You Can Draw in 30 Days: The Fun, Easy Way to Learn to Draw in One Month or Less (5 page)

5. To separate objects in your drawing, draw a dark defining shadow in between the two spheres (I call this a nook and cranny shadow). This will help identify the depth between the two objects. Notice how I defined the dark nook and cranny shadow on the farthest sphere. Nook and cranny shadows are always applied under and behind near objects. For example, clasp your hands together on the table in front of you. Take a look at the tiny very dark nook and cranny shadows that define the edges of each finger and knuckle. In your sketchbook write, “Nook and cranny shadows: Separate, define, and identify objects in a drawing.”

6. Hold your pencil loosely, and scribble the first layer of shading on both spheres. Shade the surfaces opposite your light source. When I shade, I make several passes over my drawing. This is our first “rough” shading pass. You’ll notice that my shading lines below are all lined up away from the sun, but your shading lines do not have to be lined up. Just scribble in the dark area any way you want as long as it is opposite your light source.

7. Make a second darker, more focused shading pass over the spheres. Detail in the very dark edges, and let your scribbles get lighter and lighter as you move slowly toward your established light source. Look at my sketch below, and notice where I have pointed to the brightest spot on the near sphere. I call this the “hot spot.” The hot spot is the area on an object that gets hit with the most direct and brightest light. Determining where the hot spot is in a drawing is very important when you are applying the shading.

8. Go ahead and make several more scribbles (blending shading passes) over these two spheres. Now for the fun part! Using your finger, carefully blend the shading from dark to light, trying to keep the hot spot crisp white. Don’t worry if you smudge the shading outside the lines or into the hot spot. If you feel like it, use your eraser to clean the excess lines and smudges.

Awesome job! Look at your beautiful three-dimensional rendering! A masterpiece suitable for any in-home refrigerator art gallery. You can be proud to display this great drawing on your fridge, right next to your kids’ work. If you don’t have kids, put this drawing up on your fridge anyway. You will enjoy seeing it with each trip to the kitchen, not to mention the oohs and ahs you will get from your friends!

Take a look at a parent student of mine, Suzanne Kozloski’s Lesson 1 sketchbook page.

Now, take a look at how Suzanne Kozloski applied this lesson to drawings from real life.

Here is my sketchbook page as I created Lesson 2.

Now that you have conquered drawing spheres, try placing two tennis balls on the table in front of you, overlapping. Draw what you see. Make sure to notice the objects’ placement, shadows, and shading.

Here is Suzanne Kozloski’s drawing of this bonus challenge.

Y
ou’re getting into this now, eh? Just think, this is only the third lesson! Imagine how much fun you’ll be having by the thirtieth lesson! Do you want to push the lesson envelope? This next drawing will take you a bit of time, definitely a full twenty minutes, but if you have the time, you could easily spend an hour or more.

Before you tackle this next challenge, I’m going to suggest that you purchase a few really cool drawing tools. Notice how I waited until now to bring these additional costs. This is my sly way of getting some great successes under your belt before inundating you with a shopping list of additional drawing supplies. These supplies are totally optional; you can continue just fine with any regular pencil, any scratch piece of paper, and your finger as your blended shading tool.

Artist’s pencil-blending Stomp (size #3). Stomps are amazing tools you can use (instead of your finger) to blend your shading. These are awesome fun! You can find these in art supply stores. To actually see me using this stomp in a video tutorial, go to my website,
www.markkistler.com
, and click on “Online Video Lessons.”