Value Still Life Drawing with Graphite Middleground

Using gray paper as a middle ground is a great idea, if you have gray paper and white colored pencils or pastels, but you can accomplish the same goal with a white sheet of paper and a pencil and eraser. I taught my students a technique using graphite as a middle ground in this drawing assignment of a highly reflective still life.

The trick is to learn to use soft pencils (4B-8B work well) and control the amount of pressure to get various values. For the middle ground, hold the pencil almost horizontally, I even hold it like I'm picking up a pencil off the floor so that I can get the side of the pencil point. Then I draw lots of lines close together going one direction, then another, on top of that, and then maybe even a 3rd and fourth, until it looks like overlapping patches of woven fabric. Rubbing a crumpled paper towel in circular motions can blend fill in any patchy spots. 

The drawing can be done on top, with any mistakes being erased, and then grayed back into the flat starter surface. Lines are hopefully turned to edges and planes as value is onto an object or surface by shading with a pencil. Highlights and lighter areas are created by using an eraser as a drawing material. I like the white plastic erasers like Mars for this task.

value drawing by a totally blind student

Because my students are visually impaired, we stuck to two or three objects per student. This allowed them to have a personal still life that they could see or feel right in front of them. My students who were completely blind actually traced their objects with Wiki Stix. They barely stuck to the graphite long enough for me to trace their "drawings" in hote glue and then they followed instructions as to where to shade and where to erase.

At the end of the day my students were able to tell me that artists create the illusion of space through use of value, vertical placement on the page, objects overlapping, by making closer objects larger, and through the use of perspective. I think this drawing assignment helped reinforce these concepts, and gave them another technique in their "value drawing" toolbelt.