Building meaningful value

LESSON: Drawing without lines, Giving objects weight & Giving values meaning.

Let me just first point out by saying that I didn't begin this drawing by plotting contour lines around the outside edges of the blocks. Contour lines have a tendency to look flat, much like how an illustrated map of continents emphasizes borders. Remember, we want to have the object to have weight and to look as 3-dimesional as possible. Because of this, I began by drawing the blocks from their insides, filling them in – much like filling-up a glass with water. I also simplified what I was looking at – I saw the shadow of the object and its cast shadow as one flat shape.

 Afterward, I rendered two different value scenarios using computer.

These value studies are about exploring relationships. In the first sketch, the background and foreground are similar values – linking them together, like siblings or cousins. The viewer's attention is now focused on other elements which are perceived as being different from the majority (the light side and shadow of the blocks). The second sketch groups the foreground with the shadow. And finally, in the third sketch the background is merged with the shadow. Notice how I kept my values to only three (dark, mid-tone and light).

What if we matched the foreground value with the light side of the object? What would that communicate? Where would your attention shift? I think of the thing that stands out the most, the thing that is not like the others, as the ugly duckling. Look for the ugly duckling.

Use this as a tool to help express what may be important to you. Hopefully, you can see that drawing the object well is not as important as understanding overall value structure to communicate an idea, elicit an overall mood, or express an emotion.

What makes something appear heavy?

What makes something look heavy?
Lately, I’ve been a bit fascinated as to why and how objects appear to be heavy (dense, solid, weighty, massy etc. Much of the time you can’t physically lift up the item to get a sense of its weight, especially in the case of a building. All you can do is use your eyes and brain to make an assessment, an assumption. This is the conversation.

What gives an object weight:

- Paint only the details that help describe the weight of an object. Paint these details in a way which helps describe/capitalize on their weightiness. For example, make a light post slightly thicker in width or a weight-bearing post thicker or bigger. Think about the structure of things and how they work. If you make what holds up the thing thicker, then the thing it is holding up might look heavier.  

- Do everything you can to make the thing look 3-dimensional.

- Try building your objects using constructive anatomy. For instance, when constructing a house, the concrete foundation is first set, then the framework, and then the roof. Try to see things as there parts and how they might fit together – kind of like an explosion chart that only you hold the directions to. The delivery truck is first a large rectangle, then the rectangle gets four smaller wheels (two of the wheels you may not be able to see but draw them anyway.) Show your lines of constructive anatomy even if you won't see them later. Approaching things with this attitude will give the your painting more substance and weight. 

- Also, combine the shadow side of an object with its drop shadow and make them the same value. Keep this shadow shape flat and make sure no white of the canvas is poking through. Ignore the details inside this shadow area as much as possible, or just keep them mysterious.

- Paint blocky shapes. Blocky shapes imply mass and better describe the planes of objects as being flat.

-  Don’t use contour lines to draw the outside line of an object. Instead, think in terms of painting objects from their center, their core, working your way to the outer edges of the object. See the object, feel the object as a deliberate heavy mass. Contour lines on the outside of the object do not help make the object appear as a solid 3-dimensional mass. Quite the opposite. Using contour lines is a great approach to making objects appear flat, not heavy and 3-dimensional.

 - Don’t use contour lines to draw the outside line of an object. Begin blocking the shape in by painting from within the shape, its center – not from the outside contour line.  

- Make deliberate, confident marks. Psychologically, strokes made with confidence carry more weight than those made from insecurity.

- Physically, messy/sloppy paint can sometimes exude weightiness. Think, Ivan Seal. Thick paint definitely is heavier – visually and literally.

- Larger strokes carry more weight. I’ve noticed over the past week, painting things smaller in size (like thumbnail pencil sketches, 2x2 inches) simplifies what you’re doing. It also makes the strokes appear much larger. This can help to focus on weight, not detail or other non-contributors. 

- Details of Materials: Make certain materials look less see-through (such as windows). You can see through windows which gives the viewer a clue that the building is hollow inside. And things that are hollow don’t look as heavy. So, maybe make the windows less shiny, less transparent, and instead make them opaque. Another heavy material are rivets. Rivets are a detail that make an object appear heavier. Why? We associate rivets with steel and steel is heavy/dense. Just having rivets around make things look heavy and durable. We traditionally associate durability with heavier materials. Our younger generations will build different associations with this. So, you may want to include that detail if its placement or size could look like a rivet, psychologically.

- Try mixing the paint on the canvas. This marbling effect can help make things look solid. Marbling of the paint can be achieved by slapping a color on the canvas and immediately putting another color over it. They will mix together on the canvas, as long as you don't over mix or play with your stroke.