220
ROBERT W. GILL BAS C RENDERI Effective Drawing for

Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

Page 1: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

ROBERT W. GILL BAS CRENDERI

Effective Drawing for

Page 2: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf
Page 3: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

Basic Rendering

Page 4: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

1 William Hogarth ,frontispiece to Kirby 'sPerspecffve ,JoshuaKirby 's edition of Dr BrookTaylor 's Method ofPerspective, 1754.'Whosoever makes adesign without theknowledge of perspective,will be liable to suchabsurdities as are shown inthis frontisp iece .'

Page 5: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

Ro bert W . Gill

BASIC RENDERINGEffective Drawing for Designers,Artists and Illustrators

with 255 illustrations

~~ . ~

T& H Thames and Hudson~

Page 6: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

Any copy of this book issued by the publisher as a paperbackis sold subject to the condition that it shall notby wa y of trade or otherwise be lent, resold , hired out orot herwise circulated without the publi sher 's prior consentin any form of binding or cover other than that in whichit is published and without a similar condition including thesewords being imposed on a subsequent purchaser.

© 1991 Th ames and Hudson Ltd, London

First published in the United States in 199 1 byTh ames and Hudson Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue,New Yor k, New York 10110

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 90-71425

All Rights Reserved. No part of this pub licationmay be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,electronic or mechanica l, including photocopy, recording orany other info rma tion storage and retrieval system, withoutpr ior permission in writing from the publisher.

Print ed and bound in Yugoslavia

Page 7: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf
Page 8: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf
Page 9: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

Contents

Preface 6

The Seeing Process 13

Light 15

Basic Optical Laws 18

The Cone of Vision and the One-look Principle 20

Atmospheric Effect 25

Shade and Shadow 52

The Basic Tonal Pattern 57

Light Reflection and Absorption 68

The Drawing 72

Contrast 82

Rendering Cylinders, Cones and Spheres 91

Rendering Glass 118

Rendering Water 131

Rendering Rocks, Brickwork and Stonework 139

Rendering Leather, Fabrics and Floor Coverings 144

Dry-Transfer and Self-adhesive Materials 155

Skill-Building Exercises 155

Sciagraphy 170

Overlapping 174

Getting it All Together 177

Examples of Renderings 181

Style 191

Final Statement 201

Glossary 202

Bibliography 207

Acknowledgments 212

Index 214

Page 10: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

2 Giuseppe Gall i Bibiena,Jesuit Drama in Setting,1740. This engravingshows that renderinQis themeans by which the Illusionof realism is produced in aline draw ing.

6

Preface

Rend ering is one of the most exerting and challengingaspects of producing pictu res in any area of the graphic arts .Lik e every othe r aspect of th e crea tive arts, rendering hasprinciples th at are based on truths evolved over a number ofcent uries . These principles are used to introduce the illusionof realism into two-dimensional representations of three­dimensional objects and views . In this context the term 're­alism' means photographic realism, which is accepted in oursociety as the graphic tru th.

Though ren dering is a broad and complex subject it canbe made much simpler if the basic principles are understoodfrom the very beginning. The ability to understand and usethese basic principles forms the foundation of visual lite­racy, which is essential to anyone wishing to practise in anyarea of art, design or graphics, and is attained by first learn-

Page 11: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

ing to see and understanding what is seen. In this context, Ibelieve that seeing is a learned skill and to learn to see onemus t first learn how to look and what to look for. Objectsare seen as complex images to which perspective, light andshade, shadows, values, contrasts, atmospheric effects, tex­tures and colours all contribute. Consequently a grea t dealmust be known about these elements and the principles oftheir graphic interpretation before what is seen can beunderstood and used for competent pictorial represen­tations. Rendering, therefore, can be described as the pro­cess of interpreting graphically what is seen and what isknown.

It is a fundamenta l tru th that competent renderings in allareas of art and graphics must be based on accurate dr aw­ings, so the renderer must be thorou ghly conversant withthe pri nciples of perspective projection , shadow pro jectionand so on. In my opinion, the caption to the frontispiece to

3 Realism is the moststriking aspect of thismasterpiece of modernrender ing by PaulStevenson Dies , depictingthe west front ofWash ington Cathed ral.

7

Page 12: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

4 Otto Wagne r'sperspec tive of the PostOffice Savings Bank,Vienna , is both precise anddecorative.

8

, .

. - ' :" ' . .. . .======~~==-==..=..=':=-~~~_£~ ~ - ......-:...~~==--c=="=

Kirby's Perspective, engraved by William Hogar th , makesth e po int best of all: 'Whosoeve r makes a design without theknowledge of pers pective, will be liab le to such absu rditiesas are sho wn in th is fro nt ispiece.'

I have dealt in detail with perspective in two previousbooks, Basic Perspective and Creative Perspective and donot inte nd to repeat the info rma tion here. Becau se of the im­portance of perspective dr awing as a basis for renderingthese tw o books are recommended. Unlike another of mybooks, Rendering with Pen and Ink , which dealt solely withth e pract ical ities of rend ering in th at one medium, th is boo kdeals with th e basic principles of rend ering in simple terms,so th at th e student can understand not only wha t is seenunder a specific set of conditions, but why it is seen in thatparticular way, and how th is understanding can be put intopr act ice in an enormous variety of artistic media . Simpleobjects, such as cub es, rect angular pr isms, cylinders, conesand spheres ha ve been used, and ordina ry, uncomplicatedconditions are describ ed. By studying these simple objectsand conditions, it is possible to establish a basic understand­ing which can be develop ed and expanded for more com­plex shapes and conditions.

Rendering is the means used to turn a simple line drawinginto a pictori al represent ation consistent with actuali ty, thatis, a two-dimension al repr esent at ion of a three-dimensionalobject or view . Provided that the rendering offers an accu-

Page 13: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

5 In this 1902 perspectivedrawing by Charles RennieMackintosh, the bareverticality of the bUilding iscountered by the flowinglines of the trees and sky ,

rate image it can be of inestimable value as a communicationbetween a designer and his client, and/or the public. A ren­dered drawing shows the observer a pictorial representationof an object or view as it would actually appear, even beforethe object is made or built, or the view re-landscaped, etc.Therefore the designer, whether in the fields of architecture,industrial design, interior design, landscape design or illus­tration, must be able to draw the object in perspective, com­plete with accurate light and shade and shadow projections,and be able to render the drawing using valid principles sothat the result is an honest statement of fact. In other words,it is essential that a rendering purporting to represent theresult of the specific design process conveys the true intent ofthat design.

Renderings are also an essential part of the design think­ing process. Because design is essentially an intellectualprocess which relies on graphics as its language of com­munication, a designer must rely on graphics to give hisideas reality so that he can confirm every step in the designthinking process. This he can do with confidence only if heknows that his graphic images portray the truth, i.e. they areaccurate and are based on visual facts. It is interesting tonote that all of the world's leading designers, particularly inarchitecture, are or were highly competent delineators, forexample Charles Rennie Mackintosh (5), Le Corbusier andFrank Lloyd Wright, as well as many others.

9

Page 14: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

· --:

_.._._-- ----~..

6 A rendered drawing is a two-dimensional representation which conveys information to anobserver in a form which he or she understands because it is based on opt ical reality .

10

Page 15: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

\II

7 With the simplest of fluidout lines , Paul Klee createdthis hugely expressive self­portra it of 1919.

To portray the true inten t of a design, a rendering musthave as its pri ncipal objectives accuracy an d honesty, i.e.integrity . It can and sho uld have other quali ties as well, butits first duty is to po rtray the design truthfully.

The purposes of ren dering ou tside design migh t at firstappear to be less demanding. H owever, it sho uld be obvioustha t the artist mu st have the knowledge and skills necessaryto communicate space, shape, form, light an d sha de, atmos­ph eric effect, contras t, tex ture and colour, no matter whattype of exp ression he chooses. The artist needs to und er­stand the basic pr incip les because it is only through the abil­ity to understan d and use these valid principles that he canproduce a rendering that clearly communicates his inten ­tions.

To sum up, a rendered drawing is a two-dimensional rep ­resentation which conveys information to an obse rver in aform which can be understood, beca use it is based on pr in­ciples th at conform with wha t is seen. It rep rod uces the il­lusion of the conditions in a for m that the eye recognizes asconsis tent with those seen when look ing at an actual view orobject. Therefore, the mos t convi ncing ren derings are thosewhich most accurately represent the conditions that exist inreality. On ly a com plete understanding of the basic pr in­ciples an d the acquisition of the essential skills to use, deve­lop an d expand them to indivi dual require ments will resultin competent renderings in art, design and graphics .

11

Page 16: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

To understand what is seenit is necessary to learn thebasic principles involved inseeing.

Drawing is a simple processof interpreting graphicallyWhat is seen and what isknown.

~, f31 To learn to draw it is first Ii15 necessary to learn to see. I, To learn to see it is first IE, necessary to learn to look. I:, To learn to look it is first IE:t necessary to learn what to ~

~ look for. I:mm,,,,m,:Ii Knowledge and learned skills~~ are responsible for good'1: drawings, PRAenel IS'= RlSPONSIBtf FOR BITTER ONES.

i. .....L.rIn.....II~ :Ww:"':wW"'~ ~~~~~~ >:8 The importance of learn ing to see.

12

Page 17: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

9 The see ing process.

EYE

IMAGEt iGHT RAYS

OBJECT

The seeing process

In order to learn to draw or paint, the student must first betaught to see as a means of gathering essential information.No rma l human beings are born with the physical equipmentfor seeing, but most never develop th is faculty beyond theminim um level required by the average person for generaluse, tha t is, for navigation, recognition , reading, etc. Grea­ter efficiency in seeing as a means of gatheri ng informatio nis, in my opinion, a learned skill, like the skills of spea king,reading, wr iting, or riding a bicycle. Because of thi s, the pro­cess of learning to draw must sta rt with learning to see andthen follow a logical development of knowledge and skill.

Seeing is the basis of valid drawing skills, so it is necessaryto unde rstand the seeing process in its most elementaryform . Because the hum an eye is a light- sensing orga n, lightmust be present for it to be able to see.

For the eye to become activated, i.e. to see, light muststrike an object and be reflected in the direction of the eyewhere an image of the object is recorded on the retina (9) .Na tura lly, if no light strikes the ob ject no light can bereflected from it, which mea ns that the eye cannot see it .

13

Page 18: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

10 Gustave Dore , OpiumSmoking: The Lascar'sRoom in 'Edwin Drood',engraving, 1872. Dorawas a master of themanipulation of light tobuild effects and moods inhis draw ings .

14

Page 19: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

REFLECTEDLIGHT RAYS

HORIZON

Light

An und erstanding of the follow ing informa tion is essent ialto correct interpretation and portrayal of the effects of lightin two-dimensional representations of thr ee-dimen sion alobjects or views.

1 Light is the basis of all seeing.2 Th e sun is con sidered to be the primary light source for

this planet .3 Light is said to tra vel from its source in straight lines

known as light rays.4 Light rays cannot change direction unless they strike a

reflector of some kind .S Light rays cannot penetr ate solid, opaque matter and this

results in shade and shadow.6 All materials are cap able of reflecting light rays to some

degree. Any given mat erial of a light value is capable ofreflecting more light than the same material of a darkervalue.

7 All colours, with the exception of black, are capa ble ofreflecting some light. Light colours, e.g. white, yellow,pink, yellow-green and yellow-orange reflect more lightthan dark er ones, e.g. dark blue, dark green and dark red.

Light behaves in a predictable way and , because it affectseverything we see, it must be the starting point for an und er­standing of drawing, rendering and painting.

11 The sun is the primarylight source.

SHADOW

15

Page 20: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

12 An automatic aperturepreferred 35mm single lensreflex camera, the GontaxRTS. Th is is one of anumber of high-quality35mm SLR cameras of thistype ava ilable from variousmanufacturers , e.g. Leica,Nikon , Canon , Olympus ,Yashica, etc. The camerais an instrument whichuses light to produce'mechanical renderings'and can be of enormousvalue in the process ofunderstand ing light.

Photographs, which can be considered to be mechanicalrender ings, can be of enormous value in develop ing anun derstanding of light and how it is recorded in two­dimensional rep resentations of three-dimensional objects orviews.

FILM SPEED DIAL

MAGNETIC SHUTTERRELEASE

FILM ADVANCELEVER - - - -11__

IDEPTH-OF-F IELDPREVIEW BUTTON

FRONT VIEWLED BATTERY CHECKER DISPLAY

FILM ADVANCE LEVER i ACCESSORY SHOE

EXPOSURE r DIRECT X CONTACTCOMPENSATION

EXPOSURE COUNTER SCALE FINDER EYEPIECE

:C====t====~DEPTH - OF - F I ELD SCALE

TOP VIEW

16

Page 21: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

ARTIFICIALLIGHT SOURCE

13 The sun and an artificia llight source.

/

/ PLA~nSITIO/OF lIGH'¥:SOUR> ,-=-CC-=-EE- --- I

SHADbw~l ~~

~\

Light rays from the sun and arti ficial light sources differ inonly one respect: light rays from the sun travel in stra ight,parallel lines, wh erea s light rays from a simple, artificiallight source radi ate from a point (13) . Though it is fairlyobvio us that light rays rad iate from the sun, because of thelimited areas invo lved in most pictorial pro jects the diver­gence from parallel of the sun's light rays is so infinitesimalthat it can safely be igno red by artis ts and delinea tors . Thisknowledge th at light rays from the sun are straight andparallel enables shadow shapes to be set up in perspectiveconstruc tions using the normal basic principles of perspec­tive projection.

As it becom es necessary these aspects of light will beexplained mor e fully.

17

Page 22: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

14 and 15 (below)Convergence. diminutionand foreshortening.

18

Basic optical laws

Of equal importance to an understanding of the behaviourof light is an understanding of the basic optical laws, whichinclude perspective, light and shade, and atmospheric effect.Each of these three main elements produces a number ofeffects, which are discussed as they become necessary to acomplete understanding of the overall subject.

The three most important elements of perspective are:1 Convergence 2 Diminution and 3 Foreshortening (14,15).

1 As parallel lines recede from the observer they appear tocome closer together at a constant rate. This is known asconvergence.

2 Objects of the same size appear to become smaller as thedistance between them and the observer increases. This isknown as dim inution.

3 Equal spaces between objects appear to become shorter ata constant rate as the distance between them and theobserver increases. This is known as foreshortening.

Page 23: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

Perspective projection is the method of combining con­vergence, diminution and foreshortening to produce anaccurate line drawing of the shape of an object or view,which can be rendered to produce a pictorial representation.Because each part of perspective projection is based on op ­tical facts, i.e. is consistent with what is seen when viewingthe object itself, an accurate shape of an object or view canbe produced.

Any drawing that is to form the basis for a rendering musthave shadow shapes added to the perspective drawingbefore it can be considered complete (16).

Shadow-shape constructions are simple extensions ofbasic perspective projections in which inclined parallel lines(light rays ) and their plans are used (17). (See Basic Perspec­tive and Creative Perspective for full explanations of per ­spective and shadow-shape constructions.)

16 Perspective drawingwith shadow shapes.

17 Perspect ive drawing ofa cube with shadow shape.

19

Page 24: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

18 A typical mistake madein arch itectural rende ring.

BADLY DISTORTED-,

EXTENT OF

CONE OF VIS~ /

-:/

//

I/I-t HORIZON

\\\\

-,<,

<,

----

//

//

/

20

The cone of vision and the one- look principle

The cone of vision and the one -look pr incipl e are two veryimportant aspects of pers pective projection which are fre­qu entl y disregarded. This is respo nsible for some veryunfortun ate distortions which are particularly not iceable inarchitectural rend er ings.

The illus tra tion (18) shows one of the most common mis­takes mad e when the one-look principle and the cone ofvisio n are ignored .

In perspective drawing, as in still photograph y, the obser­ver is limited to wha t is known as the one-look principle.Th is mean s that for the purpose of ma king a picture theobserver's eyes must be perfectly sti ll at the moment of look ­ing at the subject. Th is is because the drawing (or pho­tograph) will be a single image seen from a specific viewingposition at a specific mom ent in tim e and th is single image

Page 25: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

V P2 !I

19 The cone of vision.

CENTR E LINE OF VISION

PICTURE PLANE

\\

-,

» >: - --...-....

/ "'"/

/ THE CONE OF VISION\t- EXTENT OF CONE OF VISION

-j( P1 \ HORIZON LINE

\ J--=/ -------J __~---------

GROUND LINE

60° CONE OF VISION

CENTRE LINEOF VISION

//

//

//

\\

\\

\\

'\ 30 . 30~

\\1/1• STATION POINT

(OB SERVER )

does not allow for movement on the part of the observer'seyes (or the camera lens), nor of any element within the pic­ture. The phot ographer is aware that his camera must beperfectly still a t the moment he pre sses the shutt er-release orthe result will be no t a sing le image but a blurred picture, forhe will get more than on e image on his negative. If he wantshis phot ograph to cove r a grea ter area, he must movefurther aw ay fro m the subject so that his camera lens willrecord a grea te r area .

21

Page 26: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

20 In his engrav ing of aBible-reading in a NightRefuge. Gustave Dore hasrecorded a dramaticmome nt in a single imagethat 'his eye saw clearlywhen it was held still '.

22

When making a drawing the artist must record only thesingle image that his eyes can see clearly when they are per­fectly still like the camera lens. Because the human eye is lim­ited in the area it can see when it is perfectly still, this limit ,known as the cone of vision, mus t be used by the artist tocontrol the amount of the subject to be included in the pic­ture in the same way as a photographer uses the viewfinderof a camera. If this limit of the cone of vision is ignored, aswas shown in the illustration of the multistorey building(18), distortions of the image will result. The solution to thisoften-seen fault is to move the station point (the position ofthe observer's eye) on the basic perspective constructionfurther back from the subject.

For all pictorial representations, the maximum cone ofvision of the human eye is accepted as sixty degrees. The per­spective construction (19) illustrates how the cone of visionis used to check that the whole of the required subject will beundistorted in the final picture. Remember that the cone ofvision is three-dimensional and so the height as well as theplan of the object must be checked with the cone of vision .

Page 27: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

21 and 22 (below) Thecone of vision.

<,<, GROUND

-:/'

-:/'

/'-:

/'-:

-«~ 60,'- __ ~ . HO~CNT",L CENTRE LlN~F VISICN__<,

" <,<,

<,

EXT ENT OFCONEOF VISlCN

-:-:

/'-:

;--(

~\­'" ~

B A A CUBE

Observer 'A' (21) is shown sta nding too close to theobject for a satisfa ctory picture of the whole of it to be made.If he moves back to position 'B' the whole of the height ofthe object falls with in his sta tic cone of vision and a pictureof the who le of the object can be made witho ut unaccept abledisto rtions.

I/

/

-,\

\\

/

--

/ EXTENT OF CONEOF VISlON fAI

-'.';~~~

~~:--\

/-- ..........<,

-,\\

------ -

//

/

/

/

\\

"" II ~~~~ / EXTENT OFCONE<, ,/ \ OF VISlON 181

<, "r-Wf--."f---~\'W-"""",- ;{~

///

The moving of the viewing position to increase the areacovered by the cone of vision is further demonstrated in th isillustr ation (22). The limit of the cone of vision (A) for theob server shown standing on the railroad track is indicated,togeth er with the limit of the cone of vision (B) of the artis tmak ing the picture of th is situ ation. Ob viously the artist isstanding direc tly behind the observe r he has drawn, is usingthe same eye-level and is looking in the same direction .

23

Page 28: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

23 Three examples of acube.

When the on e-look pr inciple and the cone of vision areunderstood, they can be used to control the limits of a pic­ture and thu s eliminate unfortunate distortions which mayotherwise occur, even though all of the other aspects of aperspective construction may have been used correctly. Onefinal point is that the wise renderer alwa ys tries to place thesubject well within the cone of vision . Whilst it is admittedthat this is sometimes difficult in interior renderings wherespace is limited and it is necessary to work to the absolutelimits of the cone of vision, an experienced renderer work­ing with extreme care can produce a satisfactory result .

EXTENT OF CONEOF VISION

UNACCEPTABLE DISTORTION

..,, - ....... -......EXTENTOFCON:OF VISION

24

MINIMAL DISTORTION

EXTENT OFCONOF VISION

TION

Page 29: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

This gro up of three illust rations (23) shows the differencein the view of the critical, lower-front corne r of a cubeplaced in differi ng relat ion ships to the limit of the cone ofVISIOn.

The first example shows the unacceptable distortion ofthe lower-front corner of the cube when it falls ou tside thelimit of the cone of vision.

The second example shows the cube drawn within but atthe very limit of the cone of vision . Whils t it cannot beclaimed to be unacceptably distorted, it can easily be seenthat the third example, whic h is well inside the limits of thecone of vision, is prefera ble to the second. Natura lly,informed judgment is required when consi dering the place­ment of an object or ob jects within the pictu re area.

In (18) the unfortunate distortion at the top of the bu ild­ing cou ld have been avoi ded by placing the whole bu ildingwithin the cone of vision. An externa l view of a right angle,as in the closest corner of the bu ilding, can never appear asan angle of less than ninety degrees.

The adva ntages of avoiding the extreme limits of the coneof vision sho uld be obvio us. When it is necessary to wo rk tothese limits, do so with grea t care and never go beyondthem.

Atmospheric effect

Atmospheric effect is one of the mos t important opticaleffects because, like perspective and light an d shade, itaffects everything that is seen . In rendering it is essent ial tounderstand and use it correctly.

24 Francesco Guard i hasused atmospheric effect tocreate the illusion of depthin this rendering of thePiazza di San Marco ,Ven ice.

25

Page 30: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

25 a-d Atmospheric effect.

OBSERVER

REFLECTED LIGHTRAYS

OBJECT

258

Th e sun's rays strike the object and are reflected throu ghth e inte rveni ng space in such a way that they are registeredby the observer's eye (25a). If the intervening space is clear,i.e. ha s no obstructio ns, the light rays can travel unin­terrupted in a direct line and the observer will see a strong,bright, clear image of the object.

. .ATMQSP\1ERIC ~OLL~TION : . ·

OBSERVER

26

25b

Th e air on our planet has in it many natural as well asman-made pollut ants in the form of solids of various kindsas well as other materials, such as wa ter pa rticles , all ofwhich are cap able of reflectin g or deflecting light rays eventhough the y are individually very small (25b).

