Silverpoint

Mouldings and cast shadows

A string course moulding in section and in elevation under light from the upper left: a bright top fillet, a soft halftone on the curve, a dark underside and a cast shadow on the wall belowSECTIONlightwallELEVATION · WHAT YOU DRAWtop fillet: papercurve: halftoneunderside: 8cast shadow: 6A moulding is four horizontal bands of value. Get the bands right and the stoneturns.The darkest line on any building is the underside of a projecting course. Save your 8B for it.
FigureA moulding in light
FoundationLine

Mouldings and cast shadows

A cornice in four bands, and a buttress that casts

Render a projecting moulding as four bands of value and cast a shadow from a buttress that follows the wall.

Difficulty
Time
about 1 h
You draw with
HB, 2B, 6B
A moulding in lightCast shadows on buildingsLight on form

Why this one

  • Unit 5 of the program: Architecture.
  • Mouldings that project from the wall, and shadows that agree about where the sun is.

From your kit

The whole kit →
  1. 1Grafwood HB, 2B, 6B HB for layout and line; 2B, 6B for the darks. Long points from the Blackwing on everything up to B.
  2. 2Kneaded eraser and the Mono Zero press-and-lift corrections only; the Mono Zero for a single sharp light.
  3. 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
  • HB, 2B, 6B
  • A photo of a building with a cornice or string course and a buttress or pilaster in sun

Watch first

All videos →

Shadow shapes as flat masses first. Shown on a portrait, but the principle is identical for a tree or a tower.

YouTube
Cotman in Normandy: curator's lectureDulwich Picture Gallery · Timothy Wilcox on the Normandy tours and the Architectural Antiquities etchings. The architectural half of this course, explained by its curator.In the studio with graphite pencil artist Minty SainsburyArtfully Crafted · A living architectural pencil draughtsman at work. The closest modern analogue to the Forrest side of this course.

The plan

4 stages · ~56 min
  1. 1

    The four bands

    17 min

    Draw a wall with a string course across it, light from the upper left. Top fillet: paper. Curved face below it: halftone. Underside: 8, with the 6B, the darkest line on the page. Cast shadow on the wall beneath: 6, softening downward over half an inch. Four bands. Stand back; the stone projects.

    A string course moulding in section and in elevation under light from the upper left: a bright top fillet, a soft halftone on the curve, a dark underside and a cast shadow on the wall belowSECTIONlightwallELEVATION · WHAT YOU DRAWtop fillet: papercurve: halftoneunderside: 8cast shadow: 6A moulding is four horizontal bands of value. Get the bands right and the stoneturns.The darkest line on any building is the underside of a projecting course. Save your 8B for it.
    FigureFillet, curve, underside, cast shadow.
    Checklist0 / 1
  2. 2

    The buttress

    17 min

    On the same wall, a buttress. Decide the sun's angle and draw an arrow in the margin: say forty-five degrees from upper left. The buttress's shadow falls on the wall at that angle, its edge following the buttress's own profile, and it jogs where it crosses the string course. One angle, everywhere.

    A buttress under sunlight from the upper left casts a shadow onto the wall; the shadow's edge follows the buttress profile and steps where the wall plane changesshadow follows the buttressprofileand jogs at the string courseCast shadows are the cheapest way to show that a wall has depth and the sun has adirection. Keep them one consistent angle.If two shadows on one building disagree about where the sun is, the building collapses.
    FigureThe shadow follows the buttress and jogs at the course.
    Checklist0 / 1
  3. 3

    From the photo

    17 min

    Draw the cornice and buttress (or pilaster) from your photo. Four bands on every projection. All shadows at one angle. Compare with the Louvain town hall, where every canopy shadow falls the same way.

    Hotel de Ville, Louvain, from Facsimiles of Sketches made in Flanders and Germany, Prout, 1833
    Art Institute of Chicago

    Prout, Hotel de Ville, Louvain, from Facsimiles of Sketches made in Flanders and Germany, 1833. Lithograph in black on grayish-ivory chine, laid down on ivory wove paper.

    Prout, Hotel de Ville, Louvain. Every projecting canopy casts the same way.

    The Art Institute of Chicago · The Leonora Hall Gurley Memorial Collection

    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

  • Mouldings that project from the wall, and shadows that agree about where the sun is.

Where it goes wrong

  • A moulding as one dark line. It reads as a crack. Light above, dark below, halftone between.
  • Two shadows at different angles. The sun moved. Draw the arrow. Check every shadow 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 ~60 min

Status

How did it go?

Up nextHôtel de Ville, Louvain