Have ever seen a mysterious shape on your wall, only to discover it was just the shadow of an ordinary object? Shadows make our surroundings more dynamic.
Look around your home in the late afternoon. When the sun is out, you will find long shadows on walls and floors. You can arrange objects in different ways to cast interesting shadows.
Using the side of your pencil, fill your paper entirely so that no white shows. Smooth the pencil markings by rubbing them with a tissue or your finger. This is called “toning”.
Now, take your eraser, and “draw” the shadows you see on the wall with your eraser. In your drawing, the wall will remain the dark grey of your pencil, and the shadows cast on the wall will become white as you draw them with your eraser.
How did it feel to tone your whole paper by rubbing the graphite? How is drawing with your eraser different than drawing with your pencil?
If you would like to share your work with us, email us at artwork@studioinaschool.org. We will share your creations on our ‘Studio in Your Home’ page.
Images by Pamela Lawton