Without becoming invo lved in exactly what many ofthese pollutants are , it is sufficient to und erstand that par­ticles of dust, wh ich are in evidence everywhere, are sus­pended in th e air and are solids capable of reflecting lightrays. If th e du st particles are dense enough, as in a duststorm, the y can completely block the observe r's view of anobject even at a comparat ively short distance. Similarly, areally heavy fog can virtually stop the sun's light rays from

. reaching an object with the inevitable result that the obser­ver cannot see it. Heavy smoke can also block an observer'sview of an ob ject as can, to a greater or lesser extent, heavyram.

Page 31: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

OBSERVER 25c

Under normal circumstances these pollutants are presentin varying proportions in our atmosphere. The light raysreflected from an object must travel through the atmospherewit h all of its tiny, solid, opaque particles of various poll u­tants before they reac h the obse rver's eye. (25c). That someof these reflected light rays will strike solids suspe nded in theatmosphere and be deflected from their true course to theobserver's eye is inevitable. It necessarily follows that if thenumber of light rays reaching the observer's eye is reduced,the seen image of the object must be reduced in intensity,brightness and clarity. Therefore, if the object is closer to theobserver's eye, the light rays will have to pass through lessatmosphere and fewer of them will chance deflection fromtheir course by colliding with solid particles of some pollu­tant.

SHORT DISTANCEGREATER DISTANCE

OBSERVER

The result of placing the object close to the observer's eyewill be a clear, intense and bright image of the object seen bythat observer (25d). As the distance increases, atmosphericeffect will result in a less clear, less intense and less bright im­age being seen by the observer.

The result of th is atmospheric effect can be readily seen orphotographed and, beca use atmospheric effect is evident inalmost everyt hing seen, it is an impo rtant facto r in produc­ing an accurate image .

25d

27

Page 32: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

26 Five spheres placed todemonstrate the effect ofatmosphere.

27 A landscape showingatmospheric effect. Valuesin the foreg round arestrongly contrasted andbecause of atmosphericeffect reduce as thedistance increases.

Th is illustrati on (26) of five identical spheres placed atdifferent distance s from an observer demonstrates howatmospheric effect influences wh at is seen by that observer.Th e drawing sho ws how the values, i.e. degrees of darknessand lightness, are reduced as the distance increases . Th edark areas tend to become less dark and the light areas tendto become less light. This redu ction of contrast causes theobserver to see a reduction of image intensity as the distanceincreases. If more identical spheres were placed even furth eraway fro m the ob server, the furth est ones would be veryhard to see clea rly, distinguishin g their different valueswo uld be almos t impossi ble an d it might even be difficult torecognize them as spheres.

28

Page 33: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

This effect can be seen in the photograph (27) in whic h thevalues in the foregro und are strongly contrasted. As the dis­tance fro m the camera increases, these contrasts are reduceduntil they are virt ua lly neutralized ; they no lon ger have dif­ferent values and, therefore, no contrast exists betweenthem.

\\

\\II

28 Diagrammaticexplanation of theatmospheric umbrella.

Atmospher ic effect is not limited to the deflection ofreflected light rays trave lling between an object and anobserver's eye. It also has a considera ble effect on the appea­rance of an object becau se it affects the values seen on thesurfaces of th at object. Th e pollutants suspended in the at ­mosph ere form a sort of umbrella, whi ch is capable ofreflecting light rays as they travel from the sun in such a waythat they make the sky look very bright , even when theobserve r has his bac k towards the sun (28). This phenom­enon can on ly be the resu lt of some form of effective reflec­to r suspen ded in the atmos phere and can easi ly be verifiedby observa tion.

If there is no effective reflector in the atmosphere, as is thecase on the moon , the observer will see a black sky (29, over­leaf). To see a light sky, light rays must be reflected in thedirection of the observe r's eye fro m something tiny, whichmust be present in the atmosphere in very large qu antities.In the earth 's atmos phere th is something is the po llutants,whi ch act as tiny light reflectors.

29

Page 34: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

29 The lack of atmosphereon the surface of the moonmeans that it has noeffec tive reflectors for lightrays , therefore the skylooks black.

30

Page 35: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf
Page 36: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

30 Mirror demonstration.

OBSERVER

It has been my exp erience that many students have con­sidera ble difficulty with thi s concept of the eye being able to

see onl y objects wh ich reflect light rays in such a way thatthe y can be registered on the retina of the eye. M any believethat if light strikes an obj ect it will be seen but this is notnecessar ily so. For example, if an object is placed so that thelight rays striking it are reflected away from the observer'seye, as shown in the illustration (30), the observer will seenothing.

If the object is a mirror (the most efficient reflector ) andthe condition sho wn is located in space, which is outside theea rth's atmos phere and its atmospheric umbrella, the obser­ver will be totally unaware of the mirror's existence.

31 Mirror demonstrationwith object.

- ..-~- ~- --

32

OBSERVER

Page 37: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

If a simp le object is introduced in a particular loca tion,the observer will see the object beca use the light rays arestrik ing it and some of them are being reflected by the mirro rback in the direction of the obse rver 's eye (31). Tho ugh theobserver sti ll can no t see the mirror, he will see in the mirro rthe reflection of this carefully placed object (32) . The objecthas been placed to take advantage of the fact that the angleof reflection equals the angle of incidence of a light ray.

OBJECT

REFLECTION

32 What the observer sees.

LIGHT RAY 33 The angle of reflectionequals the angle ofincidence of a light ray.

ANGLE OFINCIDENCE

ANGLE OFREFLECTION

Physics esta blishes that the angle of reflection of a lightray equa ls its angle of incidence (33). It is this fact th at ena ­bles us to follow light rays and calculate their behaviourregarding seen images.

33

Page 38: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

34 The sun reflectedin a mirror.

OBSERVER

If the same mirror had its angle to the observer' s centreline of vision altered slightl y, the observer would no longersee the reflection of the objec t in the mirror but wou ld see areflection of the sun, the light source (34). In the examplesused so far the observer could not have seen the mirror,regardl ess of the strength of light involved. It is not the num­ber or strength of the light rays striking an object that ena­bles it to be seen, but its ability to reflect light rays in thedirection of the observer's eye.

35 The sky reflected in a Imirror. --"''''8'/ <--

- SUN ----- --...

/ / I \ "

,, ff

OBSERVER34

Page 39: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

When this observer/mirror relationship is moved fromouter space to the surface of the earth, the light rays from thesun will still strike the mirror and be reflected awa y from theobserver's eye. On this evidence he should not be able to seethe mirror, but practical experiment pro ves that he can see it(35). Because the mirror can be seen, light rays are ob viou slybeing reflected towards the observer's eye. If these reflectedlight rays responsible for his seeing the mirror are followed,using the knowledge that the angle of reflection of light raysis equal to the ir angle of incidence, it is possible to locatetheir source, which in this case is the atmospheric umbrellain conjunction wit h the sun.

36 A cloud reflected in amirror .

~I

IIII

OBSERVER

If the area of the sky (atmospheric umbre lla) contai ns anyob ject such as a cloud, the observer will see the mirror an dalso the reflection of the cloud (36).

When it is understood that seeing occurs because lightrays are reflected towards the eye, not beca use light stri kesan object, even thou gh both must happen for an object to beseen, it is possible to understand tha t surfaces in differentpositions can reflect light ra ys towards the observer's eyewith varying degrees of efficiency, which result in tonal vari­ation.

35

Page 40: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

37 Tona l variation onhorizontal and verticalsurfaces. Under normallighting cond itions the tophorizontal surface willappear lighter than avertical surface in light.

36

Under normal circ umsta nces, horizont al surf aces seen inlight appear lighter tha n vertica l sur faces seen und er thesa me conditio ns, e.g. a tab le top and edge, a simple cub e,etc. This is clearly demon strat ed in the photograph (37),particul arl y whe re th e hori zontal an verti cal sur faces are ofth e same mat erial , value and colour. It is impo rta nt tounderstand th e prin ciples and be able to use them in pic­torial repr esentati on , where th e illusion of the th ird dimen­sio n often relies heavily on Correct to na l values.

Direct light rays from the sun strike the various sur facesof th is objec t (38) and thei r reflectio n will be directed awayfro m th e observer. Those striking the vertica l sur face arereflected down to th e hori zontal plan e in front o f the verticalplan e, and from th ere are reflected towards the observer'seye. Therefo re it is th is hori zont al plan e, not the vert icalplan e, wh ich is reflect ing more light rays towards the obser­ver's eye. The result is that the horizontal plane will appearlighter to him becau se it reflects mo re light rays in his direc ­tion.

Page 41: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

OBSERVER

38 The action of light rayson horizontal and vert icalsurfaces.

37

Page 42: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

OBSERVER

39 The effect of theatmospheric umbrella .

40 A more complexarrangement of horizontaland vert ical planes .

REFLECTED

If the atmospheric umbrella is understood, it will be seenthat the light rays reflected from it are directed to the hori ­zontal surfaces at which the observer is look ing (39). (Onlythose light rays dir ectly invo lved in what the observer seesare shown.) They stri ke the horizontal sur faces, whichbecome very efficient reflectors of light rays in the direction

OBSERVER38

Page 43: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

of the observer. The vertical surface, even though it is receiv­ing the same amount of direct sunlight as the horizontal sur­faces, is receiving no useful light from the atmosphericumbrella as far as this observer is concerned. The observerwill see the horizontal surfaces as lighter values than the ver­tical one because they are reflecting more light in the direc­tion of his eye.

If more horizontal and vertical planes are added, theresults seen by the observer will remain consis tent and hewill see the horizontal surfaces as lighter values than the ver­tical ones (40). O bservation will confirm that under all nor­mal conditions this will alwa ys be so. In th is context ,'normal conditions ' means that no extraneous reflectionsare allowed to interfere with the object being observed.

.'

The fact that under normal conditions horizontal surfaceswill alwa ys appear lighter than vert ical surfaces seen in thesame light is of enormous value to the renderer. Using thisinformation he can clearly establish the change of directionbetween horizontal and vert ical surfaces seen in light (41).

41 A rendered cube - aone-point const ruction.

"'.. / 42 A comparison of arendered and anunrendered cube .

This illustration (42) shows how the introduction of thischange of value on the vertical and horizontal surfaces in therendered example gives a greater illusion of a third dimen­sion , because the variation between the two surfaces is con­sistent with op tical reality. The example on the right doesnot have this evidence of optical reality and is somewhatambiguous.

39

Page 44: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

43 A dynamic verticalplane .

40

; .. '

A static plane is one that is seen at right angles to theobserver's centre line of vision. A dynamic plane is one thatis seen at an angle other than a right angle to the observer'scentre line of vision (43). In all the examples shown so far,all the vertical surfaces seen in light have been static planes,which have been completely shielded from any effectivereflected light rays from the atmospheric umbrella. Thisshielding causes the difference in value between the verticaland horizontal surfaces to be considerable. In fact, underthese circumstances the difference will be the greatest seenby the observer, because as the vertical surface is rotated onits vertical axis it will obviously become increasingly affec­ted by light rays reflected by the atmospheric umbrella. Theresult will be a slight lightening of the value seen by theobserver.

Though the reflected light rays from the atmospheric um­brella will, for the most part, be reflected downwards to thebase plane, others from the lower part of the atmosphericumbrella could be directed in the general direction of theobserver's eye. Some surfaces, particularly the ground planeand others very near it, could reflect light rays which wouldstrike the angled vertical plane and be reflected towards theobserver's eye. Even a small increase in the amount ofreflected light will affect the value seen by the observer, butunder normal conditions the amount of light reflected bydynamic vertical surfaces will not equal that reflected byhorizontal surfaces.

As the height of the vertical plane increases it will reflectmore light rays from the atmospheric umbrella towards theobserver's eye (44).

The observer sees the vertical plane as a dynamic surfaceof graduated value with the darkest value at the lowest part.As the height increases, the value becomes lighter, becausethe surface becomes more efficient in its ability to reflectlight rays in the direction of the observer's eye (45).

When this principle is applied to a number of identicalcubes placed one above the other, the value on the verticalsurfaces seen in light will be darkest on the lowest one andwill become progressively lighter as the height increases(46) .

Page 45: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

OBSERVER

~----

44 A dynamic vertical planeextended in height.

FROM ATMOSPHERIC... . . . UMBRELLA...... . eP..--: ' . ". , . .

.·..· ·· .···· ·.I~.· ·. . . ,~

~/I\ ·· ....••~...: . . . : .. :.:.

45 An explanation of avertical plane extended inheight.

46 An open stack of cubes.

41

Page 46: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

\\\

\\

\

\\

- ~cSS-.~ - -

~ --~

47 The sun and theatmospheric umbrellaworking together.

OBSERVER

The sun can , under cert ain circumsta nces, supply the lightrays which are directed towards the observer's eye.However, these cases are rare and usually when it might atfirst appear to the inexp erienced person that the sun itself isresponsible, it is more often than not the atmospheric um­brella working in conjunction with the sun which is respon­sible. Th e illustration (47) shows how this may happenwhen the sun is in front of the observer instead of behindhim , as it has been in the pr eviou s examples.

The conditions illustr ated are by no mean s all of the possi­bilities likely to be encountered, but the principles remainthe same for all situations. If the reflected light rays and theirsour ce ar e located, the image seen by an observer can belogically reasoned and a convincing pictor ial representationmade even if the object exists onl y in the imagination.

The atmospheric umbrella , being three-dim ensional, is allround an obs erver , not just in front of him , but the illustra­tion (48) shows it onl y in plan and at a much reduced scale.The observer has his back to the sun and he is sur rounded byatmosphere, all of which is capable of reflecting light raysbecause of the pollutants suspended in it. Thi s means thatthe atmosph ere is capabl e of reflect ing light rays in all direc­tions and as a result the observe r will see its effect, no matterwhich way he looks.

In spite of th is the area behind the observer will norm allyhave onl y a minimal effect on what he sees, whilst the rest ofthe atmosph eric umbrella will have considerable, directeffect on wh at he sees when he looks in one specific direction(49) .

42

Page 47: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

--

48 A plan of theatmospheric umbrella .

\)

//

-:---

\

ATMOSPHERICUMBRELLA

(

49 A plan of theatmospheric umbrella witharrows.

I I:- -~

I~ -, ATMOSPHERIC

, " , y BRELLA

I " \.c> " Jf , )f ' /f /L .---

43

Page 48: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

50 Anobserver looking inthe direction ofthe sun.

IINEFFECTIVEAREA

ATMOSPHE.RICUMBRELLA

f~J

If the observer in the previo us illustra tion is rota tedth rough 180 degrees, so tha t he is now look ing in the generaldirect ion of the light source, i.e. the sun, the area behind himwill again have little direct effect on wha t he sees, whil st therest of the atmospheric umbrella will contribute directly towha t he sees (50).

If the elevation and plan are considered together, it can beunderstood how light rays reflected from a larger area of theatmospheric umbrella wo uld be capable of affecting wha tthe observer sees (51). Th e ext ent of the atmospheric um ­brell a is extremely imp ortant and the student is advised toneither underestimate nor overe stimate its effect on what is

51 Anelevationof seen. In rendering, a simple diagr am of the conditions canatmosphericeffect. often help when problems are encountered.

",,\1// _- __~ SUN - ------- ATMOSPHERIC<, UMBRELLA

// ~/ I \; 1""'\/ " \\I t~.: ~\

44

Page 49: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

<,

" " ATMOSPHERIC" UMBRELLA

\

... ~~ \

~ \

...... ...

The loss of efficiency of the atmospheric umbrella as itnears the ground frequently interferes with what is seen.Often buildings, trees, hills, mountains, etc. are locatedbehind the object being observed and, though these objectsare capable of reflecting light rays, they are seldom as effi­cient as the atmospheric umbrella. The illustration (52)shows a diagrammatic explanation of this condition. Re­member that the buildings will reflect light rays downtowards the ground rather than toward s the eye of theobserver, and note how the effectiveness of the atmosphericumb rella is to ta lly destroyed towards the ground. Also, thefaces of the buildings seen by the observer are in full sun­light, for the sun's rays are striking them directly, but theselight rays fro m the sun are directed downwards to theground, not towards the observer's eye. However, the partof the atmospheric umbrella that is behind the buildings isvery bright and is reflecting light rays towards the obse rver'seye. The result is that, in a sense, the faces of the bui ldingsseen by the observer will be in shade, not from the sun,because they face the sun's locat ion, but from the atmos­pheric umbrella, which is a secondary light source. This con­dition, described as being in shade from the atmosphericumbrella, must not be confused with what is usually meantby the term shade. Shade exists when a face of an object isturned away from a light source.

52 An elevation of buildingsand trees.

45

Page 50: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

53 A plan of buildingsillustrating reflection fromthe atmospheric umbrella.

0::UJ

~ ....--=~---=r

~ ~~~~~~~--.......:~~~~}---- ---

54 An observer looking at awall.

46

The sun is the light source in th is illustr at ion (53), so thefaces of the buildings which are turned away from the sunwill be in shade. As previou sly mentioned, the sta tic faces ofthe buildings at which the observer is looking will be slightlydarker than a side wall seen in light , because a side wall willbe in a po sition where it will probably reflect some lightfrom the atmospheric umbrella towards the observer's eye.Th is particular aspect of surfaces in various locat ions withregard to the atmospheric umbrella is discussed in moredetail later.

DIRECT LIGHT RAYSFROM THE SUN

REFLECTED LIGHT - -~RAYS FROMATMOSPHERIC UMBRELLA

REFLECTED LIGHT RAYS /

WALL

Page 51: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

The final aspect of surfaces seen in light to be examined atthis stage is the actual surface itself. As has been established,when light rays from the sun, or any light source, strike asurface they are reflected in accordance with the principle,'The angle of reflection equals the angle of incidence of alight ray.' This means that, in general, a surface seen in lightwill reflect light rays in one direction only . In theory this isso, but in practice other factors must also be considered. Forexample, if the sur face is seen in direct sunlight, as shown inthe illustration (54), the light rays will be directed downtowards the ground plane and not towards the observer'seye. Theoretically, the observer will not be able to see thevertical surface, but practical observation shows that underthese conditions the vertical surface can be seen. The reasonfor this is the presence of reflected light from various sur­faces around the one under consideration and from theatmospheric umbrella. This is even more easily understoodwhen it is realized that a perfectly smooth reflecting surfaceis extremely rare and, if such a thing actually did exist, itwould seldom be seen under perfect conditions, i.e. free ofimperfections and without dust or other pollutants adheringto it.

The illustration of the wall magnified many times (55)shows how these imperfections and pollutants are capableof reflecting light rays in directions other than the main one,which is down towards the ground plane. From this it can beseen how some of the light rays would inevitably be reflectedin the direction of the observer's eye. Though it is acknowl­edged that the light rays reflected from the surface im­perfections would probably not be as numerous as thosefrom the overall surface, they would be considerable andwould therefore add to the lightness of the surface beingseen.

55 An uneven verticalsurface .

47

Page 52: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

56 The ground plane .

57 The ground magn ified.

48

THE GROUND

The ground plane is probabl y the best exa mple of thisparticular aspect of light reflectio n. Th ou gh the ground is agenera lly flat plan e (56), it consists of many fine particles ofvarious shapes such as pebbl es, sto nes and dust, each ofwhich is capable of reflecting light rays in other than thema in direction for the gro und plane (57).

The main dir ect ion of the reflected light rays will be at anangle equ al to that formed by the light rays str iking thegenerally flat ground plane, but it can easily be seen thatevery individual stone, pebbl e, and particle of dust haschanges of dire ction on its sur face. Each of their tiny sur ­faces is capable of reflecting light rays in a multitude of dif­ferent direct ion s.

~ f/~~MAIN DIRECTION /OF REFLECTION /

THE GROUND MAGNIFIED

Page 53: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

I

-----B\ II/..----- . SUN -

-- "<,

, "-/ / I \ '

I '" -,

"OBSERVER

Wherever the observer look s at the gro und, some of thelight rays reflected from these sma ll surfaces will inevitablybe directed to wards his eye (58). Th ey, together with thereflected light rays from the atmospheric umbrella and tho sefrom the sun, are the reason an observer can see the groundplane so clearl y in normal sunlight, no matter where hesta nds in rela tion to the sun.

Th e way light is reflected by different surfaces in variouspositions has a direct link with the way they are seen andwith the way they are rend ered if the illusion of reality is tobe produced. Th erefore, a sound understanding of the basicprinciples of light reflection is on e of the most importantareas of funda mental knowl edge for students , irrespectiveof the area of art, design or graphics they may wish to ente r.

The for egoing information is intended as a direction forthe student to pursue rather than a catalogue of effects foruse in rend ering. The camera can be of considerable value ingathering knowledge in this as well as other areas of study.

'" ATMOSPHERIC~UM~RELLA

'<\\/\

7. " "' \\

-+.

58 An observer looking atthe ground.

49

Page 54: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

59 The sun is behind thephotographer, as indicatedby the shadows, butbecause the white bUildingis acting as a reflect ingsurface, Le. it replaces theatmospheric umbrella, thevertical face of the kerb isdarker than the horizontalsurface.

50

The value of ph ot ographic evidence becomes clear uponexamining th is picture of a roa d and pavement (59), whic hillustrat es so me very interest ing effects. Not e the darkervalue of the vertical face of the kerb , even thou gh it is in sun-

Page 55: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

light , as is evidenced by the shadow of the small tree and theface of the building. Much can be learned by carefully exa­mining photographs of even rather commonplace subjectssuch as th is one.

51

Page 56: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

52

Shadeandshadow

In conside ring shade an d shadow much of the previousinformat ion abo ut light reflection is relevant. For example,sha de and sha dow areas are usually exposed, at least tosome degree, to light rays fro m the atmospheric umbrella.By definition , shade and shadow have certa in relationshipsto the light so urce inas much as the direct light rays can notreach them. Because of the importance of a complete under-

Page 57: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

standing of shade and shadow their definit ions are essential,so that each condition is not confused with the other.

Shad e exists wh en a surface is turned away from a lightsource.Shadow exists when an opaque object is placed between alight source and a surface on wh ich the light would normallyfall.

60 In this wate rcolour stagedesign for a prison,Giuseppe Gall i Bibienauses light and shade tointroduce a superb feelingof reality into this theatricalsett ing.

