Silverpoint

The Pigeon Tower

Pigeon Tower, Legros, c. 1857–1911
Cleveland Museum of Art

Legros, Pigeon Tower, c. 1857–1911. etching.

Pins mark where to look before you draw.

The Cleveland Museum of Art · Gift of Ralph King

Master studyLine

The Pigeon Tower

A round tower on a low hill, the simplest landscape in the catalogue

A dovecote on a bank, a few trees, a horizon, sky. Legros draws it in perhaps two hundred lines. It is the plate to copy when you want to learn how little a landscape needs, and how a round tower is drawn as a cylinder before it is drawn as stone.

In pencilAn etched line is a drawn line. Copy it with hard grades and long points: tone from the spacing and direction of lines, cross-hatching only in the darkest third, no smudging anywhere.

Difficulty
Time
about 1.5 h
You draw with
H, HB graphite
Light on formThe round archFormat and horizonValue by spacing

Why this one

  • A cylinder in light: the round tower as a form.
  • Economy: count the lines and try to use fewer.
  • A low horizon and a sky left completely alone.

From your kit

The whole kit →
  1. 1Grafwood H, HB H, HB for layout and line. 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 or smooth cartridge
  • 2H and H with long points
  • HB for accents
  • Kneaded eraser
  • Sandpaper block

Watch first

All videos →

All six mark families in one sitting.

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

The plan

3 stages · ~75 min
  1. 1

    Horizon and cylinder

    15 min

    H: horizon line placed by measurement; the tower as a cylinder with an ellipse for its top edge, plumb sides, a conical roof.

    A semicircular Romanesque arch with its centre on the springing line, radiating voussoirs and a keystone, over an impost and a pierROUND ARCH · CENTRE ON THE SPRINGING LINEcentrekeystonevoussoirs radiate fromthe centreimpostEvery joint in the arch points at the centre. Draw three joints that do, and the eye believes the rest.
    FigureRound forms begin as ellipses.
    Checklist0 / 3
  2. 2

    The turning shadow

    30 min

    HB: the shadow side of the cylinder as vertical hatching that opens toward the light side, so the edge of the shadow is soft. The roof's shadow side. The bank's few strokes.

    Light on a sphere and a cube from the upper left: highlight, light, halftone, core shadow, reflected light and cast shadow, labelledhighlightlighthalftone (the turn)core shadow (darkest on theform)reflected light (never aslight as the lit side)cast shadow (darkest at thecontact)top planelightestfront: halftoneside: shadowEvery building is cubes, every tree is spheres. Decide where the light is before the first mark.
    FigureForm turns; shadow softens.
    Checklist0 / 3
  3. 3

    Trees and compare

    30 min

    Trees as a few long lines and a loose mass. Count your lines against the plate's. Note, date, box.

    Checklist0 / 2

What it should look like

  • A tower that is round.
  • Two hundred lines, no more.
  • Sky untouched.

Where it goes wrong

  • A hard shadow edge on the tower. You drew the shadow as a shape. The form turns; open the hatching gradually toward the light.

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 ~90 min

Status

How did it go?

Up nextThe Lonely Tower

Before this, ideally

Related studies