2. Tone - Circle to ball, shape to form

This task focuses on turning a two dimensional circle into a three dimensional sphere by adding shade, cast by a directional light source, to create the illusion of form and solidity.

I created 3 identical circles, chose different directions for the light to be cast, and used 3 different styles of mark making to convey the form.

First attempts

My first circle had the light coming directly from above. I used my graphite pencils to shade the item and burnished the marks to create an illusion of a smooth surface. The paper I used had a slight tooth to it, which made the form appear to be made from a hard natural material like stone.

I chose the light angle to be to top right hand corner for my second circle. This elongated the shadow being cast by the ball. I decided to attempt a randomised cross-hatching technique to create the form. I was interested to see the juxtaposition of using smooth blended lines to create the form on my first ball, verses the scratchy, sharp lines of cross-hatching to see what sort of surface my illusory form would take. I was surprised to see it still managed to convey a relatively smooth surface, although it gave the impression of being constructed from a rougher sort of material, like concrete.

For my final circle I chose to try stippling/dot work. This was much harder than I initially expected and incredibly time consuming. I don’t think this will be a style I return to with any frequency. I chose the light to come directly from the left hand side. This first attempt had very little depth and didn’t really create a 3D form.

Reworked

After reviewing my initial attempts, I reworked them all slightly.

The first two balls didn’t have any light reflecting back onto the ball from the surface they are resting on.

I used my putty rubber to lightly lift the marks on the underside of these balls, close to the point they create the shadow on the resting surface, to provide a more realistic interpretation of how the light would be reflected back on to the shadowed side of the sphere.

The stippled ball required the most rework. My initial attempt didn’t contain enough dots or enough of a gradient of light and dark to give it form. I also varied the size of dot to help increase the contrast of light to dark, increasing the observed tonal variation.