Leonardo
Head of a Woman 1490
Leonardo had a highly developed and diverse range of drawing skills. Plans, elevations, diagrams, maps, illusions, modelled drawings, portraits, illustrations etc – almost every type of drawing can be found in his work. This work illustrates a classical way of using parallel hatching to ‘shade’
This drawing:
Is conceived as a set of simple volumes ( the sphere of the eye is clearly felt under the curve of the lids, the chin is rendered as an egg shape)
Uses tone to model form, cast a shadow ( selectively, only the head on shoulder, not the nose on the cheek which would have wrecked the sense of volume) and record reflected light ( along neck and under chin)
Varies the contour for different purposes. Uses a firm line for the furthest contour of the head but a delicate one for the softer edge of the hair.
Has parallel directional hatching that :
ends on contours ( side plane of face, the shape of the shadow on the shoulder)
is firmly in one direction. It only slightly follows the form towards the edge of small volumes ( the base of the tip of the nose, the curve of the chin)
does not record local colour
illustrates well the advice of Harold Speed in ‘The Practice and Science of Drawing’ ( 1913)
‘ Don’t burden a line drawing with heavy halftones and shadows; keep them light. The beauty that is the particular province of line drawing is the beauty of contours and this is marred by heavy light and shade. Great draughtsmen use only just enough to express the form, but never to attempt the expression of tone. Think of the half tones as part of the lights and not as part of the shadows.
The appearance of an object is first considered as a series of contours, some forming the boundaries of the form against the background, and others the boundaries of subordinate forms within these bounding lines. The light and shade and the differences in local colour ( like the lips, eyebrows and eyes in a head) are considered as tones of varying degrees of lightness and darkness and suggested by means of lines drawn parallel across the drawing from left to right, and from below upwards or vice versa, darker and closer when depth is wanted and fainter and further apart where delicacy is demanded, and varying in thickness when gradation is needed.
This rule of parallel shading is broken only when strongly marked forms, such as the swing lines of hair, a prominent bone or straining muscles, etc. demand it This parallel shading gives a great beauty of surface and fleshiness to a drawing . The lines following, as it were, the direction of the light across the object rather than the form, give unity that has great charm.
Speaking generally, lines of shading drawn across the forms suggest softness, lines drawn in curves fullness of form, lines drawn down the form hardness, and lines crossing in all directions so that only a mystery of tone results, atmosphere.’
Head of a Woman 1490
Leonardo had a highly developed and diverse range of drawing skills. Plans, elevations, diagrams, maps, illusions, modelled drawings, portraits, illustrations etc – almost every type of drawing can be found in his work. This work illustrates a classical way of using parallel hatching to ‘shade’
This drawing:
Is conceived as a set of simple volumes ( the sphere of the eye is clearly felt under the curve of the lids, the chin is rendered as an egg shape)
Uses tone to model form, cast a shadow ( selectively, only the head on shoulder, not the nose on the cheek which would have wrecked the sense of volume) and record reflected light ( along neck and under chin)
Varies the contour for different purposes. Uses a firm line for the furthest contour of the head but a delicate one for the softer edge of the hair.
Has parallel directional hatching that :
ends on contours ( side plane of face, the shape of the shadow on the shoulder)
is firmly in one direction. It only slightly follows the form towards the edge of small volumes ( the base of the tip of the nose, the curve of the chin)
does not record local colour
illustrates well the advice of Harold Speed in ‘The Practice and Science of Drawing’ ( 1913)
‘ Don’t burden a line drawing with heavy halftones and shadows; keep them light. The beauty that is the particular province of line drawing is the beauty of contours and this is marred by heavy light and shade. Great draughtsmen use only just enough to express the form, but never to attempt the expression of tone. Think of the half tones as part of the lights and not as part of the shadows.
The appearance of an object is first considered as a series of contours, some forming the boundaries of the form against the background, and others the boundaries of subordinate forms within these bounding lines. The light and shade and the differences in local colour ( like the lips, eyebrows and eyes in a head) are considered as tones of varying degrees of lightness and darkness and suggested by means of lines drawn parallel across the drawing from left to right, and from below upwards or vice versa, darker and closer when depth is wanted and fainter and further apart where delicacy is demanded, and varying in thickness when gradation is needed.
This rule of parallel shading is broken only when strongly marked forms, such as the swing lines of hair, a prominent bone or straining muscles, etc. demand it This parallel shading gives a great beauty of surface and fleshiness to a drawing . The lines following, as it were, the direction of the light across the object rather than the form, give unity that has great charm.
Speaking generally, lines of shading drawn across the forms suggest softness, lines drawn in curves fullness of form, lines drawn down the form hardness, and lines crossing in all directions so that only a mystery of tone results, atmosphere.’