Light and Shade

This is a portrait of my oldest son when he was around the age of two or three. He has his daddy's cap on. I snapped a picture years ago, then drew the image, this month, in pencil . (My son is much older now.) I love to draw in pencil. Not only can you erase- which an artist is told not to do, and I might tell you why later- but you can make the marks light or dark, broad or thin, and it is easy to smudge. Yes, smudging is good.

This picture is graphite on white, or black on white. It is what artists call Light and Shade. The way the light shines on an object tells us about its form and texture. What I did here is to draw dark marks on light paper. I drew the shade not the light. This is called "chiaroscuro," which is Italian for "bright-dark."

I also used a tonal scale to depict the darkest and not so dark areas to give my image a 3-D or three dimensional look.  Can't you just reach out and pinch those cute little cheeks? I am always so amazed when an image drawn on a flat piece of paper can look like it is three dimensional.