Stephen Farthing R.A. presents eight practical drawing classes using John Ruskin's teaching collections to explain the basic principles of drawing. This series accompanies 'The Elements of Drawing', a searchable and browsable online version of the teaching collection and catalogues assembled by John Ruskin for his Oxford drawing schools.
Stephen Farthing R.A. presents eight practical drawing classes using John Ruskin's teaching collections to explain the basic principles of drawing.
Lesson 1. We use line to define spaces and things. It is not a question of magically getting the line right first time, but of first turning a contour into a line, and then systematically correcting that line until it looks right.
Lesson 2. We use tone, light, dark and the shades in-between to create illusions of volume and depth.
Lesson 3. How toned paper can be used to provide the mid-tone in a drawing, which records where light and shade fall as a means of picturing an object.
Lesson 4. Making a livelier drawing, where the line and tone have an energy because they have been applied at speed with a brush.
Lesson 5. Making a drawing that is dependent for its success on mathematical accuracy.
Lesson 6. The most complex form of drawing. Starting with a pencil outline, the drawing is developed with a brush in clearly defined layers.
Lesson 7. Strategies for collecting information and recording ideas as an aid to memory.