53

Page 58: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

61 A rendered cube.

If th is simple cube is exa mined it will be seen that some ofits sur faces are seen in light and some are seen in shade (61).The cube also casts a shadow on the ground plane and, asexpected, this shadow is in the opposite direction to the lightsource. To understand how the surfaces in shade and sha­dow must be rendered to prod uce the illusion of reality, it isnecessary to und erstand if and how they will be affected byreflected light rays. To do this it is necessary to exami ne theconditions under which the cube is being viewed.

ATMOSPHERICUMBRELLA

I"II

: :,

I

\\\\\\\I

OBSERVER

62 An observ er looking at acube.

54

SHADOW

The observer (62) is placed so that he will see the cube as itwas illustrated in (61). The locati on of the sun is indicated,as is the atmosphe ric umbrella. The observer can see onlyone surface of th e cube in shade, so it is necessary to consideronly this side. (Two vertical sides will be in light and twowill be in shade.) If only the direct light rays from the sun areconsidered, it can be seen that they have no effect on thesha de and sha dow areas.

Page 59: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

OBSERVER

ATMOSPHERIC \UMBRELLA \

\\\

SHADOW

\

I

In this diagram (63) the reflected light rays from theatmospheric umbrella are shown with their direct reflec­tions, none of which is directed towards the observer's eye.Those light rays from the atmospheric umbrella that dostrike the surface in shade are directed to the gro und planeand are of little use to the illustrated observer. Those tha tstrike the shadow on the horizontal ground plane arereflected back up into the sky and are of no value to th isobserver.

Observation shows that the shade area of an object, seenunder normal conditions, is a little lighte r in value than theshadow area. The reaso n for this is that the shade area isreceiving more reflected light, wh ich is direc ted back to theobserver's eye, than is the shadow area. The source of thisextra light reflection from the shade area is shown in thenext diagram.

63 Shade and shadowunaffected by theatmospheric umbrella.

55

Page 60: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

ATMOSPHERICUMBRELLA

SHADOW

-~- ---- -

~

OBSERVER

64 Reflection into theshade area.

Byfollowing the light rays from the atmospheric umbrellait can be seen how those striking the horizontal shadow areaare almost all reflected back up into the sky, so that they arevirtually useless to the observer (64). Whilst it is true thatsome few light rays will be directed from the shadow areatowards the observer (otherwise it would look completel yblack to him), they are very few and so he sees a very darkvalue. Because the shade area is a vertical plane, the lightrays from the atmospheric umbrella will strike it and bedirected downwards to the ground plane and from thereback up into the sky. This is of little value to the observer.However, some of the light rays from the atmospheric um­brella striking the ground behind the object will be reflectedinto the shade area and from there to the observer's eye. Thiscauses the shade area to appear a little lighter in value thanthe horizontal shadow area. The actual value seen will varywith the effectiveness of the source of the reflected light rayswhich strike the shade area but obviously, the more lightrays directed to the observer's eye, the lighter the shade areawill appear.

56

Page 61: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

The basic tonal pattern

From the preceding information it is possible to show on adrawing of a cube and its shadow the relationship of thevarious tonal value s of the surfaces seen by an observerlooking at the actual cube (65). Under normal conditions,the top horizontal plane in light will be the lightest valueseen on the cube, and the vert ical plane in light will beslightly darker than the horizontal plane but still a lightvalue . The vertical plane seen in shade will be the darkestvalue seen on the cube and the shadow on the horizontalground plane will be the darkest value in the drawing. Thissimple diagram illustrates what is known as the 'basic tonalpattern ' and it remains valid for the vertical and horizontalplanes of all objects seen under normal conditions.

The basic tonal pattern can be developed with more com­plex shapes including two additional, frequently found con­ditions, which are a shade on an underside of an object orpart of an object, and a shadow cast on a vertical surface.

65 The basic tonal pattern.

57

Page 62: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

OBSERVER

66 An observer looking atthe underside of an object.

67 The unders ide is lighterthan the vert ical plane .

68 Shadow on the vert icalplane .

58

ATMOSPHERIC \UMBRELLA~

\\

The observer look ing at the und erside of a hor izontalplane (66) will see th is surface as a very efficient reflector oflight rays fro m the atmospheric umbrella, which strike thehorizontal gro un d plane at some distance behind the object,are reflected to its underside an d then directed towards theobserver's eye.

Because of its position, the underside is a more efficientreflector tha n th e vertical plan e seen in shade and will, there ­fore, appear slightly light er (67).

Th e shadow on the vertical surface will be slightly lighterin value th an the shadow on the horizontal surface becauseit can reflect mo re light (68). The shadow on the vert ical sur­face is usually in such a po sition that it reflects less lighttowards the observer's eye tha n does the vert ical surfaceseen in shade, so it will be slightly darker in value.

Page 63: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

All of the conditions discussed so far have been applied inthis drawing (69) . The object is seen under conditions con­sistent with a light source located behind the observer and tohis left. Shade areas are hatched and the line of separation isshown. (The line of separation is the line between planesseen in light and those seen in shade. ) This careful identifi­cation of the line of separation is an extremely importantstep, which is often ignored by the inexperienced. Of equalimportance is the identification of the light, shade and sha­dow areas, because each must be rendered using its correctvalue, so that the changes of direction of the planes will stillbe seen in the shade and shadow areas as they appear in real­ity.

In this diagram of values (the tonal pattern), each surfacehas been allocated a number from 1 to 6 to indicate the gra­dation from the lightest to the darkest value.

1 The horizontal surface seen in light is the lightest value.2 The vertical surface seen in light.3 The horizontal surface (underside) seen in shade.4 The vertical surface seen in shade.S The vertical surface seen in shadow.6 The horizontal surface seen in shadow is the darkest value

on the rendering.

To avoid possible confusion it should be stressed that thenumbers used for the value identification indicate only theorder of darkness of the surfaces and do not indicate thevalues related to the value scale, which will be introducedlater (see p. 69 ).

69 A diagram of values .

59

Page 64: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

70 When all the surfaceshave the same value theillusion of three dimensionsis lost.

71 A rende ring withou t theaddition of atmospherics.

60

If the value pat tern is ignored the illusion of a th ird dimen­sion is lost, as in th is illustra tio n (70) where light, shade andsha dow have been ' rendered' using one overall value.

Th ou gh th is is no t the fina l rendering in this series, itsho ws a strong illusion of a th ird dimension and is easy to

understand (71) . It is reason abl y successful, but lacks theimportant element of atmos pheric effect on the dynam icsurfa ces. As the distance between the observer and theob ject o r part of the obje ct increases the image will becomeless clear and less sha rply defined, because fewer light rayswill make the journey throu gh the atmos phere witho utbeing deflected from their original course.

Page 65: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

The observer (72) is looking at the ground plane, a hori­zontal surface, receding into the distance until it disappearsover the horizon. The part closest to him will be seen as thetruest value of this horizontal surface and as it recedes fromhim his view will be interfered with by the atmosphericeffect, so that he will no longer see it at its true value. If thesurface goes far enough into the distance, it will be imposs­ible for him to distinguish the horizontal plane at all,because it will become neutral, in common with everythingelse. Observation will confirm the neutralizing effect ofatmospherics over great distances.

This neutralizing effect reduces all values, both light anddark, as well as all colours and textures to a neutral con ­dition (73, overleaf). Because atmospherics cause this neu ­tralizing, it starts immediately a surface begins to recedefrom an observer and under most normal circumstancesproceeds at a constant rate, so that an even gradation ofvalue will be seen as the surface recedes.

72 An observer lookingat a horizontal surface.

61

Page 66: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

73 Atmospheric effectreduces light and darkvalues as the distance fromthe observer increases.The result is reducingcontrasts.

62

Page 67: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

63

Page 68: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

74 Three values receding.

LIGHT SU~C. E_/ »<.

...//~'-: .SHADE

SHADOW

75 Two groups of panels.

64

The illustration (74) shows a horizontal plane in light, avertical plane in shade and the shadow cast on the horizon­tal ground plane. Irrespective of what conditions cause thevalue on each plane, i.e. whether it is a light or dark surfaceor seen in shade or shadow, each value will begin to neutral­ize as it starts to recede from the observer and will continueto do so as far as the surface is seen. As the distanceincreases, the three elements in this illustration become har­der to distinguish from one another and, if continued farenough, will disappear completely in the general neutralitywhich is associated with great distance.

I

-

-

Page 69: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

Rather than this neutralizing effect of atmospherics beinga problem to the artist or illustrator, it is of enormous valuebecause it allows for a dynamic surface to be rendered in adynamic way, which can only add to the illusion of a thirddimension in a pictorial representation.

This can be demonstrated by using fou r vertical planesplaced at different distances from the observer (75) . The topgroup of panels is shown without atmospheric effect and,when compared with the four identical panels below them,which have been rendered using atmospheric effect, theincreased illusion of depth in the latter is obvious. (Theatmospheric effec t is slightly exaggerated in this simpleexplanatory diagram.) This should be no surprise becauseatmospheric effect is an optical fact of life and is present ineverything th at is seen, irrespective of the size of th e objectand whether or not th e observer is t rained to see th e effect.

Admittedly, it is more difficult to demon str at e on someobjects such as thi s sma ll box (76), but a carefully tak en andenlarged ph otograph of a very small object will show evi­dence of gra da tion in the values of the receding surfaces .

76 If the receding surfacesof this small box arecarefully examined,gradations of value can bediscerned,

65

Page 70: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

n A flat tone on a dynamicsurface and an incorrectrendering.

78 A dynamic plane whosetone is graduated correctly.

66

In this example (77), the dynamic plane on the left is ren­dered using a flat ungraduated tone and, because such con­ditions are contrary to optical laws, the result is flat andwithout a strong illusion of a third dimension.

The visual evidence presented to the observer by thisdrawing, or any other similar type of treatment lacking trueatmospheric effect on a dynamic plane is contrary to what isseen when looking at the actual ob ject. The lines of theobject tell th e observer that the plane is receding from him,but the flat tone of the plane tells him that it is not, becauseonly a static plane will present an ungraduated tone. Whichpart of the visual evidence should the observer believe? If theartist or illustrator offers confused or contradictory infor­mation in drawn images, anyone looking at the picture willbe confused as to exactly what message is really intended.

The dynamic plane on the right is rendered with grada­tion, but this image is just as confu sing as the one on the left,because the gradation is reversed. Atmospheric effect causesa value to tend towards neutrality as its distance from theobserver's eye increases; the truest value is seen closest to theobserver's eye.

When all of the requirements consistent with optical factare satisfied, as in this illustration (78), there is no longer acontradiction of visual evidence, and anyone looking at thepicture need no longer be confused as to exactly which con­ditions have been portrayed. Very simply, if these drawingshave as their main purpose the creation of an illusion of athird dimension, the two illustrations in the preceding figuremust be wrong and this one must be right. This conclusion isa matter of visual literacy being used in a graphic form toconvey a literate pictorial representation; valid optical lawshave been acknowledged and used.

Page 71: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

79 A cut cube withatmosp herics.

80 An abstract des ign of athree-dimensional patternbased on spheres. Thetone patte rn is extremelyuseful to the artist orillustrator irrespective ofthe ~pe of expression ormedium chosen for apictorial compos ition.

When atmospheric effect is used on the dynamic surfacesof an object the drawing offers a substantially increased il­lusion of a th ird dimension (79) . The rendering becomeseasie r to read beca use each surface, whe ther seen in light,shade or sha dow, is easily related to those adjacent to it andthe object as a who le. Note that even with atmosphericeffect the tonal pattern is strictly maintained.

The tonal pattern is extremely useful to the artis t or illus­trato r, no ma tte r wha t type of expression or medium ischosen for pictorial comm unicatio n. This pen-and-ink illus­tratio n (80) shows a three-dimensional composition usingspheres as th e theme. Th e location of the spheres, whetherfloat ing in fro nt of the ma in pattern plane or taking a pos­ition in it, is controlled by a combinat ion of light and shadeand atmos pheric effect . Th e illusion of the third dimensionis achieved without the use of perspective in the usual sense,but is th e result of the optical evidence by which the obser ­ver's eye esta blishes the location of surfa ces in space and inrelati on to one another. This effect is carefully controlledand every surface has been rendered in rela tion to its neigh­bo ur an d the design as a whole, so that the observer seesexactly what he is intended to see. A sound understa nding oflight and sha de and atmospheric effect plus a good workingknowledge of the elements and principles of design (compo­sition) are the essentials for this type of rendering.

67

Page 72: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

81 Giambattista Piranes i,Carceri d 'lnvenzione,engraving. The ability ofsurfaces to receive andreflect or abso rb light is ofmajor concern to the artist.

68

Light reflect ion and absorption

An aspect of reflected light which mu st be understood is theabil ity of various values to reflect or absorb light rays. Thi sha s already been mentioned in the list of properties of lightra ys and is an important element in understanding the ren­dering of the effect s of light.

Page 73: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

LIGHT RAYS

REFLECTED LIGHT RAYS

82 Light values reflectmore light.

LIGHT VALUE(WHITE)

MIDDLE VALUEIGREY I

DARKVALUEI BLACK )

Light values reflect more light rays than dark ones (82).When three different values are subjected to the sameamount of light, the wh ite surface reflects an amount of lightequal to that striking it, the mid-grey one reflects only abouthalf the amount of light striking it and the black sur facereflects none. Something must happ en to the light rays thatare not reflected and, very simply, they are abso rbed by thesurfa ce they strike .

83 The reflection andabsorption of light rays bywhite and black surfaces.

WHITE SURFACEWHITEABSORBS NO LIGHTRAYS AND REFLECTS ALLOF THEM

BLACK SURFACEBLACK ABSORBS ALL LIGHTRA'r'S AND REFLECTS NONE

In theory, whi te abso rbs no light rays and reflects allwhich strike it (83). Inpractice, the white found in everydayarti cles varies in whiteness and therefore it varies a little inits ability to absorb and reflect light rays. For the purposehere, white is cons idered to be tru e white, which abso rbs nolight rays and reflects all that strike it. White, the light estvalue which can be obta ined, is at one end of a scale ofvalues which is laid out in equalsteps of grey from white toblack, the darkest value which can be obta ined. Black, intheory, absorbs all light rays and reflects non e, so logically itmust be impossi ble to see it. In practice, the black used ineveryday ar ticles can be seen, so it cannot be tru e black.There are other factors contri buting to th is visibility ofblack, e.g. the type of surface, its texture, shape and the lo­cat ion of the light source. However, for the purposes ofund erstand ing the basic prin ciples it is assumed that theblack surface shown is tru e black.

69

Page 74: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

84 Graduation from whiteto black.

85 Diagram showing thereduction of light rays asthey are reflected from twomedium value surfaces.

70

LIGHT RAYS

The diagram (84) shows the increasing ability of a surfaceto absorb light rays at the expense of its ability to reflectthem when black is added in increasing quantities. Fromthese demonstrations it can be understood that dark er sur­faces are less efficient reflectors than lighter ones becauseth ey absorb more light rays. It naturally follows that as lightrays strike a darker surface some of them are lost by absorp­tion and the reflected light rays are not as num erou s as theoriginal light rays.

OBSERVER

REFLECTING SURFACE 2

By following light rays as they are reflected from one sur­face to another and from there to the observer 's eye (and thesize of the arrows ind icates the decreasing ability of eachsurface to reflect the light rays), the app roximate value ofeach surface can be determined (85). Th e two surfacesshown must be mid-grey, because if they were white therewould be virtually no redu ction in the number of the origi­nallight rays finally reflected in the direction of the obser­ver's eye. If the surfaces were black the light rays wo uld becompletely absorbed by the first ' reflecting' surface, no lightwould be reflected to the second surface or to the eye of theobserver, who would not see the two surfaces . As previously

Page 75: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

stated, experience shows that in reality black objects andsurfaces are seen, so what is known as black must be treatedin rendering as a very dark grey, which is capable of reflect ­ing enough light for it to be seen.

The importance of the se principles may not be evident atfirst , but in many renderings where it is not always possibleto work from direct ob servation, thi s knowledge of theamount of light being reflected to or from a surface could beessenti al.

Understanding the effects of the atmosphere and the prin­ciples of reflection and ab sorption enables the renderer tocalcu late exactly what will happen to a surface, no matterwhat the lighting conditions are or where the surface isplaced in relation to the observer. If produced without thisknowledge and th e skill to appl y it a rendering can, andusually will , lack the subtleties which are an important partof th e wo rks of the masters.

86 An unders tand ing of theprinciples of absorptionand reflection is extremelyimportant when it is notposs ible to work from directobservation.

71

Page 76: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

87 Albrecht DOrer,Draughtsman Drawing aLute, woodcut, 1525. Anaccurate drawing based onthe princ iples ofperspective and the correctproject ion of shadows isessential to competentrendering .

72

The drawing

An acc urate line drawing construc ted in accorda nce withthe principles of perspective and three-dime nsional shadowproj ect ion is a basic essential for a com peten t rend erin g.However , if th e final rendering is to satisfy the requ irementsof a speci fic idea or th eme, cer tai n decision s mus t be madeconce rn ing th e sta tio n point in rela tio n to the object beforeth e dr awing is sta rte d.

The illus tra tion (88) is provided here for convenient,qu ick revis ion of basic two-p oint perspective construc tion.A full ex plana tio n can be found in Basic Perspective.

In th e one-point perspect ive all edges of the cube areeither at right angles to or parallel with th e observer's centreline of visio n. The vertica l face of the cube is seen as a sta ticplan e an d by itse lf gives no illusion of a third dimension. Th eelevation of th e observe r's eye enables him to see the top sur­face of th e cube, which is a dynamic plane. Th e dynam icplan e ap pears to recede fro m him an d it is th is rather th anthe sta tic plan e w hich introduces the sugges tion of a thirddimension (89 ).

Fro m th e fo regoing, it can be seen that the sta tic plane byitself does no t produce the illus ion of a th ird dimensionbecause non e of th e elements of perspective is present.H owever , when a dyn amic plane is introduced, provided itconfo rms to th e optical laws, the illusion of a third dimen­sion is p ro du ced. Therefore, it reasonably follows that animage ma de up of dyna mic plan es will give a stronger il-

Page 77: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

VP.1

VP 1

/

HORIZON lI l\E

GROUND LINE

PICTURE PLANE

V.P.2

VP.2

88 A basic perspectiveconstruction.

89 Different views of acube .

lusion of a third dimension than an image composed ofstatic planes.

The second example, a two-point perspective , shows thesame cube as in the previous example but turned on its verti­cal axis until none of its sides is either at right angles to orparallel with the observer's centre line of vision. The obser­ver will see the three surfaces of the cube as dynamic planes.Each surface offers evidence of the three basic optical lawsand the result is a much stronger illusion of a third dimen­sion than was apparent in the first example.

73

Page 78: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

90 Static planes .

74

I

II

--

--

One static plane offers no illusion of a third dimen sion,but if a second static plane is added, provided it is carefullyplaced in accordance with the basic optical laws, there is animmediate introduction of the illusion of a third dimension(90). The conditions implied are that a second panel of thesame size as the first one has been placed at some distancebehind the front panel. The apparent overlapping of theback panel by the front one reinforces the illusion of thethird dimension. From this evidence, it can be seen thatmuch has been implied by the careful size control and theplacing of the second panel. Though there is no way that thesize of the second panel can be measured or the distance be­tween the two established, there is a strong feeling that inreality the two panels are the same size. That the back onelooks smaller than the front one is quite easily attributed to

the result of basic optical laws consistent with perspective.The illusion of a third dimension is further reinforced in

the third part of this illustration, where more panels havebeen carefully introduced to give the impression that theyare the same size and equal distances apart. Any doubtswhich might have been in the observer's mind have nowbeen removed and the evidence is easily interpreted as astrong illusion of distance.

Examination of this illustration of a number of staticpanels placed behind one another shows that, though notdrawn, the illusion of parallel lines converging at a constantrate as they recede from the observer is very strong.

Page 79: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

Th e basic optical law of convergence would appear to bewell satisfied here (9 1), altho ugh the lines shown in thisillustrati on were not drawn on it. se condly, the size of thepanels appears to be decreasing at a constant rate as theviewing distanc e incr eases, which mean s that the basic op ­tical law of diminution is strongly implied. The distance be­tween the panels appears to be decreasing at a constant rateas the viewing distance increases so the basic law of fore ­sho rtening is satisfied. Th e three basic optical laws of per­spective have been satisfied in both drawing s, so the illu­sion of a th ird dimension is qu ite strong. To this can be add­ed wha t I call a min or optica l law known as overlapping.

,...--r---,...--

II

II

I call overlapping a minor optical law because it is suc­cessful only wh en it is in accord with the major optical laws.For exa mple, if a number of static panel s of varying sizes areplaced so that the y partially overlap on e another as shownin th is illustra tion (92), the result is somewhat confusing .On e th ing that is cert ain is that the illusion of a third dim en­sion is not obvious. On e might be persuaded that the draw ­ing repr esents rectangles of various sizes which could havebeen cut out of pap er and laid one on top of the other inorder of size. Th ough overlapping has been used, the resultis confusing for the observer, becau se th is overlapping is notconsistent with the major optica l law s.

91 Static planes withreceding lines drawn.

92 Overlapping planes ofdifferent sizes.

75

Page 80: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

93 Multiple panels creatinga third dimension.

76

A number of different components can be utilized to pro­duce an illusion of a third dimension in a line drawing. Forexample, a vertical dynamic panel, if extended into the dis­tance, will produce a convincing illusion of a third dimen­sion (93). The same can be said of the horizontal dynamicpanel. From this it should be obvious that if a line drawing ismade up of dynamic planes surrounded by lines which con­form to the basic optical laws, the foundations of the il­lusion of a third dimension can be effectively laid. However,this is only a foundation and whilst it can help to somedegree to create the illusion of a third dimension, a linedrawing of an object can seldom rival the illusion createdwhen the same line drawing is correctly rendered.

No line drawing of an object or view which is to be thebasis of a rendering can be considered complete unless theshadow shapes for the chosen light source have been cor­rectly constructed on it.

Because it is known that light rays from the sun travel instraight parallel lines, vanishing points can be located in aperspective construction for the actual light rays and theirplans, both of which are necessary for the shadow shapeconstruction in perspective. Shown here (94) is the basicshadow construction for a cube where the light source (thesun ) is behind the observer and to his left. In (95) the shadowshape has been completed. This process is explained fully inCreative Perspective.

