Thursday April, 22 Drawing Class at ArtServe

TONAL DRAWING

You have heard me talk of "drawing like a painter" many times. Tonal drawing focuses on the abstract forms in a drawing as opposed to the outlines of the shapes.

Jen Hagen wrote an article in Drawing magazine recently about tonal drawing. Look for an email from www.yousendit.com. You can download the article and print it if you wish. I will bring some copies with me to class. Great step by step photos of straight gestural lines developing into lovely tonal patterns.

She says, "I think in terms of the envelope of space that the model fills, rather than the precise lines that identify the edges of the separate forms. The first marks don't have to be completely accurate. They just have to capture the gesture and place the figure in proportion."

The link I posted for figure drawing is for the atelier with whom she studies.

Here it is again

http://www.studioincamminati.org/gallery_charcoal.php

Another wonderful article from 2006

http://americanartist.typepad.com/american_artist/2006/06/the_emergence_o.html

Georges Seurat made absolutely wonderful tonal drawings

Here is a whole google page of them

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&q=seurat+drawings&revid=1123554483&resnum=0&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=Z77LS-LlJZHM8wTLsum2BA&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBcQsAQwAA

The work of Wendy Artin is amazing

She uses watercolor to make tonal statements

http://www.wendyartin.com/index.htm

George Inness (1825-1894) was part of the famed Hudson River School

You will see a lot of landscapes painted as tonal paintings

Here is a link to his gallery

http://www.georgeinness.org/

James Whistler

Another tonal painter. Look at his drawings. You will see them from across the room!

http://www.abcgallery.com/W/whistler/whistler.html

Suggested materials

Charcoal paper

paper towels

Stumps (if you have them)

Kneaded erasers

A board to draw on

Anything interesting you might want to study

I will bring some objects of interest

See you there!