Berlin Drawing Room Blog: shading

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Subtle Tones from John Ruskin to David Musgrave

I was really struck by the similarity of these two drawings, made by artists from completely different eras. Both show a very nuanced use of tonal gradation to achieve a realistic effect, capturing the delicate texture of a leaf.

John Ruskin (1819-1900) helped to define the Victorian era as a great thinker and artist of the time. He was a Naturalist, artist, writer and social critic.

David Musgrave (b. 1973) is a contemporary conceptual artist working in London. I wonder if he was influenced by Ruskin? Looks like that is highly probable!

More information about both artists:
- Ruskin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ruskin
- Musgrave (also some great images here!!) http://www.luhringaugustine.com/artists/david-musgrave

Can you guess which drawing is by Ruskin and which by Musgrave? (answer below)

* top: Ruskin, bottom: Musgrave

William Kentridge and Tonality

I like to show the drawings of the South African artist William Kentridge in my Drawing Workshop when we learn about tonality. I always try to show examples from at least one contemporary artist, even when going over the most fundamental drawing principles.

What one might not realize, when looking at the drawings, is that many of them are actually stills from his short animation films. The charcoal drawing are worked over and photographed during the process, resulting in stop-motion animation.

William Kentridge

I promised my students from the Winter Drawing Workshop that we would watch this video from the great artist William Kentridge. But then we got so absorbed in our drawings that we never got around to it, so I am posting it here. Below is the film "Automatic Writing".

If you want to learn more about how Kentridge creates the animation, here is a video where he explains his unique process.

Tonality and Seurat

I love to share these these drawings by Georges Seurat with my class when we learn about Tonality. Seurat is the artist most associated with Pointillism, that off shoot of Impressionism. But his drawings offer a subtle insight into the technique of rendering form only through value shifts, or tonality. Notice the complete lack of contour lines!

Seated Boy (study for Bathing Place, Asnieres), 1883. Conte Crayon on paper.

Reclining Man (study for Bathing Place), 1883. Conte Crayon on paper.

The Echo (study for Bathing Place), 1883. Conte Crayon on paper.

MoMA has put together a really nice online version of their 2008 Exhibition of Seurat's drawings. http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2007/seurat/

Enjoy! If you want to learn more about these techniques, join the Drawing Workshop!