Page 81: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

V.P.1 oy.

HORIZON LINE V. P.2 V.l

GROUND LINE

V.P.2PICTURE PLA_Nc::.-E~----------"-:..;.r"-------,-----;;-----:;>I-"'-oV.P.1

V.2

HORIZON LINE

\

4--- - - - - - -1'"'-- - - - -------------",~""----"""71L_----_t_

95 The shadow.TATION POINT

77

Page 82: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

96 The line of separation.

78

LINEOF SEPARATIONLIGHT

Once the shadow shape for an object, a cube in this ex­ample (96), has been constructed it is necessary to identifythe line of separation on the object. As previously stated, theline of separation is the line on an object that separates theparts seen in light from those seen in shade. The line of sep­aration on this cube seen under the conditions established inthe preceding shadow construction divides it exactly inhalves, so that three surfaces are in light and three are inshade. Examination will show that the outline of the sha­dow shape of an object is, in fact, the shadow of its line ofseparation. If for no other reason, this fact alone wouldmake the identification of the line of separation on an objectan essential step in the preparation of a drawing for render­mg.

In rendering it is essential that shade and shadow are cor­rectly identified, clearly distinguished and correctly ren­dered, so it is worth repeating their definitions: 'Shade existswhen a surface is turned away from a light source' and 'Sha­dow exists when an opaque object is placed between a lightsource and a surface on which the light would normally fall. '

Students are advised to do all preparatory work as it be­comes possible and to develop a logical system or sequenceof work procedures for preparing a drawing for rendering.Such a logical system will save time and possibly costlyerrors when working in the commercial world.

Substantial tracing paper (115 gsm +) is recommendedfor all perspective constructions that are to form the basisfor renderings. There are a number of very good reasons forthis, not the least of which is that it is fairly inexpensivewhen compared with other papers. Other reasons willbecome obvious as the principles of rendering are deve­loped.

When the perspective construction of the object is fin­ished, with its shadow shapes completed and the line of sep­aration identified, the drawing is ready to be transferred tothe final sheet of paper, board or canvas for the rendering tobe made in any medium or technique. Only the very inex­perienced or the very unwise would even consider renderinga construction drawing with all of its stru ctural lines, ident­ifying marks, corrected mistakes and grubby marks.

Page 83: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

TRACING PAPER

Depending on the requirements of the rendering, the pro­cess of transferring the construction drawing on to the finalsurface varies. For example, if tracing paper is to be used forthe rendering, the final sheet can be laid over the construc­tion sheet and fixed so that it cannot move (97). The finaldrawing can then be traced and the rendering developedover the orig inal construction.

OPAL GLASS

SWITCH

If the final rendering is to be on one of the many drawingpapers, a light table can be used for a process similar to thatused for tracing paper. The original drawing is fixed to thelight table and the drawing paper is fixed over it (98), so thatthe lines can be traced on to the final sheet.

97 The direct tracingmethod .

98 A light table

79

Page 84: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

TRACING

CONSTRU~C~T~IO~N - - I r1 2

SOFT PENCILON BACK

TRACING (BACK)

,--------~3 4

HARD PENCIL

\ \ --'~ ./'--."q

TRACING

FINAL SHEET

"

-ISOFT IMPRESSION

.l----,I ''r- - ~II : ~ - ~ ,I I I .»" I 1'-

1_ \'~~c - - .~"­FINAL SHEET

99 The transfer method,drawing on the back of asheet.

80

If a light table is not available, one very good simplemethod for transferring the construction drawing to thefinal sheet is to turn the construction sheet face downwardsand, using a reasonably soft grade of pencil, such as HB, B,or 2B, draw over all of the relevant lines of the constructiondrawing (99). Place the construction drawing, face up, overthe final sheet and fix it so that it cannot move. Using justenough pressure to obtain an imprint on the final sheet,carefully draw over the required lines so they are lightlytransferred to the final sheet below. This method can also beused for transferring construction drawings to heavy card ,fashion board, canvas or any other solid opaque material onwhich the final rendering might be made.

Once the drawing has been transferred to the final sheet itis possible to commence the rendering.

Whether pencil, pen , or brush is used, the pattern of lightand shade, shadow, contrasts, textures and atmosphericeffect will be the same . In other words, the means of ex­pression may vary but the value pattern of an object or viewwill not, unless the conditions under which it is seen arechanged.

Page 85: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

100 Vincent Van Gogh ,Vagrant with Hat and Stick,1882. Van Gogh usedbeautifully controlledcontrasts for this pencildrawing .

81

Page 86: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

82

Contrast

The basic tonal pattern (shown here [101] in diagrammaticform with flat ungraded tones) demonstrates that constrast,or difference in tone, is responsible for much of the illusionof the change of direction of the surfaces.

Page 87: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

101 The basic tonalpattern.

102 Maximum contrast isseen in the foreground ;contrasts between light anddark surfaces are greaternearer to the observer anddiminish as distanceincreases.

83

Page 88: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

103 A rend ering of a cube .

The introduction of atmosph eric effect to the surfaces ofthe cube causes each tone to be slightly mod ified in value asthe surfaces recede from the observer. This means that thecloses t pa rt of a surface is seen at its trues t value or colourand also th at the area of greatest contrast will occur wherethese surfaces meet (103, 104) .

This is con sistent wit h atmospheric effect and basic op­tical laws. As each surface recedes from the observer's eye itsvalue tends towar ds neutrality and the contrast betweenthese sur faces will be reduced. Naturally, the further theyrecede into the distance the nearer to tru e neutrality the ywill become until ultimately all will become neutral andindistinguishable by the observer.

Because the sur faces of the cube in the illustration do notextend to great distances from the observer's eye the atmos­pheric effect on them must be fairly slight but, because allthree are seen as dynamic planes, the y cannot be rendered asflat tones. To do so would impl y that the y are static planes ,which is a contradiction of all the other visual informationin the drawing. The atmospheric effect must be clear enoughto be seen, but it should not be so ob vious that it dominatesthe rendering.

104 A diagram of truevalue s.

84

TRUEST VALUE (LIGHTEST)

TRUEST VALUE

TRUEST VALUE --r- ___.

Page 89: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

MORE

Ik- --OBSERVER . ===-:_------.

---.....

LESS

Each dyna mic surface of the cube seen by the observer isat a different angle to his centre line of vision, so the threesurfaces appear to recede at different rates. Because of this,each will have a slightly different amount of greying of theton e on its surface. Here (105) the dista nces are compa ra ­tively sma ll an d therefore the differences in the ra te of grey­ing will be very small. Tho ugh this point is only a minor one,it is made beca use many inexperienced renderers exaggera tethe atmospheric effect so much that the furthest value seenon a surface in shade is of ten shown as a lighter value thanthe furthest value of a side seen in light. Under no rmal con ­ditions, in a cube of the size shown here, this is impossi ble. Ifthe atmospheric effect is understood it sho uld be obvio usthat the neutralizing effect on any surface seen in light cou ldnever cause it to be seen as a value darker than that on a sur­face seen in shade, no ma tter what distance varia tions areinvo lved.

Th is rend er ing (106) of the cube seen fro m the positionshown in the preceding illustration shows dramaticallyexaggerated value changes instea d of the sub tle, even onesthat are consistent with basic op tical laws. Th e exaggera tedgrada tion implies eno rmous varia tions in distance from theobserve r's eye but the implied size of the cube is no morethan a metre or so. A litera te observer confronted with suchconflicting evidence becomes confused and frustra ted withthe pictu re because it is not consistent with basic optica llaws and, therefore, does not offer evidence that is consist­ent wit h realit y. Becau se the rendering fails to com muni catea clear picture of the cube in graphically literate terms it isuns uccessful.

105 A plan of an observerlooking at a cube .

106 Exaggeratedatmospherics.

85

Page 90: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

107 A complete renderingof a cube and groundplane .

108 A rendering of a cutblock and base plane .

86

In the correct interpretat ion of the atmospheric effect onth e cub e, the maximum constrast on the drawing will be be­tween the nearest part of the shadow cast by the object andthe plan e in light on which the shadow is cast (107).

Basic optical laws esta blish that constrasts decrease asdistance from the observer's eye increases. To achieve thisreduced contrast between the distant shadow and its adjac­ent lit area, the ground plane must be rendered with atmos­ph eric effect to relate the cube to its base plane. In otherwords, atmospheric effect must be applied to everythingwithin the picture are a, not just some selected surfaces . Re­member thi s, for it can often make the difference betweengood and bad renderings, even in simple ones such as thoseused to illustrate the basic principles in th is book.

This rendering is completed with the introdu ction of amid -value background plane to redu ce the cont rasts on themost distant parts of the cube and the background. Thebackground in conjunction with the dynamic base planehelps greatly to increase the illusion of distance.

The addition here (108) of the rendered ground plane toth e cut block first pr esented in (69) has introduced anotherdynamic plane, which helps the illusion of a third dimen-

Page 91: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

sion. If the ground plane is not rendered with its atmos­pheric effect the observer is again faced with conflictinginformation. He 'knows' that the base on which the object isplaced is a horizontal dynamic plane, but because it isoffered in the rendering as a flat, even tone it seems to be avertical static plane. This may appear pedantic, but the stu­dent of pictorial representation is reminded that, to be visu­ally and graphically literate, it is necessary to present all ofthe evidence in a pictorial representation in accordance withbasic optical laws. If this is not done confusion can and oftendoes result.

•I •I109 Black on white, whiteon black .

110 Dark grey on light grey.

It is an observable fact, supported by research, that theeye is attracted by strong contrasts, e.g. black on white,white on black, black on yellow, red on white, white on red,green on white. The maximum contrast of black on white(109) is normally used for the printed text in books andnewspapers because experience has shown that such a prac­tice makes print easier to read.

If, for example, medium grey on a slightly lighter greywere used (110), the contrast would be greatly reduced,making it more difficult to differentiate between the lettersand the background. The fact that different degrees of con­trast have different impacts on the human eye has beenknown and used in art and graphics for many centuries.

87

Page 92: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

111 A palaeolith ic cavepainting of a bison , inLascaux in the Dordogneregion of France. From theearliest times contrast hasbeen used to drawattention to the mostimportant part of a picture.

88

As Western art has develo ped from the palaeolithic era(111), so has the practice of drawing attention to the mostimportant parts of a picture (the centre of interest) by creat­ing maximum contrasts in those pa rts . Students are encour­aged to examine Durer's The Four Horsem en of theApocalypse (112) an d other masterp ieces of Western art tocon firm this fact for themselves. The observa nt student willsee that other devices have also been used to draw attentionto the important parts of the pict ure, but contrast is ou rmain concern here . The com petent artist knows that hemust build maximum contrast at the cent re of interest of hispicture and that the other contrasts must be controlled sothey do no t com pete wit h the main centre of interest.

The student is reminded of the basic pr inciples of designor composition, thou gh a full discussion of them is outsidethe scope of this book. These principles are: Proportion,Rhythm, Unity and Dominance, Balance, Harmony andSelection, Contrast.

Some authorities split unity and dominance, and har­mon y and selection into separate uni ts but, whether thebasic pri nciples are considered as six or eight units, exac tlyth e same basic ideas are expressed. In any valid design,whether two-dimensional or three-dimension al, these prin­ciples must be satisfied. Because of the importance of thebasic principles of design (composition), students shouldstudy them in conjunction with thei r other studies in art,design or graphics so that all aspects of communicating withgraphics are developed simulta neo usly. Everything shou ldbe used to contrib ute to the real purpose of the graphic rep­resentation, which is to comm unica te an image even if theimage is that of an idea .

Page 93: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

112 Alb rech t DOrer, TheFour Horsemen of theApocalypse, woodcut,1498 . DOrer used contrastto draw attention to what hecons idered to be the mostimportant parts of thiswoodcut.

89

Page 94: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

113 Controlled contrastscan create the illusion of athird dimension, which canbe subdued or exagge r­ated as required .

90

Contrasts created in accordance with basic optical lawscan be used as composition al elements, but within the con­text of pictorial representati on th is is one of the most diffi­cult and complex problems to be faced. Contras t isimportant because of its cont ribution to the location ofobjects or surfaces in relation to on e another and to the pic­tur e area as a whole. By cont ro lling cont rasts, the relativeimportance of various elements and their distance from theobserver can be established.

This illustration (113) relies almost entirely on the controlof contrasts for its illusion of the third dimension . In accord­ance with the principles of design, the greatest contrasts arein the area of the cent re of interest and they establish the lo­catio n of the surfaces in th is area in relation to the observer.All of the other surfaces, because of their various degrees ofcontrast, take up their po sitions relative to the surfaces es­tab lished in the area of the centre of interest. Minimum useis made of con ventional perspective and shadow construc­tion with the major factor in creating a strong illusion of athird dimension bein g the contro l of contrasts.

From th is examplei t can be seen how maximum contrastscould be used to establish the distance between the obser­ver's eye and the object. At least thi s could be done if themaximum cont rasts in the drawing were used on the closestobject or part of an object and all others subo rdina ted. Inother words, by increasi ng the contrast in a rendering thedistance between that increased contras t and the observer'seye will be effectively decreased.

Page 95: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

Rendering cylinders, cones and spheres

The principle of contrasts decreasing as the distance be­tween them and the observer's eye increases can be deve- .loped so that shapes other than cubes and rectangularprisms can be rendered. For example, cylinders, cones andspheres are made up of dynamic planes which need carefulanalysis before they can be rendered so that their shapes andforms are clearly expressed.

114 Cylinders, cones andspheres.

91

Page 96: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

115 A line drawing of acylinder.

116 The bas ic tonal patternfor a cyl inder .

92

The cylinder , which is the simplest of this group of shapes,is made up of two parallel circular ends and a dynamiccurved plane at right angl es to the ends (115). If the cylinderis placed on on e of its ends it is fairl y simple to analyse itsbasic tonal pattern. As with an y other shape to be rendered,a light sour ce must first be located in relati on to the objectand the observer's chosen eye po sition. Because the lightra ys from the sun are pa rallel, one half of the cylinder will bein light and one half will be in shade.

LIGHT RAYS FROM THE SUN

This illustration (116) shows how the light rays from thesun create the basic tonal pattern of the cylinder. Th e sha­dow cast by the cylinder on the base plane will sta rt from thelower ends of the line of sepa ra tion on the vert ical surface.The value relationships of the sur faces of the cylinder aresimilar to those of the cube discussed earlier, but with oneimportant difference: the verti cal surface of the cylinderrecedes from the ob server at a constantly increasing rate ,whereas the vertical surface of a cube recedes at a constantrate.

Page 97: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

The gradation of the tone on the vertical surface of acylinder will accelerate as the sur face recedes from theobserver, i.e, the greying process will increase at a faster ratethan on the side of a cube (117).

In this cylinder, the truest value of the horizontal top sur­face will be at the front (118). As this surface recedes fromthe observer it will be affected by atmospherics and becomeslightl y greyer. The nearest part of the vertical surface seenin light is adjacent to the line of separation and naturally itstruest value will be seen in this area. Because of atmosphericeffect and the increasing rate at which this surface recedesfrom the observer, the rate of greying of the value will beslightly increased as it moves round the curve of the surface.

That part of the vertical surface seen in shade nearest tothe observer's eye is also near the line of separation. The lineof separation is located on what can be described as the 'flat­test' part of the curved surface that this observer sees, i.e.where the rate of atmospheric greying is at its slowest, so amuch larger area of shade than light can be considered closeto his eye. Because of this, the gradation caused by atmos­pheric effect will not commence at the line of separation as itdid on the part of the surface seen in light. The darkest valuewill remain more or less constant over that small, ' flatter'part of the surface, but as its rate of receding from the obser­ver's eye increases so the rate of greying will increase (119) .

LI GHT

LIGHT DARK

.I NE OF SEPA ATION

117 A linear diagram of thegradation on the surface ofa cylinder.

SH A DE

SHADOW

118 A tonal diagramshowing gradation on thesurface of a cylinder.

119 A rendering of thecylinde r.

93

Page 98: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

120 On a curved surface ,there is a 'softening' effectof the line of separationinstead of the 'hard', sharpline when surfaces abruptlychange direction.

94

Page 99: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

In th is way the basic optica l laws are satisfied and theinformation offered by the finished rendering is consistentwith them. The shado w cast on the horizontal base planewill also be subject to atmos pheric effect and will grey as thedistance from the observer's eye increases.

Obs ervation of realit y shows that the line of separationon the surface of a cylind er is not a hard, sharp line betweenthe light and shade as it is on a cube , where a sharp change ofdirection of plane s is also involved. Th e line of separation onthe vert ical surfa ce of a cylinder is a soft diffu sed line, whichis expressed as an ar ea of very rapid change from light todark (120). Thi s area of change is fairl y small because thevalue change mu st be very dr amatic if it is to present a con­vincing visual message (121).

121 An explanation of theline of sepa ration.

I ELEVATION

I LiNE OF SEPARATION

f:"7:~,.,.,..,..,.-...,.- =-~""

I ELEVATION

PLAN PLAN

The rendering of the cylind er in (119) is the result of idealconditions being used and it does not take into account anypo ssible additional reflections which may result from otherobjects or sur faces, whic h ma y be located in positions thatmight affect what is seen. Nor does it take into accountanything other than a smooth, light surface on the cylinder.Other types of surfaces would reflect light rays to the ob ser­ver' s eye in different wa ys resulting in different visual mess­ages. Irre spective of the material of which the cylinder mightbe made, it is the rend erer's prime responsibility to presentan image of a cylindrical sha pe and then indicate a specificsurface material and/or colour.

95

Page 100: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

122 A group of fourcylinders of differentmaterials.

96

Four cylinders (one of them is hollow) of different ma­terials and values are seen here (122) under differe nt idea lcondition s. Note that altho ugh the locat ion of the observe rand the light so urce may alter in relation to the cylinder, theton al pattern and atmosph eric effect remain valid. Irrespec­tive of whether the cylinder is white or black the relationshipof the surface ton es remai ns the same. Th e darkest of allvalues will be seen in the shadow cast on the horizontal baseplane.

An exception to the forego ing could be a white object on awhite base plane (not illustrated). In that case the white baseplane could cause an upset to the basic to na l pattern if theobserver's eye were locat ed wh ere unu sual reflections wereallowed to interfere with the ideal conditions used to createthe basic tonal pattern. Obviously, the use of a da rker valuebase plane for a white object would tend to darken the shadean d shadow areas whereas a white base plane wo uld tend tolighten th em. Ano ther variation could occur when a blackob ject is placed on a wh ite base plan e. Th en it wo uld bemo st likely th at the shadow cast by the object on that baseplane would appear lighter th an the shade area on the verti­cal surface .

Page 101: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

The student is warned that the modifica tion or upset ofthe basic tonal pattern by the introduction of special con ­ditions does not destroy its validity. In (123) the observer islocated so that he sees no vertical surfaces in light.Obviously it is possible to change the basic tonal pattern ofthese cylinders or any ot her objec t by con trolling the reflec­tion of light rays. In some cases th is is necessary but it is notsome thing which sho uld be attempted by the inexp erienced.Inpractice the basic ton al pattern is not an absolute, nor is itsome thing whic h must be rigidly adhered to at all timesirrespective of specia l sets of condi tions. It is exactly wha t itis claimed to be, a basis for the po rtrayal of form . On ce thebasic tonal pattern is mastered, students can experimentwith it and develop it to their own specia l requ irement s. Ifthis is done wit hin the confines of basic optical laws and thereasons for any variation are clearly expressed in the pic­torial rep resentation, the result shoul d be successful.

123 Two renderedcylinders.

97

Page 102: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

124 A rendering of a glasscylinder.

125 A glass cylinder shownon a light and a dark base .

Portraying a cylinder made of a transparent materialcreates a new set of problems for the renderer. If the cylinderis made of glass, only two visual elements, transparency andreflected light, are available to the renderer (124). There willbe no shade area on the cylinder because there are noopaque surfaces to be turned awa y from the light source,and the shadow will be different from that cast by opaqueobjects because light will be able to travel through the objectwith varying degree s of efficiency depending on the angle atwhich the light rays strike the glass surfaces. For the ren­derer to take advantage of the special characteristics of glasshe must take great care when deciding the conditions underwhich the cylinder is to be viewed.

One method that is effective in the portrayal of glass isfound in photography. Many experienced photographersoften use a matt black base and background with carefullycontrolled lighting conditions to display the glass to thecamera lens (126). In this way, advantage is taken of thevarying degrees of transparency and the rather dramaticlight reflections observed when looking at a glass objectfrom a fixed eye position.

In one example in (125) a glass cylinder has been set up inthe same way as that described for the photograph of a glassobject. The illusion of glass is very strong, as might beexpected when ideal conditions have been used for the ren­dering.

98

Page 103: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

Wh en a light ton e is used as a base plane and backgroundthe problems of rendering glass ar e increased. Whil streflected light is st ill important, its importance is reducedand tr ansparency or the lack of it becomes the main elementof th e visua l message. Th e whole expression under thesecondition s becomes mor e difficult becau se of th e almos tcomp lete lack of really strong light and dark contrasts o f thetype seen in the first exa mple. Once these strong cont ras tsare denied to th e renderer, the problems of producing asatisfacto ry renderin g are greatly increased and work mustbe carried out in a very subtle manner to achiev e a validresult. The illustration sho ws a cylinder rendered under theconditions described, and though it lack s the dramatic im­pact of the one placed agains t the black background it stillpresents a satisfactory picture of glass.

126 The effects ofreflection and transparencyare more dramatic whenglass is placed against ablack background .

99

Page 104: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

127 This deta il (right) fromHans Holbein theYounger 's 1532 portra it ofGeorg Gisze (above)shows his masterlyrender ing of a glass vase.

100

The abili ty to dr aw glass or any other mat erial or textureis very much dependent on knowing what to draw. Th eph ysical drawing skills, though important, do not necess­arily playa decisive role in the process, bu t by the time moststuden ts have acquired the knowledge of wh at to draw theyhave also acquired sufficient skill to express that knowledgepictorially.

Page 105: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

The cone is a slightly more complex subject than the cylin­der inasmu ch as its curved surface slopes instead of being atright angles to its end (128). Inman y ways the rendering of acone is similar to that of a cylinder, particularly with regardto the surfaces seen in light and sha de and the line of sepa r­ation.

