Da Voar Draw - Day 10

It’s Day 10 of Da Voar, and today we’re studying rocks!

In the previous activity investigating volume, we added a little shading - just roughly sketching or ‘blocking in’ areas of light and dark. Today, through studying rocks, we’re going to further develop our understanding of ‘value’ or ‘tone’. If you carefully observe light and darks in your subject, you can analyse structure and understand better the angles, gradients and curvature of its outer surface planes, moving beyond line and shape to understand how it occupies space. Tone is a compositional device too - a considered arrangement of light and dark has a powerful effect, leading the eye around the drawing, and creating drama and atmosphere.

If you live near the sea, find interesting rocks on the shoreline, or if not you may have some in your garden. Try and look for one rock with sharp blocky edges, and one more smooth and pebble-like.

Although rock seems ‘permanent’ and ancient, supporting soil and life forms above, they are of course also in processes of continuous change - but over deep geological time. Over winter, wild storms and waves erode cliffs, breaking them down and fracturing their structure. It’s fascinating to think of how in nature even solidity isn’t permanent - and drawing with tone today will investigate this through light. As well see, there are no ‘edges’ in nature, only the meeting of contrasting light and dark.

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