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Let's go a bit deeper into the three tones I mentioned: highlights, midtones, and shadows.
Hightlights These are the whitest or brightest areas of the drawing,
it's where a given surface on the subject is reflecting the
actual light source most efficiently. The highlight is a reflection of the actual light source on the subject.
In some cases you can see the light source itself in the
highlight. If you look very closely to the highlight in the
eye of a person who was photographed in a studio setting, you
might see the square shape of the Soft Box Light used in the
photograph. The number of highlights
on a subject is limited only by the number of reflective surfaces on the
subject and the ability of the surfaces to reflect light. The shape of the highlight depends on the surface of the subject. If the subject is smooth and shiny like a tea kettle the highlights will be very bright and intense. If the subject is of a rougher
consistency like an orange, the highlight won't be so intense and be more "diffused" and it may appear to melt
completely into the midtones.
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click to see the three tones. |
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Click to see the three tones on a
face. |
Midtones As the name implies, this tone is midway in between the highlight and the shadow. It would
show the "true" color and consistency of the object. The highlights are brighter than the "true" color, and the shadows are darker than the "true" color. The midtone is usually going to be the majority tone that is
visible, the highlights and shadows are usually a smaller part of the tonal range.
But the area covered by any of the tones will ultimately be
determined by the shape, constancy and size of the subject and
also the quality of the lights on the subject.
Shadows Shadows are the darkest area of the surface and will take the most graphite to draw. Shadows can have really sharp edges between it and the midtone or it can just sort of gradually blend into the midtone. How the shadow looks depends entirely on the surface of the object and also the quality of the light.
In addition to the shadows on the object itself, there's also
the cast shadow. This is the shadow that the object is
making by blocking the light. This shadow could have sharp
definition or it can be rather soft and blurry, depending on
the quality of the light that is casting the shadow.
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