Shading

Below you will find some of the shading projects for the HMMS Grade 6 Art students. They are designed to build skills from one exercise to the next, and to help build an understanding as to how an artist views a subject.

**Shattered Images Value Study** **Shading Assignment Examples. **




 * Shading scale and shading exercise sheet**

To print these sheets out at home, right click with you mouse and select 'save picture as'. Once the image is saved to your computer, right click on the image where you have saved it, and select 'print', and follow the instructions of the windows print wizard.

Shade the scale at the bottom of the page first. #1 is white, and so is done for you. #4 is black, and needs to be shaded as dark as possible. Shade #2 and #3 to create a scale from light to dark in four steps. When shading, work on a hard flat surface, do not shade your sheet on top of a book or binder. The pencil graphite will rub off on the page more easily with a hard surface underneath. Keep your pencil lines smooth and steady, shade in one direction only, and try not to leave gaps between your pencil lines. Hold the pencil near the tip and at an upright slant when you are shading a dark area, and hold the pencil towards the back and more level with the page when you are shading a light area. This will help you better control the pressure you are applying with the pencil on the page.

Once you have completed the 4 step scale, use the numbers on the sheet to fill in the different numbered shapes on the upper part of the page. Be careful to keep your pencil lines neat and in one direction inside each shape.



Do one from the options below. Carefully compare each square as you go, one square at a time. Watch where shapes intersect with the grid lines. You may divide squares into smaller sections for more difficult areas.
 * Grid drawing practice sheet**


 * Shading in 3-D**

On a standard piece of computer paper, use a ruler to draw a grid with 4cm squares. Measure along **all four sides** of your page, and make pencil marks at 4cm distances. Be careful that you measure so that your marks line up on opposite sides. Using a ruler, lightly draw grid lines across your page. You must draw them carefully so that they can be erased before you finish. There should be no grid visible in the finished drawing. Your finished grid should be 5x7 squares measuring 4cm x 4cm.

Use the grid to break the different areas of light and dark into shapes, such as in the previous exercises. Compare light and dark areas in the apple picture with your pencil drawing. Use the scale you created in your first sheet to help shade your apple drawing. What areas in the drawing would you shade #4? What areas would be #3? Are there any areas that could be between #3 and #4? Try and shade so that areas of different tone blend together, with no visible edges between them. Remember to erase the grid as you go, so that you don't see the lines in the finished drawing.



This drawing method can be applied to any image that you would like to draw from a photo or print out. Notable artists that have used this method include the American artist [|Chuck Close], whose work can be found at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, among other places. The grid was used during the renaissance period (15th and 16th century, Europe) to help artists understand spatial relationships and perspective drawing.