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Sketching Exercise - Yarn Ball
A sketch from life drawing exercise.
by Carol Rosinski
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Here are the supplies you'll need for this exercise:
- Some light or medium colored clay formed into a ball.
- Some light or medium colored yarn that has been made into a ball about the same size as the ball of clay.
- A "soft" pencil (B, 2B, or 3B.)
- A kneaded eraser, pencil sharpener, and paper.
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Sketch Clay Ball and Shadow
Place the ball of clay in an area where the light shines on it strongly from one direction so that the shadow it casts is small and clear.
Quickly sketch the ball and its shadow. Fill the ball and the shadow with hatching. Darken the shadow areas by adding more hatching and lighten the highlight areas by tapping them out with the tip of a kneaded eraser that's been pinched into a point.
What to look for:
- Where is the darkest shadow on the ball.
- Where is the lightest highlight.
- Reflected light. (bottom right on this ball)
- Variations in the shadow. (It has lighter and darker areas, too.)
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Add Yarn Line Detail Over the Sketched Ball
Now exchange the ball of yarn for the clay ball and try to see the same shadows and highlights that were on the ball. Some of them will be easy to see, some will be disguised by the yarn's detail, and some will be changed because the yarn ball's surface undulates more than the clay ball.
Sketch the pattern of the yarn strands over the top of the ball you just sketched.
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Erase Highlights
Using the kneaded eraser, gently tap and stroke out the highlights you see along the strands of yarn.
What to look for:
- Highlights along strands that stick out further than the surface of the basic ball shape.
- The way highlights run along the center of a yarn strand while the edges stay in shadow.
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Add Shadow Details
Look for the shadow areas and darken them. Use the tip of your pencil to darken the shadows between the strands of yarn if needed. Darken any larger areas that are in shadow that weren't in shadow on the clay ball. Change the shape of the cast shadow if needed.
What to look for:
- How the shadows darken along the edges of some of the strands more than others.
- How some of the shadows are more intensely dark than others.
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