We continued our study of 'Value' - one of the basic Elements of Design. As we learned last month,
value (shading) enables us to depict 3
dimensional objects such as spheres. And in fact many objects around us
are just variations of a sphere. I brought a pear and apple into class
(as well as a picture I had taken of them that morning) and we used the
same techniques to draw them with a 4B charcoal pencil as we had done with the 3-D Snowmen .
Some of the lessons we learned last time were refined this week, such
as holding the pencil in an 'underhand' position which helps soften the
shading and conserve the charcoal. Also, the eraser was used to
not only 'lift' off charcoal but also helped to blend in the pencil
lines.
My challenge to the kids is to look around their homes for other spherically based
objects and to practice drawing them in 3-D. And even more valuable -
to teach their whole family what we have learned!
