Page:Drawing for Beginners.djvu/239

 subject, but I should advise (at any rate as a beginning) drawing with black and white chalk on a tinted paper as the quickest and most straightforward manner of drawing broad masses of light and shade. Besides, it has one great advantage over ordinary stump or chalk, charcoal, pen and ink, or wash: it reverses the usual style of drawing. The method of drawing with light and dark chalk upon tinted paper exactly reverses the method of drawing with pencil, stump, and charcoal on a white ground. Then we draw middle and darkest tones and leave the white paper to express the light. But if we draw on brown, grey, blue, or otherwise tinted paper, we draw the lights with white chalk, the shadows with chalk (or charcoal), and leave the tinted paper to express the middle or general tones. By these means we build up the shapes quickly. We look for the shapes of the lights&mdash;which are too often undefined&mdash;no less than the shapes of the shadows.

As it is easier to draw broad, simple, and strong masses of light and shade, choose several simple objects of a uniform colour and place them on a table and in the bright and concentrated light of lamp, candle, or (shaded) electric bulb. Bring the light fairly close to the level of the table. A small piece of candle or a low lamp will give a better, because a less diffused, light.

Choose a white egg, a table napkin in a white ring, a white paper-covered box, a white paper flower, or other such things. A newspaper folded in a white wrapper, a white cup, or cup and saucer, white enamel bowl, white glove,&mdash;all these will be equally suitable.

First ask yourself where is the brightest light, and draw the shape of the light with white chalk. Then look for the darkest shadow, which will naturally be the part that is farthest away from the light, and probably where the object rests on the ground. Draw the shape of the dark shadow. Next look for the middle (or binding) tone and blend with white chalk if in the light, and shade with black chalk if it forms part of the shadow.