LIGHT RAY FROM THE SUN

128 A line drawing of acone .

129 The basic tonal patternfor a cone.

A simple ana lysis of the light and shade, and shadowareas shows th at each behaves similarly to those of the cylin­der, except th at the light and shade surfaces are slopinginstead of vertical and the cone has no horizontal surface inlight .

The diagr am (129) shows how the light rays from the suncrea te the basic tonal pattern of the cone. As with the cylin­der , the shadow cast by the cone will sta rt from the bottomof the line of separation on the sloping curved surface.

101

Page 106: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

130 Plan of a cone and itsshadow.

131 A linear diagram of thegradation on the surface ofa cone.

102

On e point to note is th at the line of separation of a conedoes not meet the ends of a diameter of the base as it does onthe cylinder. The light rays can tr avel further round thecone's sloping surface than round a vertica l one and thisresults in a greater are a of the surface being seen in light thanin shade. The plan (130) shows the line of sepa ration of thecone and the shadow cast on a hori zontal base plane.

LINE OF SEPARATION

The atmospheric effect causes a gradation of the tones ofthe light and shade are as and it is important to note thateach follows the tapering of the curved sur face to the apex ofthe cone (13 1, 132 ). Any horizontal section throu gh thecone will be circul ar in shape. Because of this, the roundshape of th e curved surface of the cone must be expressed tothe very apex of the cone by rendering the gradation of thelight and sha de tones over the entire height of the cone. It isth is condition which makes the cone a little more difficult torender th an the cylind er.

Page 107: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

The rendering of the cone follow s very closely the patternfor the cylinder (133). Th e truest value of the light, shadeand shadow areas will be seen in the areas nea rest to theobserver's eye and as these are as recede their values will tendto neutralize. The line of separation will again be a diffusedarea of very quic k value change from dark to light rathertha n a sha rp line.

132 A tonal diagramshowing gradation on thesurface of a cone .

133 A finished render ing ofa cone .

103

Page 108: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

134 A group of four conesof different materials.

135 Render ings oftranspa rent cones againstwhite and blackbackgrounds.

104

This illustratio n (134) shows a number of cones of differ­ent materials and values seen under different conditions.Though the location of the observer's eye and the lightsource might alter in relation to the cone, the tonal patternremains valid as does the atmospheric effect.

When considering transparent cones such as those madeof glass or similar materials, the conditions already de­scribed for the glass cylinder still apply. The only specialpoint to note is that the shadow becomes a very importantclue to the material of which the cone is made. The light rays

Page 109: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

will travel more easily through that part of the cone whichthey strike more directly than those parts of the surfacewhich form acute angles to the direction of the light rays . Asa result, the sha dow cast by the cone will have a dar ker oute redge which gradua lly beco mes light er towards the middle(135). This ph enom enon can be seen when a drinking glassis plac ed in sunlight.

Light rays can travel th rou gh a glass surface more easilythan they can pass th rou gh its edges (136). Simple experi­ment will show tha t it is easier to see through glass when theobserver's centre line of vision is at or near a right angle tothe surface of the glass than when his centre line of visionforms an angle of say five or ten degrees to the surface of theglass.

136 The light patch in theshadow ofth is drinkingglass demonstrates thatfight is pass ing more easilythrough the central surfacearea of the glass thanthroug h the sides .

105

Page 110: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

137 A sheet of glass andan observer.

138 A sheet of glass in arendering .

106

VISUAL DPENETRATION •

SHEET OF GLASS• ''"'~"''J t?~EFLECT 'ON Z)

-OBSERVER

This principle is valid not only for cones and cylinders butfor all glass objects . Infact, it can be said that rendering glassis fairl y easy if the tr ansparency and reflecting ability of aglass surface ar e understood and care is used in placing theobject.

Because th e surface of a sheet of glass is highly reflective, itwill reflect light from the atmospher ic umbrella in the direc­tion of the observer's eye and thereby reduce his ability topenetrate visua lly the sheet of glass (13 7). Therefore, if thatpart of the rendering seen through the glass is reduced incontrast and value in compar ison with the area seen withoutth e glass, the result will be a conv incin g illusion of a sheet ofglass (138). In a sense, only the edges of the sheet of glassha ve been dr awn and the rest of the illusion is created byrendering the image of wh at is seen through it and the reflec­tion on its sur face. More simply, the rendering of glass is notso much a matter of being able to draw or render the ma­terial itself as of correctly inte rpreting its ability to reflectlight and what is seen through it.

Page 111: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

Rendering glass objects becomes a fairly simple process ifit is remembered that the basis of a good pictorial rep resen­tat ion is the ability to dr aw and render wha t is knowntogether with wha t is seen. In this way adva ntage can betaken of the knowl edge of ideal or near ideal condition seven when the object is not seen und er these conditions.

Th e most difficult of all shapes to rend er is a spherebecau se it is one complex, dynamic surfa ce. Th e surfacerecede s in all dire ctions from the obs erver , so the ent ire sur­face must be rend ered with gradation of values to commun­icate its roundness equ ally in its light and shade areas.

LIGHTLINE OF SEPARATION

SHADE

SHADOW

In the basic tonal pattern of this sphere (140) the line ofseparation and the shadow indicate that the light source is tothe left and behind the object. Because the light rays fromthe sun are parallel, the line of separation must be at rightangle s to them and will divide the sphere exactly in halves.(This is explained fully in Creative Perspe ctive.) With thelight source established, it is possible to locate the area seenin light and that seen in shade and then the parts in light andshade whi ch are nearest to the observer's eye.

139 A line draw ing of asphere and its shadow.

140 The basic tonal patte rnof a sphe re.

107

Page 112: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

LINE OF SEPARATION--

SHADE--II---

---- ----

141 A diagram of anobserver rooking at asphere (side eleva tion).

Because the observer's eye level is above the sphere (141),the areas in light and shade which are closest to the obse r­ver's eye will be towards the top of the sphe re rath er than inthe middle.

142 The contour 'map' of asphere. LIN E OF SEPARATION

LIGHTEST VALUE

DARKER

DARKER

DARKEST VALUE

LIGH TER

LIG HTER

LIGHTER

LI GHTER

SHADOW

The surface of a sphere is completely dynamic, i.e. itrecedes in all directions from the observe r's eye, so a dia­gra m of its 'average contours' can be useful as a guide to thegrad at ion s of the surface tones (142).

108

Page 113: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

The lightest area on the sphere will be that part seen inlight nearest to the observer's eye and the darkest area willbe the part seen in shade nearest to the observer's eye. As thesurfaces seen in light and in shade recede from the observer'seye, both will be subject to atmospheric effect and will grad­ually become greyer. This greying effect will accelerateslightl y as it nears the outer part of the sphere, because therethe surface is receding at an increasing rate.

The line of separation on a sphere is in reality a soft dif­fused line which is rendered as an area of very quick changefrom light to dark. However, in the rapidly receding outerarea of the sphere seen by the observer the line of separationbecomes almost impossible to identify. The shadow cast bythe sphere will be the darkest value on the drawing. Thisrendering (143) shows how the darker shadow in conjunc­tion with the gradation on the surface of the sphere increasesthe illusion of a third dimension and roundness on thesphere. One danger when drawing and rendering spheres isallowing the original contour lines to remain as valuechanges on the surface. Remember that these contour linesare only guides for rendering and the finished surface mustappear smooth and without any sudden changes of value.Another point worth mentioning is that the lightest part ofthe surface of a sphere seen in light should not be a whitespot with hard edges, because such a spot will create the il­lusion of a hole rather than a light part of the surface. Everypart of the surface should be rendered as a dynamic plane,for any area which does not have gradation of value willtend to spoil the smooth roundness of the surface and the il­lusion of the sphere.

143 A finished rendering ofa sphere.

109

Page 114: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

144 A group of fourspheres of differe ntmaterials.

Each of these four spheres (144) is of a different materialor value bu t seen under the same lighting conditions. In eachcase the first concern of the renderer must be to indicate thespherical shape, because without this there is little point inattempting to express a specific material; the basic shape ofthe object must be evident before another aspect can besuccessfully introduced. This is very much the case whenattempting to render glass spheres.

145 A rende ring of twoglass sphe res, on light anddark backg rounds .

110

Dark and light bases and backgrounds have been used inthese illustrations (145) and, as may be expected, the ex­ample with the dark base and background has the more dra­matic impact and the more conv incing illusion of glass. It isalso the easier of the two renderings to produce. However,both examples are convincing renderings of glass spheresbecause both exploit the optical principles in the creation ofthe visual message, which is consistent with reality.

Page 115: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

180 0 AREA OF REFLECTION SEENIN A CHROME SPHERE

,- - --I/ / I

// I

/ I/ I/I\\\\

\

"' " I.......... --- -.JI

A chro me sphere offers the renderer another set of con­ditions (146). Though it is an opaque solid its reflecting sur ­face is much mo re efficient th an that of the tr ansparent glasssphere . Th e surface of a chrome sphere is an almos t perfectreflector which will reflect every thing within its reflectiveran ge incl uding th e base on which it is placed, its ow n sha­dow, th e observer, the light sou rce and the atmos phe ric um­bre lla all round it. Light stri king it will be reflected withvir tually no reductio n in strength. Becau se of th is, the obser­ver will see detailed images reflected by the surface facing inthe gene ra l direction of his eye. He will see strong cont ras tsand even the smallest change of values on the surface of anyreflected object. Ob servat ion of rea lity will confirm that noline of sepa ra tio n is visible on its surface, but it is essentialfor the renderer to locat e it in the perspective constructionbecause he will need it to be able to construc t the shado wcast by the sphere.

I- -+---

146 A rendering of achrome sphere.

147 A chrome spherereflects an area of 180degrees.

Th e surface of th e chr om e sphere seen by the observe rreflects an area of approxima tely 180 degrees both hori zon­tally an d vert ically, at right angles to his centre line of vision(14 7). Therefore, an object reflected by the surfac e will beseen by th e observer as a considera bly condens ed image fol­lowin g the curve of the surface of the sphere. Th e image hesees of himself, being on th at part of the sphere near est tohim , will have far less distortion and will appea r less con­densed. Everythi ng in fro nt of tha t circumference of thesphere which represents its full ext ent seen by the observerwill be reflected on the half of the sphere at which he is look­mg.

111

Page 116: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

{

IIIIII

OBJECT _ .

OBJECT .

,-,

-,-,

"-,-,,

-,-, I" .""REFLECTING CY LINDER

--). ; /»>: --

--~ -::::::::- ---- ",

~~:==-~ -~- ~~:~~l- - --- -~ ~-=-- - - .--- // I..::::::= =- - //--::::::::::: -=:::::::::< /// {' 'I.>: ..::::::::

»> r /__ I I»>: / /

.:: / // /

/ // /

/ // /

/ // /

/ /..:,/_ - - - - - - _-1

OBSE RVER

OBJECT,'

148 A simple explanationof reflections.

If the character of the distortions seen in the reflection s ofa highl y reflective sphere is und erstood in general terms it ispossible to con struct images from the imagination or ofobjects which have yet to be built or manufactured. This is adistinct advantage to the designer, sculptor or artist.

Students are advised to explore further this aspect ofreflection because a great deal can be learned from informedob servation. Carefully taken photographs can also be ofeno rmous assistance in this as well as other areas and a refe­rence file of photographs of various objects, materials andtextur es under different lighting conditions will be in­dispensable to the serio us student .

112

Page 117: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

149 A multi-sided object:an octagon .

RAYS

150 Plan of an octagonwith li~ht rays andreflections.

7.~

<,_ '" F1£R..B:T8) lLHT RAY

" - ",- -l _ ~

<, <, -, <,~ <, -, <,

I <, ,, '"

. -, <, "7dI -, -,

CENTl£ LN: I <, <, :0~RALLEL LGHTCF VISOl <, FROM THE SUN. I <,1(REFlECTED LIGHT 'AY

TO SPECTATOR

SHADOW

~------RER.ECTED UGHT RAY

A multi-s ided object such as an octagon (149) has much incommon with cylinders and cones, except that the multi­sided object has positive changes of direction betweenplanes. The tonal values of the various planes of the octagonare determined by the location of the source of the light rays.

tI£R.ECTED LIGHT RAY

I

As with other objects, the top horizontal plane will be thelightest value and the plane seen in shade will be the darkestvalue on the surface of the object; the shadow cast on thehorizontal ground plane will be the darkest value of all. Theoctagon shown has three vertical planes in three differentdirections seen in light, and one in shade which is in anotherdirection. The three vertical surfaces seen in light willappear as three different values because, as the plan diagramshows (150), the angle of incidence and reflection of thelight rays is different for each of these planes. Plane 1 willreflect more light rays in the direction of the observer's eyethan will any of the other vert ical planes and so will have thelightest value of the vert ical planes .

113

Page 118: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

X/"

/'/'

/'/'

..LREFLECTED LIGHTI?' RAY

INE OF SEPARATION

PARALLEL LIGHT RAYSFROM THE SUN

TO SPECTATOR

151 Plan of a cylinder withlight rays and reflections,

152 A cube with threesurfaces seen in light.

114

When this principle of the reflection of light rays isapplied to curved surfaces, such as those of a cylinder, itreinforces the results obtained using only the principles ofatmospheric effect. This diagram (151) shows that the onlylight rays reflected back from the curved surface of the cylin­der towards the observer are those from the areas seen inlight, and the most efficient reflection is from that part of thesurface nearest the observer. This basic principle of lightreflection can be developed and used to produce more effec­tive renderings.

An important area of rendering where an understandingof reflected light rays is essential for a correct tonal interpre­tation is where all of the surfaces seen by the observer are inlight. For example, the cube in the above illustration (152) islocated so that light strikes all three surfaces seen by theobserver.

Page 119: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

The direction of the light rays is such that the horizontaltop surface will be the lightest value, the vertical surface onthe right will be slightly da rker and the other vertical sur­face, because it tends to reflect light rays awa y from theobserver, will be the darkest value of the three surfaces seenby the observer.

Sloping surfaces add a further need for refinement of thetonal relationships of the surfaces of ob jects. Logically, asloping surface must be a value somewhere between that ona horizontal surface and th at on a vertical surface when allthree are seen together in light or in shade. The value on aslop ing surface is directly related to its angle of inclination,so that when it is almost horizontal its value will be fairlylight. As one end is progressively raised to bring the surfacecloser to a vertical position its value will becom e pro­gressively darker. This illustration (153) shows that whenthe sloping surfaces are related tonally to the vertical sur ­faces a strong illusion of a third dimension can be achieved.

Light rays are reflected, at least to some degree, by almostevery surface they strike and even shade and shadow can beaffected by reflected light. Light reflected from other sur­faces on to objects that form the subject or part of the sub­ject of a rendering needs to be considered very carefull y. Inthe majority of cases its effects should be modified ratherthan exaggerated because they can upset the tonal pattern ofan object and unnece ssaril y present the renderer with ad­ditional problems.

153 A rendering of anobject with slopingsurfaces.

115

Page 120: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

r25o<l::rIII

154 An explanat ion of theeffects of reflected light onthe overhanging eaves ofbUildings. L----l'-------"'-----"'-----"_---"_.....:.._-"-_....:oL._..l'.- GROUND

In spite of the danger fro m extraneo us reflected light andth e wa rn ing to use extreme care when dealing with it, thereare instances where it can be used to advantage. An exam pleof reflected light upsetting shade and sha dow to adva ntagecan be seen un der the overhanging eaves of buildings (154).Becau se of its locati on , the und erside of the overhang wouldbe expected to be dark er in value than the shadow it casts onthe wall, but observa tion shows that such is not the case.Th e shadow cast on the wall is a darker value than the shadeon th e underside of the overhang. Th e reason for this rever­sal of the expected tonal relations hip is explained in the dia­gram , which sho ws tha t light rays are reflected from thegro und plane to the wall plane, including the part in sha­dow, but from both the gro und plane and the wall plane tothe underside of the eave overh ang. It is the underside of theeave overhang, not the part of the wall in shadow, which re­ceives more reflected light rays to reflect back in the direc­tion of the observer. Th is causes the und erside of the eave tobe the lighter value. The light rays relecred from the eaveoverhang back towards the observer are no t shown, but

155 A sculptured block.

116

Page 121: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

SPECTATOR

the ir direction sho uld be understood easily. Thi s effect canbe best demonstrated with an exa mple which depend s tosome degree on the interp reta tion of reflected light to pro­duce a convincing rend erin g.

Th e sculptur ed block (155) shows how a consi stentsource of reflected light from the left has been used to lightenthe sha de areas which , in turn, intensify the illusion of achange of direction between sur faces seen in shade andtho se seen in shado w. Without th is difference in value,much of the illusion of a convi ncing third dimension andsome of the details of the shape of the object wo uld be lost,to the detriment of the finished renderin g.

"" LIGHT RAY

V

~' ~ '\"CI (; .... _ "

\' ---- -- - - "" I

REFLECTED LIGHT /- - - 7fHIGHl IGH,TRAY DIRECT TO -- -SPECTATOR 'S EYE

/

OBJECT

Th e final aspect of reflected light to be dealt with here isthe much misundersto od ph enomenon known as the high­light (156). The highlight is common on objects with reflec­tive surfaces but is very seldom seen as clearly on objectsthat have matt surfaces. The diagram shows how light rayscan strike a tiny area on an object's edge, which will very ef­ficiently reflect them directly back to the ob server 's eye. Thehighlight seen by the observer would be a line of intenselylight value at the intersection of the vertical and horizontalsurfaces. Ob servation is the best source of information andif highlights are applied with understand ing and extremecare they can be of con siderable value in a rendering.However, they can be unfortunate distractions if they arenot properly understood and used.

Whilst the example in this illustration is a simple one(157), it shows that one highlight can occur on a verticalcurved reflective surface and another, the very strong high­light , at the intersection of the vertical and the horizontalsurfaces.

156 A diagram showing thepath of a light ray and itsreflection which ISrespo nsible for a highlight.

157 A cyl inder with simplehighlights shown .

117

Page 122: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

118

Renderingglass

With a general understanding of these aspects of rendering itis possible to extend one's knowledge by studying specificmaterials and textures. Glass is usually a transparent ma­terial with highly reflective surfaces which can be colouredor colourless and it can have various surface treatments, e.g.smooth, ribbed or textured. The first use of glass to be dis­cussed here is for windows, where it is usually smooth sur­faced, transparent and colourless. Because glass has twosmooth surfaces which are highly reflective, rendering it is

Page 123: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

not so much a problem of dealing with glass as a material initself, but rather of dealing with the effect of things seenthrough it and/or reflected on its surfaces.

Observation shows that windows present a wide varietyof effects when seen from outdoors. Some look light, somelook dark, some are easily seen through and som e reflectwith almost mirror-like efficiency. Some are a mixture ofreflections and visual penetration, while others are combi­nations of all or some of these aspects. This may seem verycomplex, but any confusion can be eliminated if the basicprinciples are understood.

158 When seen from theexter ior, the appearance ofwindows depends on theviewing position withregard to visual penetrationand/or reflection .

119

Page 124: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

FULL VISUAL I'

PENETRATION

SHEET OF GLASS

OBSERVER

DECREA SING VISUAL PENE TRATIONINCREASI NG REFLECTION~

/ // L...-,.../'/

159 Plan of an observerlook ing at a sheet of glass.

160 As the angle betwe enthe centre line of vision andthe glass surface isdecreased , visua lpenetration is reduced.

For example, when the observer's centre line of vision is ator near right angles to the surface of the glass he has the bestchance of complete visua l pene tra tion (159). As the anglebetween the centre line of vision and the surface of the glassdecreases, visual penetration also decreases and the reflect­ing ability of the glass surface increases. Simp le experimentwill show that a very small angle will result in mirror-likereflections.

As with practically every aspect of graphic comm uni­cations, the lighting conditions are of pr ime impo rta nce towhat is seen when looking at glass in windows . Under differ­ent lighting conditions windows will provide the observerwith a var iety of differ ent visual messages.

120

Page 125: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

Perhap s the simplest conditions to portray when render­ing glass are when the observer is looking from outside intoa well-lit room at night (161). Under these conditions theglass in the window will be completely transparent, so theglass in the window is inferred rather than actually ren­dered. Becau se the glass would normally be expected to bebetw een the observer and the interior of the room and thereis no logical reason for the glass not to be in its normal pos­ition its pre sence is automatically accepted.

Similar reasoning applies when the observer is locat edinside a room loo king out of a window (162). Again, theglass is completely transparent and is accepted by inferencerather than by illustration.

161 Looking into anartif icially illuminated roomat night.

162 Looking out through awindow .

121

Page 126: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

163 A window in fullsunlight and another inshade or shadow.

122

. '.••

Unless affected by reflections, a window will look darkerth an the wall in which it is situated, even if the wall is insha de or shadow. Windows in walls which are seen in shadeor shadow allow greater visual penetration than those inwalls seen in full sunlight (163). A wall in sunlight reflectsmore light rays than one in shade or shadow, so that the con­trast between the sun lit wall and the window will be verygreat and the window will appear to be almost black. This ispro bab ly the most commonly seen condition, especially inareas where the majority of buildings are of a domesticscale. The reason for this very dark appearance of the win­dow area is that the interior of the room behind the windowis much darker than the outside wall seen in sunlight. Underthese conditions the iris of the eye adjusts to a smaller aper­ture to accommodate the brightly lit area and therebyredu ces its ability to see into the darkened interior.

If the window is seen when the wall is in shade or shadowthe exterio r and interior lighti ng conditions are much closerto each other, con trast is grea tly reduced and it is easier topenetrate visuall y the room behind the window. A windowseen in shade or shadow will be slightly darker than the wall

Page 127: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

••

••••

but the difference is not nearl y as dramatic as when the wallis in sunlight.

It should be pointed out that the basic principles illus­trated and discussed here are not intended as an inflexib leset of rules for rendering all windows under all conditions.They are a starting point which, if combined with informedobservation, should enable windows under any realis ticconditions to be rendered in a believable way.

Two special sets of conditions are now worth examining(164). The first is where a shadow falls on part of a windowthe rest of which is in sunlight. The shadow on the glass willallow greater visual penetration of that area, which willtherefore appear as a slightly lighter value than the area insunlight.

The second of these special conditions is the window fit­ted with curtains or drapes. Because the window is seen infull sunlight the shadows of the window members play animportant role in this rendering. The curtains or drapes aretreated as any other opaque surface seen in sunlight and inall other aspects this rendering follows the principles dis­cussed previously.

