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Tonal Drawing Notes

The document discusses tonal drawing techniques which depict scenes using relative values of light and dark rather than outlines. Tonal drawing focuses on masses and dissolving boundaries between objects to emphasize light and atmosphere. Working on toned paper encourages using a full range of values to realistically portray form, light, and atmosphere.

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Josan Spooner
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735 views25 pages

Tonal Drawing Notes

The document discusses tonal drawing techniques which depict scenes using relative values of light and dark rather than outlines. Tonal drawing focuses on masses and dissolving boundaries between objects to emphasize light and atmosphere. Working on toned paper encourages using a full range of values to realistically portray form, light, and atmosphere.

Uploaded by

Josan Spooner
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

TONAL DRAWING

WORKSHOP
RELATIVE VALUES
Tonal drawing–the juxtaposition of
relative values, the notion of seeing
masses rather than outlines–more
closely replicates the way humans
see than do lines. This emotional way
of depicting the world has been
explored since Leonardo; modern
artists have mastered it.
“Take care that the shadows and
lights be united or lost in each other,
without any hard strokes or lines; as
smoke loses itself in the air, so are
your lights and shadows to pass from
one to the other without any
apparent separation.”
THE LANGUAGE OF TONE
A language based not upon lines but on
the juxtaposition of relative values. It is
a painterly way of drawing, of seeing in
masses rather than in outlines. In tonal
drawing, the eye retreats from the
edges of things and sees, instead,
patches of light and shade.

While linear drawing favors boundaries,


tonal drawing aims at dissolving these
boundaries and stressing the quality
of light and atmosphere that unites all
objects in the visual field. It is an emo-
tional, immediate way of seeing, closely
related to vision.
WHY WORK ON TONAL PAPER?

There are many reasons but the most important


is that working on tonal paper encourages a full
range of values to be used.

When we work on a toned surface we are


starting somewhere in the middle.

It allows us to push the value lighter and darker,


throughout the drawing process.

The end results in a fuller, more broader use of


values. This leads to a more realistic drawing.

Form, light and atmosphere are expressed.


PHOTOGRAPHS TO WORK FROM:

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