Drawing and Painting Still Life Figures
Primary 4 · Creative Arts
Drawing and Painting Still Life Figures
Lesson 4 of 5
15 min
Let's begin
At break, Uwase notices something. Her friend's ball, lying in the sun, is bright on one side and dark on the other. On the ground next to it is a dark patch shaped like a squashed circle.
"The ball is making its own shadow!" she says. Artists use exactly this to make drawings look round and real.
Tone means how light or how dark something is. A drawing with only outlines looks flat. A drawing with light and dark tones looks solid. Practise making a tone scale: five boxes that go from white to the darkest dark you can make.
Albert Lebourg made this drawing with charcoal about 150 years ago, when he was a young art student.
Tip
Light side bright, far side dark, shadow runs away
The cast shadow always runs away from the light, just like your own shadow at break time.
Try each one first, then tap Show answer to check.
The window is on the left of your still life. On which side will the cast shadows be?
Answer: On the right, away from the light.
What do we call the brightest spot on an object?
Answer: The highlight.
Mugisha draws lines that cross each other to make a dark area. Which way of shading is this?
Answer: Cross-hatching.
How can you make hatching look darker?
Answer: Put the lines closer together, or press harder.
Make it: Put an orange or a ball near a window. Draw it with charcoal and show the highlight, the shadow side and the cast shadow.
What you learned today
Sources and credits
The rest of the lesson, the diagrams and the exercises (Try it yourself and the practice questions) are written by Ganzaa.
Quick check
Match each way of shading to what you do.
Tap one on the left, then its partner on the right.
