Squint hard. Three thumbnails of three different crops (use your viewfinder cards), three values each, three minutes each. If a crop will not collapse to three readable shapes, it is a bad crop; move the viewfinder.

    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.
    FigureTwo values is the design, three is Corot's working number.
    Checklist0 / 1
  3. 3

    Choose

    13 min

    Line up your six thumbnails. Which has the biggest single dark shape? Which has the clearest light shape? Circle the best. You will use it next session.

    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

  • Six two-inch rectangles of three flat values each, with no lines in any of them.

Where it goes wrong

  • Lines creeping in. Habit. Put the pointed pencils away. Only the side of a 2B and a 6B on the table.
  • Five or six values. Not squinting hard enough. Squint until your eyes are nearly shut. Three shapes, forced.

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 nextLa Cervara, the Roman Campagna