Silverpoint

The framing device

Corot's framing device: dark foreground trees on both sides and a dark ground close the picture around a small, pale, distant view in the centrethe picture inside the pictureDark frame, light centre. The eye is funnelled to the distance and stays there.Corot's "Environs of Rome" and his late souvenirs use this frame again and again.
FigureThe framing device
FoundationLine + Mass

The framing device

Dark frame, light centre, after Environs of Rome

Compose a landscape with a dark foreground frame around a light distance, and keep the frame simple.

Difficulty
Time
about 1 h
You draw with
2B, 4B, 6B
The framing deviceThe three divisions of lightGrouping values

Why this one

  • Unit 6 of the program: Composition.
  • A drawing where the eye enters, is held by a dark frame and is pushed to a light distance that it stays in.

From your kit

The whole kit →
  1. 1Grafwood 2B, 4B, 6B 2B, 4B, 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
  • 2B, 4B, 6B
  • Kneaded eraser
  • A photo with foreground trees or an archway in front of a view

Watch first

All videos →

A single late Corot looked at slowly; watch for the three divisions of light and the lost edges.

YouTube
Atmospheric charcoal landscape drawing tutorialMad Charcoal · Broad charcoal masses and lifted lights; the closest thing on YouTube to a late Corot being made.How to draw a moody charcoal landscapeMad Charcoal · Value grouping and a dark foreground frame, in charcoal.

The plan

4 stages · ~65 min
  1. 1

    Read Environs of Rome

    20 min

    Tall dark trees left and right, a dark foreground, and a pale distant town seen through the gap. The frame is close in value, soft, undetailed. The view is pale and quiet. Toggle the squint: it is a dark ring with a light hole.

    Environs of Rome, Corot, 1866
    Cleveland Museum of Art

    Corot, Environs of Rome, 1866. etching.

    Corot, Environs of Rome, 1866, etching.

    The Cleveland Museum of Art · Gift of Frederick Keppel and Co., Inc., The Frederick Keppel Memorial

    Checklist0 / 1
  2. 2

    Thumbnail the frame

    20 min

    From your photo, a three-value thumbnail: frame dark, view light, a halftone to hold them apart. Shift the frame until the light hole is off centre and well shaped.

    Corot's framing device: dark foreground trees on both sides and a dark ground close the picture around a small, pale, distant view in the centrethe picture inside the pictureDark frame, light centre. The eye is funnelled to the distance and stays there.Corot's "Environs of Rome" and his late souvenirs use this frame again and again.
    FigureThe picture inside the picture.
    Checklist0 / 1
  3. 3

    Draw it

    20 min

    Full sheet. Frame first as a flat dark mass (7 to 9), edges soft, a few edge marks and nothing inside. Then the distance, pale, with its three divisions compressed into the hole. The frame must stay dull; the moment you render its foliage, it competes. Cotman's Rievaulx does the same thing with stone instead of trees.

    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 drawing where the eye enters, is held by a dark frame and is pushed to a light distance that it stays in.

Where it goes wrong

  • The frame rendered. It was in front and looked important. Flatten it to a mass. Erase its detail.

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 nextThe depth stack