164 One window part ially inshade , another withcurta ins.

123

Page 128: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

165 A diagram showing thetrans ition from visualpenet ration of lower-levelwindows to full skyreflection in the upperwindows of a multistoreybuilding.

As previously stated, the two main characteristics of glassin buildings are its transparency and its reflective capacity.The effects of these characteristics are largely dependent onthe location of the light source in relation to the glass and theobserver and are very important when viewing a large mul­tistorey building (165). For example, an observer lookingup at the windows of a multistorey building will see the skyreflected in the upper windows and, under normal con­ditions, will be able to see through the glass into the lowerfloors where visual penetration will be even easier if theinterior is art ificially lit.

LIGHT RAYS REFLECTED ""FROM THE SKY ..,.'"

ANGLE CF INCIDENCEEQUALS

ANGLE OF REFLECTION

//

//

//

//

//

/ // / ------ - -

oesERVER

124

FULL REFLECTION

UTTLE rn NO VISUALF£t£TRATOJ I STRONGREFLECTION

SOME VISUAL PEI'.£TRATOO

FULL VISUAL PENETRATON

Page 129: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

LIGHT RAYSREFLECTEDFROM THE SKY /'

/'/'

-( jmIDIlIDIlIIIlIIIIIDI~/'

/'/'

/'/' R

/'/'

/'/'

./CONE OF /'./VISION /'

) //'

/'/'

/'/'

-:.......:

/h

CENTRE UNE OF VISION- --- -- - - - - - - - - - - - --- - - - -

MULT ISTOREYBUILDING

•SOME REFLECTION•SOME VISUALPENETRATION

-INCREASINGVISUALPENETRATION

J

Evidence confirming the principles illustrated in the dia­gram is much more easily seen in very tall buildings than in abuilding of the height shown. Nevertheless, this observerwould see in the upper windows of this building a strong skyreflection which would gradually disappear as he movedfurther back from the building. Of course a rendering wouldnever be attempted from such a close station point unlessonly a detail was required.

To set up a perspective view of the whole building, the dis­tance between the building and the observer would have tobe increased until the whole of the building could be con­tained within the observer's cone of vision. Thi s increaseddistance between the building and the observer would,under normal conditions, allow greater visual penetrationof the upper windows and an almost total elimination of skyreflection from them (166).

This should be obvious, because the greater distance willincrease the angle between the visual ray and the windows,causing a reduction in reflections and a correspondingincrease in visual penetration. Simple observation will con­firm this, so it is sufficient to say that reflections on windowsin renderings should be logical and used with extreme care.

166 Another diagram of anobserver looking at abUilding, this time from agreater distance.

125

Page 130: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

REFLECT IONS

167 A simple rendering of asmall building.

126

SOME REFLECTIONS

III

Th is simplified example (167) shows that reflectionsoccur on those windows that are at the smallest angles to theobserver's sight lines, whilst visual penetration is restrictedto those windows that are nearer to perpen dicular to hissight lines.

When this elementa ry principle is applied to a much tallerbu ilding, the reflection of the sky in the windows becomesstronger with increasing height. Because this building islocated in a bu ilt-up area other buildings are reflected in thelower windows. The darker reflections of buildings allowgreater visua l penetration th an the lighter sky reflection butat the scale of th is illustra tion the visual penetra tion wouldbe virtua lly impossible to show. Under these circumstancesa comprom ise is accepted and these lower windows areshown dark and witho ut inte rio r detail.

A great deal can be learned from informed observationand once again the cam era can be of inestimable value instudying the effects of light and shade, or shadow on glass,in varying location s and in differing relationships to theob server and the light source.

A slightly different problem is presented by smaller glassob jects. For exa mple, a drinking glass still has all of the pro­pert ies of window glass, i.e. it is generally colourless, trans­parent and has reflective surfaces, but added to this it is ashaped hollow utensil usually based on a cylinder (168).Portraying a drinking glass is, therefore, basically a problemof visua l penetration, reflections and, to a slightly lesserdegree, of conventional light and shade.

Page 131: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

168 Sma ll glass objec ts stillhave the characteristics ofwindow glass but becauseof their shape and size,they present addeddifficulties for the renderer.

127

Page 132: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

The renderer's simplest approach to a drinking glass is theline drawing with a minimum of reflection and no light andshade. This is illustrated here (169) using four glasses; thesuggestion of glass is offered by using a minimum of evi­dence, all of which indicates that the material is colourless,transparent and highly reflective.

