Draw on That—Day Six Return to Value Mountain

Following our last class where we explored using different tones to create atmospheric perspective in a mountain range and the use of different pencils, today I challenged my students with something similar but with a bit more detail.

It was kind of like a “colour by number” but more of a… “value by number”. There were seven values to be used, one through seven represented light to dark. Step by step I asked them to use a different numbered value to create each aspect of this scene—

We started with number one and two values to create sky and water then used darker values to create the different mountains, shadows and our tree. I am really impressed by the level of effort so many students put into these drawings and their willingness to try different types of pencil strokes to create these values. I love a brave artist! Check out some of the great work below.

For a fun final project, I wanted show some of the fun we can have with our softer pencils, values and a trick with erasers. The funny thing is, this proved harder than I thought! Although I loved my fun sample that I created the day before, I found it hard to duplicate my process during class! This is my sample—

To create these fun bugs, I used heavy, dark, soft pencil to create simple bug shapes. Using an eraser and a fast back and forth motion, I create “smudge bugs”. The heavy pencil can seem almost slippery and is pulled and pushed by the eraser. The final effect is something like bugs behind a spider web or drawn on an old crumpled paper.

I’m not completely clear on why I had a hard time duplicating my bugs the next day, but obviously the technique takes some practice and experimentation and I encourage my students to have fun trying it out for themselves. They must have liked it as some have asked to try again another day. Here are some samples of today’s student work—