Silverpoint

Falls of the Rhine at Schaffhausen

Falls of the Rhine at Schaffhausen (Rheinfall von Schaffhausen), Menzel, 1885
Cleveland Museum of Art

Menzel, Falls of the Rhine at Schaffhausen (Rheinfall von Schaffhausen), 1885. graphite, with stumping (traces of white paint, along left edge, unrelated to composition).

Pins mark where to look before you draw.

The Cleveland Museum of Art · Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund

Master studyMass

Falls of the Rhine at Schaffhausen

Falling water as lifted light, with stumping as the second tool

An 1885 graphite with stumping: the great falls, the rock in the middle of them, spray, the far bank. Menzel draws moving water the only way it can be drawn: as tone laid and lifted, with the stump doing the mist.

Difficulty
Time
about 2 h
You draw with
2B, 4B, 6B graphite on their sides, kneaded eraser, stump
Water as a mirrorErasers as drawing toolsHard, soft and lost edgesA smooth gradientAn even field of tone

Why this one

  • Water as mass and lifted light, not as lines.
  • The stump as a drawing tool for spray and mist.
  • A rock as the one hard thing in a sheet of soft.

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 →

Vertical strokes, darker lights, horizontal breaks: the pond at Ville-d'Avray in method.

YouTube
Subtractive drawing: symmetry and value in charcoalNathan Orosco · Laying a charcoal ground and lifting the lights out, the late-Corot method.

The plan

3 stages · ~100 min
  1. 1

    Lay the greys

    25 min

    4B on its side: the whole falls as a middle grey, the far bank darker, the sky palest. Stump everything soft.

    An even field of tone compared with a streaky one, with the stroke pattern that produces eachWRONG · ROWS AND HARD STOPSRIGHT · OVERLAPPED, FEATHEREDrows with gaps, pencil stopsdeadfeathered ends, each passoverlaps the last by halfLift the pencil as it leaves the paper, like a plane taking off. Hard stops make dark ends.
    FigureAn even field to lift from.
    Checklist0 / 2
  2. 2

    Lift the water

    40 min

    Kneaded eraser pulled downward: the falling water as vertical lifts, strongest where the water is thickest. The spray as soft dabs. Leave grey between the lifts.

    Still water as a mirror: reflections drawn with vertical strokes, a half-step darker than what they reflect, and broken by a few horizontal ripple lineswater linesky: value 1sky's reflection: value 2 (darker)Everything reflects straight down from its base. Vertical strokes. Lights darker,darks lighter. Then break it with three horizontals.Corot's ponds are the sky laid flat, a half-step darker, with the grain of the paper left for sparkle.
    FigureWater is lifted light.
    Checklist0 / 3
  3. 3

    The rock and compare

    35 min

    6B point: the rock, with hard edges and the darkest value; its base lost into the foam. Compare. Note, date, box.

    Checklist0 / 3

What it should look like

  • Water that falls.
  • One hard rock in soft everything.
  • No lines in the water at all.

Where it goes wrong

  • Water drawn as lines. Water has streaks. The streaks are lights. Lift them out of grey.

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 nextSluice

Before this, ideally

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