1 -~ I - - --;,' .1

~~~ ~~t~~~ k~ ~it169 Four drinking glasses . A similar approach can be used for other glass objects

such as a decanter, which is shown both empty and partiallyfilled (170). Again, the glass is only suggested and the obser­ver is given a minimum amount of evidence to confirm thatthe object is made of glass. The addition of a self-adhe sivefilm with a highlight provides the suggestion of liquid in thedecanter.

In each of these examples a sort of graphic shorthand isused to suggest glass rather than to render its texture. Thefact that glass is transparent and colourless poses a consider­able problem for the renderer, but fortunately its reflectivesurface is much easier to depict and it is th is which must beportrayed in a rendering. The lighting of glass objects is veryimportant and because glass also reflects images its place­ment and background are important.

170 Two vers ions of adecanter.

128

\ .

,~

Page 133: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

This illustration (171) demonstrates the value of a blackbackground when rendering a glass decanter where dra­matic contrasts of light and dark tones result in a convincingrendering.

Th is approach to rend ering glass is of con siderable valuewhen dealing with obj ects made of decorative, or 'cut' glass(172). The unm istakable texture of the glass is mainly due tothe strong contrasts between the reflected light and the darkbackground. The pattern of light and dark follows a simplelogic. When the glass surfaces are more or less at right anglesto the observer 's line of sight he sees through the glass tothe dark background. When the glass surfaces form acuteangles with or are parallel to his line of sight, reflection takesover and he sees light tones.

171 (inset) and 172 A smallglass decanter and one ofcut glass .

129

Page 134: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

130

173 A montage of glass objects.

Page 135: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

This montage (173) shows a variety of fairly common ex­amples of glass seen under various lighting conditions andwith different backgrounds. The rendering of glass is an in­teresting and challenging subject with a number of specialconditions which seem to contradict much of what has beendiscussed. Because of this it is worth repeating that if thebasic principles are applied, together with careful observa­tion , effective renderings of glass may be made.

Rendering water

Both water and glass are colourless, transparent and havereflecting surfaces. Perhaps the best way to introduce thesimilarities between rendering them is this illustration ofwater being poured from a bottle where both the glass andwater have cylindrical shapes and, though the water is amoving liquid, the two different materials look almost iden­tical (174). Renderings of this type are rarely requiredbecause water is usually seen in nature as a horizontal,smooth or rough surface, depending on a number of factorsincluding weather conditions.

174 Water being pouredfrom a bottle.

131

Page 136: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

175 Canaletto's render ingof water in this view of theentrance to the Piazzetta ,Venice, demonstrates howa simple techn ique basedon careful observation canbe very successfu l.

176 Depending on theviewing position, water canact as an almost perfectmirror , reflecting everythingin position and correctlyrelated to it and theobserver.

132

Page 137: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

Water with a completely smooth surface can be eithertransparent, as when contained in a swimming pool, or itcan be an almost perfect mirror (176). Its appearance isdependent on the angle at which the smooth surface is seen,the depth of the water and the reflecting ability of the bot­tom. In fact, water offers the observer a large variety ofeffects depending on the conditions under which it isviewed. Because of the complexity of rendering water, onlythe basic approaches are considered here and, as with glass,they should be treated as a starting point because informedobservation will show many variations. The wise renderershould look for and try to understand the reasons for thosevariations before accepting or rejecting them for depiction.

133

Page 138: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

177 A simple example ofundisturbed water in aswimming-pool.

/

~-L- /-l - -J- --/ - J--) . - -L .-~ . \When contained in a swimming-pool with an und isturbed

surface, the water can be completely transparent , which ispro bably the easiest way to repre sent it in a rendering (177).The effect can be heightened in a coloured rendering if alight blue/green wash is appli ed to the surface of the wate r.

178 Reflections on thedisturbed surface of water.

Reflections on the disturbed surface of water present adifferent effect (178).

179 An example of achoppy sea.

'-;" ~.A choppy sea has a character all of its own (179).

134

Page 139: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

Th ese three illustra tions show water under different con­dition s which result in very different ' textures' . Betweencomplete tran spar ency an d almos t perfect reflection is a vastrange of different effects.

In the first of the se two illustr at ions showing calm water(180) a ruled linear technique has been used. Th e secondshows the building and the paving rendered with ruled linesand the water with freehand lines: becau se both are lineartechniques no character confl ict exists.

180 Impressions of waterusing horizontal lines , bothruled and freehand .

135

Page 140: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

-1 -J.~- !

181 A montage of simplerenderings of water.

136

Ruled and freehand lines used separately and in combina­tion are included in these graphic ap proac hes to renderingwater (181). Effects vary fro m almost perfec t mirror-imagereflectio ns to the absence of image reflection in rougherwa ter. One exa mple of unusua l conditions is the fountainwhere wa ter is force d und er press ure into the air and al­lowed to fall freely, disturbing the surface of the pool.

Understanding the basic pr inciples, informed observationand practice are the essentials for convincing renderings ofwa ter in any medium.

Page 141: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

182 Renderings of water .137

Page 142: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

183 A montage of rocks.

138

Page 143: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

Render ing rocks , brickwork and stonework

Because rocks vary so much in size, shape, texture and col­our it is difficult to give specific instructions for rendering.The illustrations show rocks of various textures (183) andparticular attention should be paid to the line of separation,because this is where the true character of the surface tex­ture of any rock is iden tified. Once the character of the tex­tures of various rocks is identified the rendering of rocks isconsiderably simp lified.

184GiambattistaPiranes i,Founda tionsof the CastelSan Angelo,etching , 1756.This is asuperbrender ing of amassive stonestructure inwhich thetexture of themater ial isconveyed withgreat power.

139

Page 144: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

185 Renderings of brickwork and stonework.

140

.' ,,"l:~\ ,~JJ- ..:,:.: ~: ...1 . .... .~ .;; . ~.. .. ,: ~;J • . •~ ~ , __•

Page 145: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

The same can be said of stonework and brickwork, forthey too have distinctive textural characteristics. Again, thegroup of illustrations should help in identifying the true cha­racter of the textures of these materials (185).

Probably the most important consideration when render­ing rocks, stonework and brickwork is the relationship be­tween scale and detail. Naturally, the larger the scale thegreater the detail required.

This is particularly true when rendering brickwork (186).The illusion of a third dimension adds interest in the twolarger examples and examination of them should providesufficient explanation of how this can be achieved. Thedirection of the light source must be considered when eitherof the two larger-scale techniques is used. Elevations ofbrickwork are shown, but their adaptation to perspectivedrawing can be achieved by using vanishing points for thehorizontal lines and by applying the principles of fore­shortening.

Stonework is approached in a similar way to brickworkand again the amount of detail is dependent on the scale ofthe drawing. The illustration (187) shows some simple self­explanatory graphic approaches to representing stonework.

186 Approaches tobrickwork on four differentscales.

187 Group of graphicrenderings of stonework.

141

Page 146: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

188 Natural rocks, brickwork and concrete form the materials for this Davis Biterendering of St Mary 's Catholic Church , Lanchester, Pennsylvan ia.

142

Page 147: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

Any material can be successfu lly rendered if the truenature of its texture is recognized and accurately repro­du ced in the req uired medium or technique. The number ofdifferent materials and textures is so great that it is imposs­ible to deal with all of them here , but a few of the mo re im­portant ones are included to help students with their ownresearch.

189 Differe nt mater ials arerendered with considerab lepower in this interior ofHolocaust MemorialMuseum, Wash ington ,D.C., drawn by PaulStevenson Oles in 1987.

143

Page 148: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

HORIZON

HORIZON HORIZON V.1.

190 A perspective drawingof a chair, from box toshadow projection.

144

Rendering leather, fabrics and floor coveringsA rendering of an object such as a chair should be based onan accurate perspective drawing and a correct tonal inter­pretation to show the shape and should also show the typeof upholstery, such as leather or fabric, in order to convey allof the essential information about the chair.

The chair has been set up using the 'Box Method' fordrawing objects in perspective (190). This consists of 'plac­ing ' the object in a containing box which is drawn in per­spective and, by using dimensions from the orthographicprojection, the unwanted parts of the box are removed toleave the required chair shape.

When the perspective drawing of the chair is completed, alight source is chosen and the shadow shapes constructed,together with the light and shade pattern and the line of sep­aration. When all of these are completed the drawing isready for rendering in any required medium or technique.

Page 149: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

191 Fabric- and leather­covered chairs.

The 'softer' look of the fabric-covered chair is mainlybecause of the reduced contrast between the tones and theelimination of reflected highlights, together with a renderingtechnique that helps to suggest the weave or character of thefabric (191). Compare this 'softer' look of the fabric withthe 'harder' look of the leather-covered chair. Both of thesechairs are covered in dark material, which makes it com­paratively easy to produce a fairly dramatic result.

The same chair covered with lighter versions of the samematerials presents a slightly more difficult problem, becausethe lighter tones do not allow the renderer to work with thesame large range of values. These lighter materials do notalter the texture or the illusion of a third dimension but arerendered using lighter tones and reduced contrasts (192).

192 Lighter versions offabric- and leather-coveredchairs.

145

Page 150: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

193 Two chairs withdifferent cover ings.

194 Detail of a leather ­covered cush ion.

146

From these examples it can be seen that different fabrictextures and colours can be produced without comprom is­ing the shape of the chair and the illusion of a third dimen­sion. Expressing the shape of the chair is fund amental to asuccessful rendering . The basic ton al pattern will still applyirrespective of the chair's colour or texture, but will bemodified by the type of upholstery. On ce the character ofthe up hols tery is identified it can be reproduced witho utundue difficulty (193).

Page 151: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

So far only fabric an d leath er or vinyl uph olsterystretche d over the contours of a chair have been considere d.Both of these types of ma terial have many other uses: up­ho lstery leather, for exa mple, instead of being stretchedover the contours of the chair, might be used to cover loosecushions giving a softer, 'sat-in' look. This 'comfortable'look is suggested by changing the hard, precise edges and theevenly graded tones. Instead, softer edges are achieved withmore flowing lines and the surfaces are bro ken up to repr e­sent light and shade on an uneven surface (194).

Informed observa tio n of the cha rac ter of a material is ofapproximately equa l impo rtance to knowledge of the basicprinciples when producing textures in rend erings. Unlessthis true character is accura tely assessed, satisfactory resultscan seldom be obtained in a rend ering irr espective of themedium or technique.

Leather and vinyl, whe ther used for clothing or chai rs,still retain their cha rac teristic differences fro m fabr ic. Th esethree details indicate the different cha rac ters of the tex turesof leather an d fabric when used for clothes (195). The 'ha r­der' reflective surface of the leather is contras ted with the'softer' woven look of the two fabrics, which are not reflec­tive to the same degree.

195 A section of leatherand two kinds of fabr ic.

147

Page 152: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

(A) (B ) (e )

196 Carpet textures . Ano ther area whe re the cha rac ter of a texture needs care­ful observatio n is floor coverings. In parti cular , carpets needspecial atte ntio n if goo d represent ati ons are to be made ininterio r rend er ings. Three different useful text ures aredemonstrated (196), all of which use similar techniqu es toproduce different believable car pet textures.

These carpet textures are pro duced with freehand linesdr awn using a straight-edge as a guide. Exa mple 'A' is aseries of 'u's strung together , 'B' consists of sho rt vertical ornear vertical lines, while 'C' consists of strings of 'e's; all arein more or less cont inuo us lines. Perspective in each case isachieve d by varying the spacing between the lines as necess­ary and this varia tion can also be used in con junction with areduction or an increase in the density of the lines them­selves to produce an atmos pheric effect. Th e density of thelines is also used to po rtray darker or light er to nes of thesecarpet texture s.

197 Shadows shown byintroducing intermediatelines.

148

Sha dows cast on these carpet textures can be produced byintro ducing an intermedia te line of the same units betweenthose of the origina l textu re. Th e exa mple (197) shows howth is is don e witho ut destroying the cha rac ter of the carpettexture or th e tr an spar ent qu ality of the shadow which isconsistent with rea lity. These are by no means all of the car­pet textures which can be used, but they are very useful forgeneral carpet repr esent ations.

Page 153: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

More specialized carpet textures can be produced by care­ful observation and some intelligent experimentation. Forexample, the much longer pile carpet shown here (198) has avery distinctive character which is a little more difficult toproduce than the other types.

198 An example of a long­pile carpet.

The difference between carpet and other form s of floorcoverings, e.g. floor tiles, can be shown easily by recognizingthe different characters of the two materials and expressingthose differences in the rendering. This simple example(199) demonstrates the difference in character between thenon-reflective carpet and the reflective floor tiles. There aremany other floor coverings of different materials in com­mon use, but as most are either non-reflective or reflectivethey can be reproduced in a rendering fairly easily if the tex­ture's character is accurately assessed. Whilst floor texturesare tedious to reproduce because of the large areas usuallyinvolved, they are among the easiest textures to render.

Only the most important, frequently needed textureshave been examined in detail , but a number of others can befound in the montages of renderings of various textures.

From this section on rendering textures it can be seen howclosely they are identified with value and how dependentthey are on the same principles. Value contrasts are very im­portant factors in rendering, irrespective of the partic­ular graphic field because, if the value contrasts arecarefully controlled, the illusion of a third dimension isincreased considerably. Though important, neither a cor­rectly drawn perspective nor a carefully constructed colourharmony can achieve the illusion of a third dimension in arendering unless the values are correctly interpreted.

149

Page 154: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

200 and 201 (opposite) Montages of textures.

150

Page 155: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

151

Page 156: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

202 Montage - industry.

152

The following illustrations (202, 203, 204) show differ­ent textures applied to various objects. Tubular drawingpen s were used in various wa ys including a stipple tech-

Page 157: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

nique, a multidirectional linear technique and a simpleblacking-in technique, but satisfactory results can be pro­duced in any medium using any suitable technique.

153

Page 158: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

c=~~~"\~, \ ~3~~~~

++++

203 Montage - transport .

154

Page 159: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

204 A variety of textures.

Dry-transfer and self-adhesive materials

Th e introduction of dry-transfer material in the 196 0s andthe self-adhesive screen a few years earlier brought about arevolut ion which had enormous impact on the whole field ofgraphics. A very large number of typefaces in different sizesand colours, symbols, trees, people, cars and trucks, food,animals, world landmarks, etc. as well as a large range ofother graphic materials including a comprehensive range ofself-adhesive screens in black, whi te and various colours areavailable. Products of consistently high quality are avai lablefrom Letraset Intern ation al Limited, London , and Meca­norma Industries, France; complete cata logues are avai lablefrom Letra set and Mecanorma dea lers th rou ghout theworld.

Skill-building exercises

On e of the best ways to learn anything is to do it and stu ­dents are advised to start with some renderings of simpleobjects. It is important to work from simple examples andmaster them before moving on to more advanced ones. Stu­dents following th is logical progression will find that theirknowledge and skills are soundly built and more sati sfyingresults are achieved.

155

Page 160: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

205 The impressive skillsexhibited by PaulStevenson Dies in hisinterior rendering for theNational Gallery ,Washington, D.C., aretypical of those that haveplaced him among thegreat modern del ineators .

156

Page 161: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

157

Page 162: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

206 Line drawings of threecubes.

158

11III I

~ -- - ---\I \

I \

IIII

_ J....<,

<,<,

The programme should be commenced by renderingsome simple cubes and three suitable examples are shownhere (206). Each cube should be copied and rendered using2H, H, HB, B, 2B, 4B and 6B pencils until the necessaryskills are developed.

There should be no visible lines at the changes of directionof planes in the finished rendering. The changes of directionshould be shown by contrast in the values of the surfaces.

Page 163: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

HORIZONTAL SURFACERENDERED HORIZONTALLY

VERTICAL SURFACESRENDERED VERTICALLY

HORIZONTAL SURFACE IN SHADOWRENDERED HORIZONTALLY

Always render in the direction of the plane, i.e. a horizon­tal plane should be rendered horizontally and a verticalplane sho uld be rendered vertically (207). This accentuatesthe direction of the plane and is a subtle reinfo rcement of thevisual message. In a slightly more pra ctica l way, renderi ngin the direction of the plane is logical, because all dynamicplanes are subject to atmospheric effect, so there will be sub­tle gradation in their values . Th is gradation is most easilyexpressed in linear techniques by rendering in the directionof the plane. If this basic rule is applie d the rendering processbecomes much easier and more effective.

207 Line drawings of acube showing the directionin which each plane shouldbe rendered.

159

Page 164: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

208 Four renderings basedon a cube.

160

When some competence is achieved in rendering simplecubes, the nex t step should be to attempt slightly more com­plex shapes of th is type (208). These projects are very usefulin bu ilding an un derstanding of the principles involved and,if enough examples are completed using the correct prin­ciples, the essential skills can be con siderably improved.

Page 165: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

----

The next exercise should be rende ring slightly larger andmore comp lex shapes such as this cut block (209). The rea­son for using a cut block is to help students to build a betterunderstanding of the illusion of the third dimension in two­dimensional representations. lf students begin the projectwith a solid block and have to cut and remove parts, thenecessity of showing what is left gives them a much betteridea of the reality of the solids and spaces being represented.

Remember that time spent on the preparat ion of a draw­ing for rendering is never was ted because an accura te per­spective drawing, correct shadow projection, a carefullyidentified line of separation and correctly identified lightand shade are essential to a good rendering. Without thisrealistic basis it does not matter how skilfully the renderingis done, for the finished work will lack the credibility essen­tial to good graphic communication.

This slightly more complex example (210) is shown firstas a line dr awing, which is based on a correctly set up per­spective drawing with a carefull y placed light source and ac­curately constructed shadow shapes.

209 A simple line drawinqof a cut block.

210 A more complex linedraw ing of a cut block .

161

Page 166: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

211 A cut block renderedin pen and ink.

162

The finished rendering (211) shows the value of this care­ful preparation and is the result of using all of the aspectsdiscussed.

Please note that all of the illustrations explaining the prin­ciples in this book have been done using tubular pensbecause this medium and technique reproduces with stron­ger contrast than pencil and therefore makes the illustra­tions more useful to the student. Nevertheless, withpractice, pencils can be used to produce renderings of veryhigh quality.

Although only a limited number of objects have been usedfor demonstration purposes, any subject can be renderedusing the principles discussed. Irrespective of the subject, themedium or the technique the basic requirements remain thesame.

These two 'Space Constructions' (212,213 ) will help tomake the transition from single shapes in space to multipleshapes within a picture area. Students are advised either tocopy these drawings or make their own based on these ideas.A correct perspective drawing must be made and a suitablelight source chosen with the shadow shapes constructed andthe lines of separation and the light and shade faces ident­ified. The rendering must be carried out in accordance withthe tonal pattern and atmospheric effect, and the planesmust be rendered in the appropriate direction.

Page 167: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

r. \ \ / // 7 -:r-. 1\

/rr<, I.- j r-

~I- I f-I-~r ~ 1-1/ ~r----::: <,

~I I

7' ~

r-=- i= ~-== ~-- ~

I-- f-----

~ ru= I--

_L.- - ~ ~

v -..l.lv /

~ ~~II 1

Pencils sho uld be used for these exercises, which shouldbe done not larger than abo ut A4 size. Though both penci land pen-and-ink can be used by experienced artists for largedrawings, the beginner is advised not to at tempt work on alarge scale because it is time-consuming, extremely demand ­ing and seldom achieves anything which cannot be achievedwith sma ller drawings.

212 and 213 Two spaceconstructions.

/1-", f--", / r- 1/ '----

/...... <,

-:7j 11~'--I I r ~-, L-..--

1....-

I I l'= ~ t:=:::=I

1- ........

~~ I H ill ~-I->----~ - ....... -

- / L=:£ i .\~" ~ ~

I I 1 11 I T-J1-----1 1/

...'- I'"'-

1/ lL-~

17k:: 1- '"

~1/ ".:1/ <,

/" / / \ ~ '<;

163

Page 168: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

214 Objects based oncylinders .

When shapes made up of flat surfaces have been masteredstudents should move on to objec ts with curved surfaces,e.g. cylinde rs and cones and, later, sphe res. These shapes arepa rtic ularly demanding, but if the basic princi ples are fol­lowed, th ey will be made considerably easier. The examplesshown (214) are objec ts based on cylinders and though dif­ferent materials are depicted, the basic principles have beenfollowed.

215 Aluminium anodizedtableware ; a designdrawing for a range oftableware based on thecyl inder .

164

Page 169: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

This group of cylindrical objects (215) has semi-reflectiveexterior surfaces and dark-toned, matt interior surfaceswhich the renderings show to advantage. None of theobjects exists as anything more than an idea in the form ofdesign drawings and because of this it was not possible tomake the drawings from direct observation of the actualobjects. However, by using the basic principles and observa­tion of other similar objects it was possible to create graphicrepresentations of these objects as they would appear inreality.

Both the designer and the artist are frequently faced withproducing graphic images of objects and views which do notexist in any real form. They must be able to portray objectswhich exist only in the imagination or as orthographic pro­jections, i.e. plans, elevations and sections. Without know­ledge of the basic principles and developed skills thedesigner or artist is severely limited in any attempt toconvince the observer of the reality of the objects or viewsdepicted.

165

Page 170: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

216 Render ing of a Chinon410 Macro Zoom moviecamera.

217 Render ing of anelevat ion of a steamlocomotive.

Th e rendering of the movie camera in this illustration(2 16) was done fro m an actual objec t and although directob serv ation was possible the basic pr inciples were still veryimpo rtant. Wh en maki ng th is type of rendering it is oftenvery difficult to achieve lighting conditions tha t show all ofthe aspects of the object to advantage. In such cases directobservation is of some value, bu t knowledge of the basicpri nciples is essential to complete the rendering. In otherwords, it is necessary to combine wha t is seen wit h what isknown and in this way the two-dimensional image of thethree-dimensional object can be made.

166

Page 171: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

This is a rendering of an elevation of a steam locomotive(217) and though the locomotive does exist it would be im­possible to see this view of it. Any object in reality, irrespec­tive of the viewing position, will be seen affected byperspective. Though this drawing is only an elevation (a dia­gram showing actual measured proportions) in which noperspective principles have been used, the addition of ren­dering has introduced a powerful illusion of a three­dimensional reality to show the locomotive to advantage.Such drawings can be very effective in conveying accurateinformation about objects while also showing that theobjects have three-dimensions, without actually showingthem affected by perspective.

The illustration of the movie projector (218) is anotherexample of an elevation being rendered to add a simple il­lusion of reality with the emphasis on the technical informa­tion. Though this type of drawing is extremely useful for thecommunication of certain types of graphic information, it isonly one of a number of methods which can be used. Othermethods include orthographic projection, isometric projec­tion , isometric drawing, axonometric projection, all fouroblique proj ections (cabinet, cavalier, alternative cabinetand alternative caval ier projections), dimetric, trimetric andperspective projections (one-point , two-point and three­po int constructions ).

TAKE-UP REEL

MAIN SWITCH

SPEED CONTROLLERLAMP HOUSING

218 Copal Sekonic CP77movie projector.

FILM REEL

167

Page 172: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

PARALLEL

ISOMETRIC

II)-----" .

/

"

CAVALIER

PARALLEL

219 Shadow projection ondifferent metr ic projections.In each of these examplesthe light rays are parallel.as are their plans .Shadows cast by the objectin each of the projectionsare constructed using thesame basic method as isused in orthographicshadow proiectlon(sciagraphy), as shownpreviously,

168

AXONOMETRIC

IIII

....L --- -- '

CABINET

PA:t:-

DIMETR fC

The methods for constructing shadow shapes on each ofthe met ric projections are not discussed here because thediagrams shou ld be self-explanatory (219). Further infor­mation can be found in Creative Perspective.

Probably the most popular method of showing graphicrepresentations of objects is the rendered perspective draw­ing. This illustration shows a number of simply renderedperspective drawings of different types of slide projectorsand a sectional 'view' of another (220). Though these are allsimple renderings they convey the visual message with aclarity and directness that is extremely difficult to producein any other way. Even a photograph is, in some cases, lim­ited in what it can show when it is used to convey detailedinfor mat ion.

Page 173: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

ROLLEI P35A PROJECTOR

KODAK S-AV2000 PROJECTOR

220 The slide projector.

ZEISS IKON - PERKEO AV502 AUDIO-VISUALPROJECTOR

LEITZ - PRADO-UNIVERSAL PROJECTOR

•-

Ie=;=

HITACHI SPS-1215R SOUND PROJECTOR

Often the photographer is faced with an almost insolubleproblem when photographing some objects because if theobject is lit so that its shape is clearl y portrayed, detail can belost in some areas and if it is lit so that detail is portrayed theshape can be lost. The renderer is no t restricted in th is waybecause he can choose a light source to emp hasize the shapeof the object and then control the value relationships toshow the required detail.

169

Page 174: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

mllllllllllllllll

ELEVATION

PART PLAN

221 An elevation and partplan of a simple build ingwith shadows.

170

Sciagraphy

Th is illustration (221) shows ano ther method of indicat ingan illusion of the third dimens ion on an orthographic pro ­jection. In this case, a plan and an elevation of a simplebuilding are used and the illusion of a third dimension isintro duced by using th e principles of sciagraphy to projectsha dows on th ese diagrams. Sciagraphy is the science ofconstructing shadow shapes on orthographic projections.This sha dow projection is carried out by establishing thedirection of the pa rallel light rays from the sun in relation tothe pla n, and their angle of elevation in relation to the eleva­tion of the building . It is not intended to elabo rate the prin­ciples of sciagraphy here (they can be found in specialistreference books), but their use to portray the illusion of athird dimension is an important aspect of rendering.

The illustration opposite (222) is a typical example of theuse of sciagraphy to introduce an illusion of a third dimen­sion . The lengths of the various shadows show the relatedheights of the buildings in this area development. Withoutthe shadow shapes the drawing would be flat and very diffi­cult for the inexperienced observer to read . Architecturaland landscape subjects are only two of many for which therenderer can use the principles of sciagraphy to improveclarity and add interest.

Page 175: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

222 Plan of a group ofbuildings with shadowshap es introduced toindicate related heights ofbuildings.

- r - - - - - - I: -irt----- - - - - ---.!_ -- - - - - ,\_..J -t L.\ _

111

171

Page 176: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

223 'Sculpture '.

172

The illusion of a third dimension has been introduced intoan otherwise flat drawing (223). This approach can be usedfor many different subjects with many different effects andthe only limiting factors are the imagination and skill of thedesigner or artist.

The principles of sciagraphy have been used to constructthe shade and shadow shapes of these plans of objectsgrouped together to form a pattern (224). The light andshade parts of the shapes and their shadows have been ren­dered in accordance with the principles of atmosphericeffect to introduce the illusion of a third dimension. Simpleexercises of this type are of great benefit when developingrendering skills and though the results may lack some of theexcitement of more creative designs they do reinforce a valu­able point.

In this slightly more imaginative design (225), stati cplanes of different shapes and sizes have been rendered tocreate the illusion of different levels within the picture area.There are no recognizable linear elements of perspective inthis design and it is the cast shadows in conjunction with theprinciples of atmospheric effect and the overlapping that arethe major factors responsible for the strong illusion of athird dimension.

Page 177: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

225 Abstract design using static planes and sciagraphy. 173

Page 178: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

226 Rembrandt van Rijnused overlapping in his1645 etching The Omvaltoincrease the illusion ofspace and distance.

174

Overlapping

In this exa mple (227), illustration A shows six panels andbecause there is no indi cation of a depth relationship it isassum ed that they are all laid on a flat sur face. Illustrati on Bsho ws the same six panels rearranged so that some are infront of others, which mean s that there must be a thirddimension involved, no matter how small it might be. In thisvery simple way, overlapping implies a third dimension .

If shadow shapes are added to the overlapping panels, notonly is the third dimension implied, but it is possible to es­tablish that the panels are placed at different distancesapart, thus confirming the illusion of a third dimension(228). Illustration C shows the shadow shapes when thepanels are placed at different distances from a vertical backpanel. (Sciagraphy has been used to construct the shadowshapes.) Illustration D shows the shadow shapes when thepanels are placed vertically on a horizontal base plane. (Thethree-dimensional shadow construction has been used forth e shadow shapes in this example.)

This illustration (229) shows the same panels rendered inaccordan ce with the principles of atmospheric effect, whichhas been slightly exaggerated to illustrate the point. Theintroduction of related values has increased the illusion ofthe third dimension. Thi s simple exercise shows that over­lapping, shadow projection and the use of atmosphericeffect all contribute to the overall illusion.

Page 179: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

c o

229 Rendered overlappingplanes.

175

Page 180: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

176

230 In this 1744 etching byCanale tto entitled Arch witna Lantern, all of the elementsare brought together by amaster draughtsman andthe result is an extremelypowerful commun ication .

Page 181: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

Getting it all togetherAt this point it is important that all of the material discussedin this book be brought toge ther and consolidated in a sim­ple example which uses many of the principles essential tothe creation of the illusion of the third dimension.

177

Page 182: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

\

