CAEL1001 Chap.3 Light and Tone: Form Without Outline
Light and Tone: Form Without Outline
Week 3 is the first week with a repeatable technique in it. You build a seven-step value scale in the diary, make a small tonal map of a still life by sorting what you see into five to seven values, then develop an A2 tonal and perspective drawing in which changes in value describe the forms directly rather than outlining and filling.
The still life is specified down to the objects, three or four pale unpatterned forms under a single light source, because every part of that removes a competing variable. The second half of the studio cuts the finished drawing into three to six centimetre squares and recomposes them on a second sheet, which turns tone from a descriptive tool into a compositional one.
The chapter covers the method in order, the mapping idea underneath it, and how to diagnose a drawing that reads flat from three metres.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Why the value scale is an instrument rather than an exercise
- 02
The specified still life, and what each specification removes
- 03
Scale, then map, then draw at size: the order that prevents outlining
- 04
Sorting many values into a few groups, and imposing boundaries deliberately
- 05
Graphite powder and squinting: two shortcuts that are not cheating
- 06
How many values to use, and why more is not better
- 07
Outline first against value first, compared
- 08
Cast shadows as the shapes that describe the light
- 09
The abstraction task: ruling, cutting and rearranging by a rule
- 10
Diagnosing a drawing that reads flat from a distance
- 11
Building a texture library with stippling, cross-hatching and scribbling
Diagnosing a tonal drawing that reads flat
- 1Name the two candidate causes before testing: a compressed value range, where nothing reaches the bottom of the scale, or scattered values, where no shape is large enough to read at distance.
- 1Run the test that separates them. Photograph the drawing and remove the colour, or simply squint at it from across the room.
- 1Read the result. Uniform grey means the range is the problem; a fizz of small contrasts means the mapping is the problem.
- 1Prescribe accordingly. Push the darks to the bottom of the scale in the first case; group neighbouring values into fewer, larger shapes in the second.
Key terms
- Value scale
- A stepped strip running from the lightest value to the heaviest tone a given pencil can produce. The unit asks for seven steps, made in the diary, and used as the reference for both drawings.
- Tonal mapping
- Breaking the areas of light, shade and shadow into definite shapes and reducing many observed values into a few groups, imposing a boundary where the transition is genuinely indistinct.
- Cast shadow
- The shadow an object throws onto another surface. It describes the light rather than the object, and it is what places separate objects on one surface.
- Turning edge
- The place where a curved surface rotates away from the light. It has no line, which is why an outlined drawing renders it wrongly.
- Graphite powder
- Graphite shaved with a blade and rubbed with a finger to lay broad, even tone far faster than hatching can.
Light and Tone: Form Without Outline FAQ
What happens if I outline first and then shade?
You get a drawing where every edge is equally hard, including the edges where a curved surface simply turns away from the light, and it reads flat at a distance. The activity sheet says directly not to do it. If you already have, work the darks up until the line stops being the strongest thing on the page.
Why do the objects have to be white and unpatterned?
So that nothing supplies an edge you did not earn. A pattern gives you contours for free, a coloured object lets you substitute local colour for value, and a second light source erases the cast shadows. The unit even suggests covering dark objects with white paper or light fabric.
Is it a problem that my drawing came out too dark?
Usually it means you mapped the shadows before the mid-tones, so the middle of the range got compressed against a floor you had already fixed. The repair is procedural rather than technical: place the lightest and darkest values first, then distribute the middle values between them.
Can I photocopy the drawing rather than cutting up the original?
Yes, and the unit permits it explicitly. It does change the experiment, because a photocopy loses the graphite sheen, the powder texture and the pressure marks, so the recomposition becomes purely about value and shape. Saying that in your reflection is worth more than the sheet you saved.
Assessment move
Make the scale with the pencil you actually intend to use, since a 2B and a 6B do not reach the same seventh step and swapping mid-drawing invalidates the reference. Photograph the still life before you start, because you will move it. Step back every ten minutes, since tonal relationships are only judgeable at a distance, and photograph the drawing in greyscale to check the range.
For the second task, decide the rearrangement rule before you cut and document several arrangements before gluing, because the rule is the part that turns chance into method. Then build a small texture library in the diary: three densities each of stippling, cross-hatching and scribbling, all aimed at the same step on your scale.
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