Exploring Light & Shade

Loo roll was in the news a lot at the beginning of the pandemic so it's appropriate to record history by drawing some!

This is an excellent exercise for looking at value, the term for a scale of light to dark.  High value is light and low value is dark.  You really need a very wide range of tones to create shadow and light…this loo roll is a very light colour but you will still find some of the shadow and the inside of the cardboard tube are very dark. It is also great practise for ellipses which is the name of the shape rounds make when seen from an angle.

The soft paper of a loo roll falls like material, tones move from light to dark sometimes very gradually and other times have very strong edges. As a piece of material curves it often gets lighter, then darker then lighter again several times as light is reflected onto it.

You need to compare the tones very carefully.

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