Constantinople
Roberts, Constantinople, n.d.. Graphite, heightened with lead white, on tan wove paper.
Pins mark where to look before you draw.
The Art Institute of Chicago · The Leonora Hall Gurley Memorial Collection
Constantinople
A city stepping back in value, on toned paper
Graphite heightened with white on tan paper: Roberts's panorama of Constantinople, near walls and trees, a city dissolving in steps toward the water, minarets as thin verticals. The toned-paper method: paper is the halftone, graphite goes down for the darks, white comes up for the lights.
- Master
- David Roberts
- Difficulty
- Time
- about 2.5 h
- You draw with
- HB and 2B graphite on toned paper, white chalk or white pencil
Why this one
- Toned paper teaches that lights are added as deliberately as darks.
- Aerial perspective across a whole city.
From your kit
The whole kit →- 1Grafwood HB, 2B HB for layout and line; 2B for the darks, on their sides for mass. Long points from the Blackwing on everything up to B.
- 2Pitt Matt 8B to 12B for the big tone passages: matt, so the dark mass reads as tone, not shine.
- 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.
- 4Alpha sketchbook 9 x 6 draw at the book's size and keep the proportions; date the page.
In general, this study asks for
- Toned tan pad
- HB, 2B
- White charcoal or chalk pencil
- Kneaded eraser
Watch first
All videos →Five hills, five values, in graphite.
YouTube
The plan
4 stages · ~140 min- 1
Paper is the halftone
10 minDecide: paper is value 5. Darks go below it, white above.
Checklist0 / 1 - 2
Back to front in graphite
70 minFar shore at a whisper, each row of the city a step darker toward you, near walls firmest.
Checklist0 / 1 - 3
White, sparingly
40 minWhite only on near and middle lit planes. Count the white marks; keep them few.
Checklist0 / 1 - 4
Audit
20 minSquint. Box.
Checklist0 / 1
What it should look like
- A city in steps of value on tan paper, with a few white lights that feel like sun.
Where it goes wrong
- White everywhere. It is fun. Lift most of it. White is a spice.
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
