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Shading to Convey Form

Now that you have become familiar with the tonal capabilities of different pencil grades, we are going to shade an egg, incorporating highlights, mid tones, shadows, cast shadow and reflected light, if any. Let's begin!

Grab an egg and place it on a white piece of paper under a bright, concentrated light (a desk light for instance). With your pencil, draw the egg shape in the middle and slightly to one side of your paper (depending on the direction of the light source, you want some additional room on the opposite side of the egg for the cast shadow).

Note the shadows, the mid tones and the highlights. Start by lightly shading the entire egg with a mid tone. Use long strokes that go from one edge to the other. If you use a bunch of short strokes, you'll probably get many different tones rather than one smooth one.

Now, proceed to shade in the shadow on the egg. Your shadow should be slightly curved to wrap around the spherical shape of the egg. You don't even have to pick up your pencil, just keep the movement going but let up on the pressure on the pencil to get a lighter shade for mid tone and press harder for shadow. Next, identify your highlight and gently erase that spot on your drawing to create one.

Now, draw the contour of the cast shadow and lightly shade it in with an even tone which becomes somewhat darker as it approaches the base of the egg. What is the quality of the light - is it a hard light creating a sharp cast shadow or is it a soft light creating a softer, more gradual, shadow? As you look at the shadow on the egg do you see a sliver of light down near the base of the egg? That's some reflected light from the table bouncing back onto the egg. To draw this spot of reflected light simply shade a little lighter in that area.

Your drawing may look somewhat different depending on the qualities of the light source, such as its intensity, proximity, and angle at which it shines on the egg, however the image below will give you an idea of a typical shading pattern that would apply to the shape of an egg with a desk lamp shining light from the upper left-hand corner.

Other pages of interest

Drawing light and shadow
Creating shadows in your drawings
Reflected light and shading
Shading to convey form
Shading techniques

 

 

 

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