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ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE - ISSUE 4.9 - DECEMBER 1999

Using Tone To Draw
(continued from page 2)

Look at this drawing and try to see it as a series of simple spheres with the tones pushed to the outside receding edge.

We started this lesson drawing with no distinction in the distance of a form from you, concentrating on the angles of the various planes to establish the tone. In the beginning of this chapter, I mentioned that we will be discussing three distinct approaches, "indirect lighting, direct lighting, and atmospheric perspective," and that, in practice, we usually use all three methods together to various degrees. In that context, we are now going to use some of the basic elements of atmospheric perspective in conjunction with the modeling tone. In Chapter Twelve we will bring in many more elements of atmospheric perspective than we have discussed in this chapter. The basic concept of atmospheric perspective is that the farther something is away from you, the more atmosphere there is between you and the form. The closer something is to you, the sharper it will be, the more detail it will have, and the greater the contrast will be; the darks are darker and the lights are lighter. As the forms recede back, the lights and darks become closer in value and you lose contrast and detail. See the illustration on the right. A foggy or smoggy day gives you a perfect example of this concept.


"A foggy or smoggy day gives you a perfect example of atmospheric perspective."


An example of simple forms giving
a sense of depth.

The forms do not have to have great distance between them. A simple overlap can become an excuse for using this concept. In Oriental landscapes, as well as in Cubist paintings, this approach has been used as a basic method of showing space and separating forms. Here you see several examples of this. Look at the details on the right taken from the drawing on the left and notice how this simple idea helped to separate forms and give a sense of depth to the drawing.


Using the concept from the simple forms, try creating the sense of
depth with more complex images.
1 | 2 | 3 | 4


Note: Readers may contact any Animation World Magazine contributor by sending an e-mail to editor@awn.com.