Silverpoint

Le Pont des Arts at dusk

Le Pont des Arts, Lalanne, 1869
Art Institute of Chicago

Lalanne, Le Pont des Arts, 1869. Etching and drypoint on cream laid paper.

Pins mark where to look before you draw.

The Art Institute of Chicago · The Art Institute of Chicago

Master studyMass

Le Pont des Arts at dusk

A bridge, a lamp and a dome drawn as masses in failing light

An 1869 etching and drypoint of the iron footbridge with the Institut's dome behind it at dusk, a lamp lit, the river dark. Lalanne the charcoal draughtsman shows through the etching: the plate is masses first and lines second.

In pencilDrypoint burr gives this plate its velvet darks. Lay the masses with the side of the 4B and 6B, lift the lamp with the Mono Zero, and keep every edge soft but the lamp's.

Difficulty
Time
about 2 h
You draw with
2B, 4B, 6B graphite on their sides, kneaded eraser
The order of values in daylightHard, soft and lost edgesErasers as drawing toolsThe round archGrouping values

Why this one

  • Lalanne's two habits in one plate: tone that keeps structure, line that behaves like tone.
  • A lamp as the one light in a dusk drawing.
  • Arches as dark voids in a dark bridge.

From your kit

The whole kit →
  1. 1Grafwood 2B, 4B, 6B 2B, 4B, 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
  • Drawing pad, medium tooth
  • 2B, 4B, 6B with long points
  • Kneaded eraser
  • Precision eraser
  • Slip sheet

Watch first

All videos →

Laying a charcoal ground and lifting the lights out, the late-Corot method.

YouTube
Train your eyes to see valuesProko · Squinting, value scales and why beginners under-read darks.

The plan

4 stages · ~85 min
  1. 1

    Order the values

    10 min

    Name the values aloud from lightest to darkest: lamp, sky, dome, bridge, arches, water. Thumbnail them in four steps.

    The order of values in daylight: the sky lightest, then the flat ground that faces it, then upright planes, then undersides and cast shadows1 · sky2 · roof (tilted to sky)3 · flat ground4 · lit wall6 · shadow wall7 · cast shadow9 · open doorwayA plane's value depends on how squarely it faces the light. The sky is the light.Flat planes face it: light. Uprights glance it: mid. Undersides turn away: dark.If your ground is darker than your walls on a sunny day, the drawing will feel wrong and you will not know why.
    FigureIn daylight the sky is lightest; at dusk the lamp is.
    Checklist0 / 2
  2. 2

    Masses

    35 min

    4B on its side: sky palest, then the dome, then the bridge as a band, then the water. 6B: the arches as voids. No lines, no edges.

    The same scene with values scattered like confetti, which reads as noise, next to values grouped into three big connected shapes, which reads as a pictureSCATTERED · CONFETTIGROUPED · THREE BIG SHAPESLink your darks into one shape. Link your lights into one shape. Let a mid valuehold them apart.Corot's trees, ground shadow and foreground are one dark. That is why his pictures feel calm.
    FigureGroup, then separate.
    Checklist0 / 3
  3. 3

    Lamp and edges

    30 min

    Mono Zero: the lamp, one clean lift, and a broken vertical for its reflection. Then decide the two edges that stay sharp (the bridge's deck line, the lamp) and lose the rest.

    A foliage mass against sky and a distant hill, labelled where its edge is hard, soft, and lostHARDcrisp against the bright skySOFTblurred where the form turnsLOSTsame value as the ground: the edge disappearsA drawing with only hard edges is a cut-out. Lose at least one edge on every form.
    FigureTwo hard edges.
    Checklist0 / 2
  4. 4

    Compare

    10 min

    Note, date, box.

    Checklist0 / 2

What it should look like

  • A dusk scene with one light and soft everything.
  • Arches you read as a row of darks.

Where it goes wrong

  • The sky stays white. Paper is the easy sky. At dusk the sky has a value; lay it and let the lamp be the only paper.

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 ~120 min

Status

How did it go?

Up nextRuins of the Château of Crémieux

Before this, ideally

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