Doorway, Venice
Pennell, Doorway, Venice, 1884. Etching on ivory paper.
Pins mark where to look before you draw.
The Art Institute of Chicago · Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson
Doorway, Venice
The whole value range inside one opening
1884, etching: a Venetian doorway with its reveal, steps and the black of the interior, the whole range from paper to black inside a few square inches. The window-as-void lesson scaled up to a door, and a focal-hierarchy lesson in miniature.
- Master
- Joseph Pennell
- Difficulty
- Time
- about 2 h
- You draw with
- H, HB, 2B, 4B graphite
Why this one
- Full tonal range in a small area.
- A doorway as a hole in a thick wall.
From your kit
The whole kit →- 1Grafwood H, HB, 2B, 4B H, HB for layout and line; 2B, 4B for the darks. Long points from the Blackwing on everything up to B.
- 2Kneaded eraser and the Mono Zero press-and-lift corrections only; the Mono Zero for a single sharp light.
- 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 →Structure first, then tone, on a real stone building. The method of the Architecture studies in a modern hand.
YouTube
The plan
3 stages · ~120 min- 1
Envelope
15 minThe doorway and its wall; eye level from the step.
Checklist0 / 1 - 2
The opening
60 minReveal planes, step, interior as four layers.
Checklist0 / 1 - 3
Wall and audit
45 minCourses broken, tone; squint; box.
Checklist0 / 1
What it should look like
- A doorway you could walk into, with the deepest dark in the catalogue inside it.
Where it goes wrong
- Grey interior. Fear. Four layers. Black.
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.
Status
How did it go?
Before this, ideally