--_\ .\\

- +i"--'. --- :;o~~------'--- - - - -,------~"

231 A finished drawing ofthree men.

232 Convergence.

When all of the optical laws are introduced into a simpledrawing, such as this one (231), the illusion of the thirddimension is convincing. The three men, dressed in an iden­tical fashion, are placed at increasing distances from theobserver.

The first optical law states that receding parallel linesappear to converge to a common point. This is known asconvergence (232). If those parallel lines are in the horizon­tal plane, the common point known as the vanishing pointwill be located in the horizon line. The use of this optical lawintroduces the first evidence of the third dimension.

The second optical law concerns foreshortening andstates that equal distances appear to diminish in size as thedistance from the observer increases (233). This is demon­strated by the lateral paving joints, which appear closertogether as the distance from the observer increases.Though this process must go on as long as the pavement isseen, in this example the lateral joints have been omitted af­ter a certain distance, because observation shows that theywill gradually disappear from view. With the introductionof foreshortening the illusion of the third dimension is rein­forced .

HORIZON LINE

Page 183: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

When the three men are placed at different distances fromthe observer, the third optical law which concerns diminu­tion is apparent (234). This law states that objects of thesame size will appear smaller as thedistance increases. Thethree men are the same size, so as the distance increases thesize of the man portrayed is decreased. Diminution can alsobe identified in the receding lines where the spaces betweenthese lines appear to diminish as the distance increases. Theforeshortening of the lateral pavement joints can be de­scribed as the diminishing of the spaces between the laterallines as the distance increases. With the introduction ofdiminution the illusion of the third dimension is furtherreinforced.

It should be noted at this point that the three figures havebeen carefully placed so that the front one overlaps thesecond. By introducing overlapping, though technically it isnot a basic optical law, the illusion of the third dimension isincreased considerably. The optical logic of overlapping isthat for something to be in front of something else theremust be space or depth between the two.

233 Foreshortening,

234 Diminution .

//

- - -'

Page 184: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

--------'-------;.....::.=~_\ W'~+_----_\_--- - - - ~ - -/

/

235 Shade and Shadow.

236 Atmospheric effect.

Light is the basis of all seeing, so it must play an extremelyimportant role in drawing and painting. When light, shadeand shadow are introduced, the illusion of the third dimen­sion is considerably increased (235). To keep this drawingsimple the light source has been chosen to concentrate theshade on the backs of the figures, so it does not play any rolein this picture.

When the figures are simply rendered they will be subjectto atmospheric effect, which results in both light and darkvalues neutralizing as the distance from the observerincreases. All surfaces seen in the picture will be subject toatmospheric effect, so the base plane including the pave­ment joints and the shadows cast by the three figures willappear to neutralize as distance increases (236).

Additional elements contributing to the illusion of thethird dimension are contrast and detail , but they are closelyrelated to the optical laws already discussed. For example,the greatest detail and the greatest contrast between tones isin the foreground, i.e. closest to the observer's eye, and asthe distance increases the detail and the contrast appear todecrease. This is consistent with the principles of atmos­pheric effect.

~r-.-_ _ -\- ~ ~

Page 185: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

From th is simple exercise, it can be seen that the illusionof the third dimension is produced by the interaction of con­vergence, foresho rtening, diminution, light , shade and sha­dow, at mospheric effect and overlap ping. If understand ingand skill are applied to the use of these essential aspects in adrawing or painting the result will be greatly improved.

Examples of renderings

The following examples cover a varie ty of subjects, all ofwhich rely to a grea ter or lesser extent on the knowledge ofthe basic principles and skills discusse d in th is book.

Trees

Th is pen-and-ink drawing of a tree (237) was done using atraditional pen-an d-ink technique. Trees are good subjectsfor learning rendering because they are almost endless intheir variety, as are the techniques and media for renderingthem. In rend ering trees, the main probl em, apa rt from pro­ducing the correct shape, is making the tree look 'round' , i.e.three-dimension al. Prob ably the best advice to beginners isto go out an d look at tr ees and try to reproduce what is seen.Th is is preferabl e to trying to draw trees from memory orimagi na tion becau se such trees too frequently appear flatand two-dimensional.

237 A rendering of a tree.

181

Page 186: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

238 Exter ior view of abuilding.

182

ArchitectureThe architectural renderer, known as a delineator or per­spectivist, wh en faced with the rendering of a building hasone of the most complex of all rendering problems. Apartfrom being able to solve all of the more obvious problems,such as wh ere to plac e the observer, what size to make thedr awing, what medium to use, the most suita ble techniqueand how much of the sur roundings to include, he must becompetent at both drawing and rendering such diverse

Page 187: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

- ------- ------- -------------- -----

-----~---------

j~I~~lSUV~\,~j":Ql~WJJ "\ l)\y,l'j,';) liil:'<llt",,,,-- ---- ---., '.4£~~11~~lE--~~ -

-- ---- - - -- - --------

ob jects as trees, peopl e, cars, landscapes, lakes and the sea.He must also be competent at rendering materials such asbrick, sto ne, steel, concrete, glass and plastics, All of this hemust be able to carry out within the overall framework of acorr ect perspective drawing on which the precise shadowsha pes are constructed together with atmospheric effect andcontrast, etc., introduced according to optical reality so thatthe final rendering present s the true intent of the design

(238).183

Page 188: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

239 Space structure.

184

This space construction with a figure (239) uses the samebasic optical principles and skills to create the illusion of thethird dimension. This type of drawing provides good prac­tice in setting up simple objects in perspective and construct­ing their shadow shapes, which form a solid foundation forthe picture. The cho ice of a light source is very important, asis subtle rendering of the atmospheric effect.

Light and shade, texture and contrast are used to renderthis detail from an old wall (240). The photographic qual ityof this rendering is the result of a stipple pen-and-ink tech­nique, which is closer to the printer's screen-printing tech­niques than the more traditional pen line technique. Pencilor any other medium can be used for this type of drawing if asuitable technique is adopted, because it is not so much themedium as the application of the optical principles that is re­sponsible for the result.

Page 189: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

240 Detail from an old wall.

185

Page 190: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

241 Richard Burton.

Page 191: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

Portraiture

This rendering of the late Richard Burton (241) relies on thesame techn ique and application of the optical principles asthe previous illustration. Stronger contrasts have been usedto produce a more dramatic result.

The portrayal of singer Charles Aznavo ur (242) was ren­dered using contrasts similar to those in the previous ex­ample . By controlling the cont rasts in the drawing withinthe basic optical laws almost any desired effect can beachieved. This control of contrasts is similar to the pho­tographer's control of the lighting of a subject and the print­ing of a photograph. The renderer can control the lightingconditions from harsh, resulting in 'high key' drawings likethose of Richard Burton and Charles Aznavour, to a softerlighting condition resulting in a 'low key' drawing such asthe wall det ail, or any desired variation between theseeffects.

242 Charles Aznavour.

187

Page 192: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

243 Louis Armstrong .

188

This rendering of the great American jazz musician, LouisArmstrong, is included because it is an example of a drawingthat relies on the portrayal of a number of different textures(243 ). The same stipple pen-and-ink technique was used asfor most of the other drawings in this segment. The contrastin texture between the black skin, the fabric of the clothesand the high ly po lished meta l of the trumpet was achievedwithout changing the technique.

Page 193: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

Imaginat ion

This example (244) is a more abstract drawing which, inspite of its lack of realism in one sense, still relies on the basicoptical rules for its illusion of the third dimension. Contrastprovides the pattern and, with a little help from 'light andshade', an observer is led into and around the renderingwhere elements are located in space. Short multidirectionallines were used for this rendering.

244 Semi-abstractpattern.

189

Page 194: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

245 Abstract pattern .

246 Abst ract patte rn.

190

Page 195: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

The abstract pattern in this illustration (245) is anotherexample of the effects that can be produced with a stippletechnique. Complex designs such as this rely very stronglyon knowledge of the optical laws and basic rendering skillswhich are used, and in some cases distorted and/or exagger­ated to heighten the overall three -dimensional effect. Th issta tement that optical laws and rendering skills can be dis­torted should not be misunderstood or used as an excuse forignoring the valid picture-making processes. Basic prin­ciples and laws can be extended or distorted to achieve arequired result only if it is done with considerable care andproper compensations are made. Many great artists appearto break the rules frequently and with very successfulresult s, but what is not so obvious are the compensationsthey make for these apparently broken rules . It is very riskyto break rules in art, graphics and design, because the rulesmust be fully understood before they can be interfered within any way if a successful result is expected.

The possibilities for development of this type of renderingare virtually endless (246), but all of the principles discussedin this book are just as essent ial in this type of work as in anyoth er.

Style

Style, which is an important aspect of drawing, renderingand painting, is part of the artist's or designer's integrity.The Thames and Hudson Encyclopaedia of the Arts , editedby the late Sir Herbert Read , states that 'Style is the term forthe manner of execution in writing, painting, etc. asopposed to subject matter or its organization (i.e., form ); (2)The common characteristics of the arts in a given period ­e.g. Louis XIV - or of a school or movement.' It is importantto understand that style is quite independent of medium ortechnique. In other words, style is the individual wayanarti st or designer uses the valid principles and real developedskills to express himself in a way which make s his workunique. A lack of individual style built on valid principlesand real developed skills tends to make people working inart and design into little more than human photocopiers.

Perhaps the best way to gain an understanding of the im­portance of style to the artist or designer is to examine thedrawings of the masters in different areas of art and design.

In the group of drawings that follow s each artist ordesigner is an individu al and though in some cases their sub­jects are similar, each has made a drawing in his or her ownindividual style. It is this style which makes an artist's workimmediately recognizable, because each has an individualway of expressing his or her ideas. When this is added to theobvious exhibited knowledge of the basic principles of com­muni cating with graphics and the undoubted master craft­smansh ip in the chosen medium, each work is rightlyidentified as that of a master.

191

Page 196: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

247 Style is the elementthat identifies a drawing orpainting as the work of aspecific artist. For example.it would be difficult tomistake this drawing of theBust of a Warrior byLeonardo Da Vinci for thework of anyone else.

192

Page 197: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

" ivid al style of248 The 1n~IVI i~ evident inAlbrecht ~~;:n charcoa lthis ~ell- rhis motherdrawing 0" " 1514which tibe 1~~~nher de'ath.shortly e

". ;J- ...

1)"1+

193

Page 198: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf
Page 199: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

I

IIJ

1'- ' Il- -'- ,:...,..

249 (oppos ite) This 1509chalk draw ing by Raphae l,Study for the Figure ofPoetry, illustrates well thedifference in style betwee nthe work of Raphael and,say, Leonardo Da Vinci.Raphae l's draw ing is madefrom a knowledge of thesurface of the figure but DaVinci 's (247) is built on aknowledge of the structure.

250 Rembrandt's drawingsare built on remarkablepowers of observation andan economy of drawingwhich gives his work anexcitingly spontaneouslook , as In this brushdraw ing ent itled A WomanAsleep.

195

Page 200: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

251 Edgar Degas madedraw ings that have a solidthree-dimensionalappearance, expressingform and life as though onewas dependent on theother , as shown here in apastel drawing of 1885,The Bath.

196

Page 201: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

252 Paul Cezanne's abil ityto convey the structure ofhis subject matter gives hiswork an almost sculpturalsense of permanence. Inthis painting entitled DrGachet's House , theperspective of the twistingroad leads our eye to thefocal point of the picture .

197

Page 202: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

198

Page 203: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

253 Though Modigliani 'sportraits were often strangehis ability as a brilliantdraughtsman cannot bequestioned. His drawingshave a sureness whichallows him the luxury ofdistort ion and economy.

254 In this 1919 lithograph,Egon Schiele's emotionallycharged handling of linegives the picture adisturb ing tens ion.

199

Page 204: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

255 Kathe Kollwitz showedin her powerful self-portraitof 1934 that she was ableto achieve something thatis extremely rare in art. Herremarkable ach ievemen twas to fuse the image of alikeness with a feeling of awoman worn out by caringtoo much for those whoseprob lems she shouldered.

200

Page 205: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

Final Statement

It is worth repeating the basic philosophy developed in thebeginning of this book, which is that 'Graphics is a means ofcommunication and therefore, to be valid it must commun­icate.' It reasonably follows that graphics must have a com­mon language, otherwise its value will be questionable. Anystudent with a serious desire to achieve a high degree ofexcellence in art, graphics, design or photography must beprepared to accept the rigid discipline required to learn thefundamental principles of literacy in pictorial communi­cation. He or she must learn to see and interpret what is seenin an effective way. Some of the material included in thisintroduction to basic rendering has been dealt with onlybriefly and it is acknowledged that there is a great deal more.Before advanced aspects of the subject can be of any realvalue, the principles must be learnt and understood, becauseonly then is it possible to begin drawing what you see theway you see it.

Rendering is a very large and complex subject whichrequires a great deal of study and practice before high­quality results can be achieved. It cannot be emphasized toooften that there is no substitute for valid knowledge, realdeveloped skills and accumulated experience as the basis forcompetence in art, graphics and design. A study of the his­tory of Western art shows that all of the great artists anddesigners have exhibited outstanding knowledge, skills tovirtuoso craftsmanship levels and a lifetime of experience,all of which are evident in their mature works.

201

Page 206: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

202

Glossary AERIAL PERSPECTIVE The representation of space by grada­tions of colour and value that parallel the effect producedby various densities of air on the appearance of objects.

ARCHITECTURAL DELINEATOR One who makes graphicrepresentations of buildings for design evaluation ordesign communication.

ATMOSPHERIC EFFECT The effect caused by pollutants sus­pended in the atmosphere.

ATMOSPHERIC UMBRELLA The reflective capacity of the skydue to suspended pollutants.

CENTRE LINE OFVISION The direct line of sight of an obser­ver located at the station point in a perspectiveconstruction.

COMPOSITION The formal arrangement of a painting orwork of graphic art.

CONEOFVISION The limit of clear vision of the human eyewhen held perfectly still. This limit is established byresearch as a maximum angle of sixty degrees.

CONTRAST A combination of opposites or nearly oppositequalities; opposition, unlikeness, variety, conflict.

CONVERGENCE The approach to a common point. Theopposite of radiation. Lines or edges which in reality areparallel appear to come together or converge as theyrecede from the observer.

DESIGN The art of relating or unifying contrasting ele­ments. Man-made order, structure, composition, organ­ization, form. The art of creating interesting units.

DESIGN DRAWING Any drawing made to express the trueintent of a design.

DIMINUTION Objects appear smaller as their distance fromthe observer increases.

DRAWING The projection of an image on a surface by someinstrument capable of making a mark. Drawings may bedone with pencils, pens, brushes, pastels, crayons, char­coal, etching tools, and numerous other implements.Most often, drawings serve as studies or sketches for awork in some other medium, but they are frequently doneas completed works in themselves.

DYNAMIC Objects or motifs in apparent motion, active,potent or energetic. (Dynamic unity is exhibited by livingcreatures, plants or other elements in apparent motion;such unity is flowing and active.)

ELEMENTS OF DESIGN The basic materials or factors withwhich all visual art is built, such as line, direction, shape,size, texture, value and colour. The visual dimensions,quantities, qualities, or attributes of units.

Page 207: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

ELEVATION A dr awing made in projection on a verticalplane, e.g. a flat draw ing of the front , side or back of ahouse.

FORESHORTENING Equal distances app ear to reduce astheir distance from the observer increa ses. Lines of sur­faces parallel to the observer's face show their maximumsize. As they are revolved away from the observer theyappear increasingly short.

FORM In the fine arts, form mean s man-made order, struc­ture, design, composition , and organization, such as liter­ary form , musical form , etc. Form is sometimes used as asynonym for bulk, mass, volume, and solid, connotat ionswh ich are mislead ing and confusing if not incorrect.

GRADATION A sequence in which the adjoining parts aresimilar or harmonious. Transition, flowing continuity,crescendo, diminuendo, contiguous progression, regularand orderly change, blending. Steps, stairs, or scales.

GRAPHIC Concerned with drawing, painting, engr aving,etching, etc.; lifelike or vividly descriptive; of diagrams orsymbolic curves. Gr aphics is the language of design.

GRAPHIC ARTS The collect ive term for the pictorial artsoutside painting, e.g. dr awing, engraving, etching, lithog­raphy, silk-screen pr inting, etc. The graphic arts alsoinclude books, bookbinding, calligraphy, illustr ation,photography, photo-engraving, type , woodcut, etc.

GRAPHIC LITERACY The sound understanding of the pr in­ciples and practices of two-dimensional representation ofthree-dimensional objects or views, e.g. perspective, lightand shade, shadow projection, atmospheric effect, con­trast, texture, colour and the elements and principles ofdesign.

ILLUSION Perception of an object invo lving a false belief,deception or delusion.

ILLUSTRATION Imagery that relates explicitly to some­thing else; that serves to clari fy or adorn an anecdote,literary work, description, event, etc.

LINE A continuous, unbroken mark made by a pen, pencil,brush, or drawing instrument. Also a series of separatedpoints or other units that lead the eye along a path.

LINEAR PERSPECTIVE The science of representing objects inthree-dimensional space with line on a two-dimension alsurface.

MEDIUM The vehicle or liquid with which pigment ismixed. In a more general sense, the material or methodused for artistic expression (e.g, paint, metal, wood,printmaking). In technical usage the term refers to thesubstance used to thin or otherwise modify the pigmentand its vehicle.

203

Page 208: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

204

NEUTRAL Without distinct colouring or marks, indefiniteor vague.

OBSERVER In the context of this book, the observer is theperson located at the station point of a perspectiveconstruction.

O NE-LOOK PRINCIPLE The holding of the eye perfectly stillat the moment of making a pictorial image of an object orview. This perfectly still eye is comparable with holdingthe camera lens perfectly still at the moment of pressingthe shutter release.

P ER SP ECTIVE The common name for central projection, ascheme for representing three-dimensional objects on atwo-dimensional surface in terms of relative magnitude.

PHOTOGRAPHIC REALITY The result of taking a photographunder normal lighting conditions with a 'normal' lensand producing a print without resorting to darkroom'tricks'.

PICTORIAL REPRESENTATION The making of a rendereddrawing in accordance with optical laws, i.e. perspective,light and shade, shadow, atmospheric effect etc.

PLAN A diagram or drawing created by projection on a flatsurface, particularly one showing the relative position ofparts of (one floor of) a building; a large-scale detailedmap.

PRESENTATION DRAWING Usually a highly finished ren­dered perspective drawing of a design project, e.g. abu ilding.

PRINCIP LES OF D ESIGN A law of relationship or a plan oforganization that determines the way in which the ele­ments must be combined to accomplish a particulareffect.

PROPORTION In the fine arts , proportion means a desig­nated relationship of measurements. It is a ratio of inter­vals or of magnitudes of the same nature, kind , or class,such as time, space, length, area , angle, value or colour.

REALISM Acceptance that matter as an object of perceptionhas real existence; truth to nature, faithful representationof perceived objects, insistence upon details.

REFLECTED LIGHT The result of direct light striking a sur­face and being reflected in a different direction from thatsurface. The angle of reflection of a light ray is equal to itsangle of incidence. .

RENDERING The addition to a line drawing of light andshade, shadow, values , contrast, atmospheric effect and,where required, colour to create the illusion of reality.

Page 209: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

SCALE Relative dimensions, ratio of reduction and enlarge­ment in a map etc. To represent in dimensions pro­portional to the actual ones.

SECTION A section can be described as a view of an object,e.g. a building seen when it has been cut straight through,usually in a horizontal or vertical direction.

SCIAGRAPHY The geometric construction of shadow shapeson plans, elevations and sections.

SHADE Shade exists when a surface is turned away from alight source.

SHADOW Shadow exists when an opaque object is placedbetween a light source and a surface on which the lightwould otherwise fall.

STATIC Objects without apparent motion, or forces inequilibrium. (Static unity is characteristic of a unitwhose design suggests inertia, passive or formal regular­ity, stiffness, rigidity and uniformity.)

STATIC ORSPACE ARTS Painting, sculpture and architecture.

STATION POINT The location of the observer's eye in a per­spective construction.

STYLE An individual mode of artistic expression or thecharacteristics of a period or subject.

TECHNICAL ILLUSTRATION A drawing or rendering donewith the purpose of communicating the technical aspectsof the subject rather than an artistic expression.

TECHNIQUE A mode of artistic expression or mechanicalskill in the arts.

TEXTURE The quality of a surface, such as rough, smooth,matt, dull, glossy, etc. The simulation of such qualities byillusion in drawing and painting.

THREE-DIMENSIONAL SHADOW PROJECTION The methodused to construct shadow shapes on a perspectiveprojection.

TIMEARTS Music, poetry and literature.

TIME-SPACE ARTS Drama and dance.

TONE In America, tone means any value. In Britain, tonesignifies the predominant value or colour of a picture andsuggests its value key. (It is the British meaning that isused in this book).

TWO-DIMENSIONAL REPRESENTATION Any image of athree-dimensional object or view produced on a two­dimensional plane, such as a drawing, painting or print.

VALUE Degree of luminosity or brightness of a colour or ofa neutral grey.

205

Page 210: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

206

VANISHING POINT The point to which receding parallellines appear to converge.

VISUAL LIT ERACY The understanding of the language ofgraphic communication.

VISUAL MESSAGES The way in which reflected light rays, orthe absence of them, are combined to produce a perceivedImage.

Page 211: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

Bibliography

Editions given are those consulted by the author.

Information about perspective drawing, three-dimensionalshadow projection and the evolution of professional short­cut methods is contained in my books Basic Perspectiveand Creative Perspective.

ATKIN, W. W., R. Corbelletti, and V. R. Fiore, PencilTechniques in Modern Design, New York 1953

BARBOUR, Arthur ]., Painting Buildings in Watercolour,New York 1973

BIBlENA, Giuseppe Galli, Architectural and PerspectiveDesigns, New York 1964

BISHOP, Minor L., Architectural Renderings, New York1965

BOOL, F. H., Bruno Ernst,]' R. Kist,]. L. Locher andJ. Wierda, Escher, With a Complete Catalogue of theGraphic Works, London 1982

BURDEN, Ernest, Architectural Delineation, New York1971

BURKE, Joseph and Colin Caldwell, Hogarth: TheComplete Engravings, London 1968

CALLE, Paul, The Pencil, New York 1971

CULLEN, Gordon, Toumscape, New York 1966

CURTIS, Seng-gye Tombs, and Christopher Hunt, TheAirbrush Book, London 1980

D'AMELIO, Joseph, Perspective Drawing Handbook, NewYork 1964

DESCARGUES, Pierre, Perspective, New York 1977

DIETERLIN, Wendel, The Fantastic Engravings ofWendelDieterlin, A reprint ofthe 1598 Edition of HisArchitectura, New York 1968

DONDIS, Donis A., A Primer of Visual Literacy,Cambridge 1973

DORE, Gustave, Perrault's Fairy Tales, New York 1969

- The Dore Bible Illustrations, New York 1974

- The Dore Illustrations for Dante's Divine Comedy,New York 1976

- The Dore Illustrated Balzac Droll Stories, New York1977

- Dore's Illustrations for Rabelais, New York 1978

- Fables ofLa Fontaine, London 1982

DORE, Gustave and Blanchard Jerrold, London: aPilgrimage, New York 1970

207

Page 212: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

208

DOYLE, Michael E., Colour Drawing - A Marker/Coloured Pencil Approach for Architects, Interior andGraphic Designers and Artists, New York 1979

ERNST, Bruno, The Magic Mirror ofM. C. Escher, NewYork 1976

ESCHER, M. c., The Graphic Works ofM. C. Escher, NewYork 1971

ESCHER, M. C. and J. L. Locher, The World ofM. C.Escher, New York 1971

FERRIS, Hugh, Power in Buildings, New York 1953

GEBHARD, David and Deborah Nevins, 200 Years ofAmerican Drawing, New York 1977

GERDS, Donald A., Perspective: A Step by Step Guide forMastering Perspective by Using the Grid System, SantaMonica, California 1980

- Markers: Interiors, Exteriors, Product Design, SantaMonica, California 1983

- Markers for Advertising Comps, Santa Monica,California 1986

GILL, Robert W., Basic Perspective, London and NewYork 1974

- Creative Perspective, London and New York 1975

- The Thames and Hudson Manual ofRendering withPen and Ink (Revised Edition), London and New York1984

GOSLING, Nigel, Gustave Dore, Newton Abbot, Devon1973

GREGORY, R. L., Eye and brain: the psychology ofseeing,Toronto 1969

- The Intelligent Eye, New York 1971

GUPTILL, Arthur L., Rendering in Pen and Ink , New York1977

- Rendering in Pencil, New York 1977

- Pencil Drawing Step by Step, New York 1979

HALE, Robert Beverly and Terence Coyle, Albinus onAnatomy, New York 1979

HALSE, Albert 0., Architectural Rendering, New York1960

HELD, Richard, Image, Object and Illusion , San Francisco1974

HENDERSON, Marina, Gustave Dore: Selected Engravings,London 1971

HOGARTH, Paul, Drawing Architecture, New York 1973

Page 213: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

Hur.r..Toseph W., Perspective Drawing: freehand andmechanical, Berkeley and Los Angeles 1950

JACOBY, Helmut, Architectural drawings, London 1965

- New architectural drawings, London 1969

- New Techniques ofArchitectural Rendering, London1971

- Architectural Drawings 1968-76, London 1977

jAXTHEIMER, B. W., How to Paint and Draw, London1962

KAUTZKY, Theodore, Ways with Watercolour, New York1963

- Pencil Pictures, New York 1966

- Painting Trees and Landscapes in Watercolour, NewYork 1967

- Pencil Broadsides, New York 1967

- The Ted Kautzky Pencil Book, New York 1979

KEMPER, Alfred M., Drawings by American Architects,New York 1973

- Presentation Drawings by Americc» Architects,Somerset, N. J. 1977

KLEY, Heinrich, The Drawings ofHeinrich Kley, NewYork 1962

- More Drawings ofHeinrich Kley, New York 1962

KURTH, Dr Willy, The Complete Woodcuts ofAlbrechtDurer, New York 1963

LAMPUGNANI, Magnago, Visionary Architecture of the20th Century, London 1982

LANNERS, Edi, Illustrations, London 1977

LIEBERMAN,William 5., Matisse: 50 years ofhis graphicart, London 1957

LOCHARD, William Kirby, Drawing as a Means toArchitecture, New York 1968

MARTIN, C. Leslie, Design Graphics, New York 1962

MARTIN,judy, The Complete Guide to AirbrushingTechniques and Materials, London 1983

MISSTEAR, Cecil and Helen Scott-Harman, The AdvancedAirbrush Book, London 1984

MUGNAINI, joseph, Hidden Elements of Drawing, NewYork 1974

OLES, Paul Stevenson, Architectural Illustration, NewYork 1979

- Drawing the Future, New York 1988

209

Page 214: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

210

PAL, Imre, Descriptive Geometry with 3-D Figures,Budapest 1966

PIKE, John, John Pike Paints Watercolours, New York1978

PILE, John, Drawing Architectural Interiors , New York1967

PIRANESI, Giovanni Battista, The Prisons, New York 1973

PIRANESI, Giovanni Battista and Herschel Levit, View ofRome Then and Now, New York 1976

PITZ, Henry C, Ink Drawing Techniques, New York 195 7

RAYNES, John, Human Anatomy for the Artist, London19 79

REEKIE, R. Fraser, Draughtsmanship, London 1971

- Design in the Built Environment, London 1972

RINES, Frank M ., Landscape Drawing, New York 1964

RUZICKA, Jeannie, Gustave Dore: Illustrations to DonQuixote, London 1974

SAUNDERS, J . B. de CM. and Ch arles D. O 'Malley (eds),The Illustrations from the Works ofAndreas Vesalius ofBrussels, New York 1950

SCHLEMM, Betty L., Painting with Light, New York 1978

SCHMALTZ, Carl, Watercolour Your Way, New York 1978

STAMPFLE, Felice, Giovanni Battista Piranesi: Drawings inthe Piermont Morgan Library, New York 1978

STANTON, Reggie, Drawing and Painting Buildings: ReggieStanton's Guide to Architectural Rendering, New York19 78

STRAUSS, Walter L. (ed.), The Complete Engravings,Etchings & Drypoints ofAlbrecht Durer , New York1973

SZABO, Marc, Drawing File, New York 1976

SZABO, Zoltan, Painting Nature's Hidden Treasures, NewYork 1982

VRIES, Jan Vredeman de, Perspective, New York 1968

WANG, Thomas C, Pencil Sketching, New York 1977

WATSON, Ernest W., The Art ofPencil Drawing, NewYork 1968

- Courses in Pencil Sketching: Four Books in One, NewYork 1978

WATSON, Ernest W. and Aldren Watson, The WatsonDrawing Book, New York 1962

W ERNER, Alfred, Drawings ofAlbrecht Durer, New York1970

Page 215: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

WILLIAMS, Raymond (ed.), Contact: HumanCommunication and its History, London and New York1981

WORTH, Leslie, The Practice ofWatercolour Painting,London 1977

ZIGROSSER, Carl, Prints and Drawings of Kdthe Kollwitz,New York 1969

211

Page 216: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

Acknowledgments

To the follo wing people the author wishes to expresshis special appreciation for their highly valued aid inwriting this book.

To Beryl M. Gill for her advice about the mater ial anduntiring efforts in check ing the text.

To Michael Hope of the Melbourne School ofPhotography for the photographs used in this book.

To Paul Stevenson Oles and the late Davis Bite forpermission to use their drawings.

212

List of IllustrationsMeasurements are given in inchesthen centimetres. height beforewidth

Page

2 WI LLIAM H O GARTH(fro ntispiece)Frontispiece to 'Kirby'sPerspective', 1754Engraving81

/ 8 x 63/. (20.6 x 17.1)British Mu seum,London

6 GIUSEPPE G ALLIBIBIENA

Jesuit Drama in SettingEngraving from G.G.Bibiena, Arch itettura,1740

8 OTTO WAGN ERPost Office SavingsBank , 1904Detail of facadeFrom O. Wagner, EinigeSkizzen, Projekte undAusgefiihrte Bauwerke,Vienn a 1906, volume III,print 45

9 CHARLES R ENNI EMACKI NTO SHHill House,Helensburgh, 1902-3Pen and ink131

/ , x 22 Ih (33 .6 x 57.2)Glasgow Schoo l of Art

11 P AUL KLEE

Self-Portrait , 1919Pen and ink9 x 53

/ 8 (23 x 13.5)The Pasadena ArtInstitute, Pasadena,Ca lifornia

14 G USTAVE D OREOpium Smokin g: TheLascar 's Room in'Edwin Drood'Engraving from G. Doreand Blanch ard Jerrold ,London , London 1872

22 GUSTAVE D aRE

Bible-read ing in a NightRefugeEngraving from G. Doreand Blanch ard Jerrold,London, London 1872

Page 217: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

25 FRANCESCOGUARDI 132 CANALETI O 196 EDGAR DEGASPiazza di S. M arco, Venice: The Libreria and The Bath, 1885Venic e, e. 1777-8 Do~e 's Palace; in front PastelPen and wa sh over black of t em the Bucintoro, 26 x 203

/ . (66 x 52. 7)chalk 172 9 Norton Simon10 x 6'h (25.5 x 16.6) Pen and ink Foundation, Pasadena,British Museum, 81/. x 12 'h (21.1 x31.7) Cal iforniaLondon Royal Librarb,W indsor 197 PAULCEZANNE

30 The Sur face of the Moon Reproduced y graciou s Dr Gachet's House,Photographed from permission of Her 1873Apoll o II Lun ar M odule M ajesty the Queen Oil on canvasCopyright N ASA 139 GIAMBATIISTAPIRANESI 18 1/sx15 (46x38 )

53 GIUSEPPEGALLI Foundations of the Musee d 'Orsay, Pari s

BIBIENA Castel S. Angelo 198 AMEDEO MODIGLIANIStage Design for a Etching from the Jeanne Hebuterne,Prison , 18th Century Antichita Romane, e. 1919Watercolour 1756, volume IV, plate 13 lhx 11 (34. 2 x 28 )Graphische Sammlung IX Kupferstichkabinett,Albertina, Vienna 174 REMBRANDT Basle

68 GIAM BATIISTA PIRANESI The Omval, 1645 199 EGONSCHIELEEngr aving from the Etchin!1 and dr ypoint Albert Paris vonCareeri d'ln uenzione, 7 '/. x 8 /s(18.5 x 22. 5) Giitersloh,19191750, plate III, 1st state British Museum, LithographBrit ish Museum, London lOl lsx 113/. (25 .6 x 30 )London 176 CANALETIO Photo Fischer Fine Art

72 ALBRECHT DURER Arch with a Lantern, Ltd, London

Draughtsm an Dr awing a c. 1744 200 KATHE KOLLWITZLute , 1525 Etching Self-Portrait, 1934Woodcut 115/sx 165/s(29. 7x42.3 ) Lithograph5 15/sx74 (13 1 x 188) 192 LEONARDO DA VINCI 8'/sx 73/s(20. 8 x 18 .7)

81 VINCENT VAN GOGH Bust of a Warrior, Kupferstichkabinett,

Vagr ant with H at an d e. 1478 Staatliche Museen ,

Stick ,1882 Silver point Berlin

Pencil on pap er 11 lisx 8 1/s(28.5 x 20.7)

195/sx 12 (50 x 30 .5) British Museum,

Van Gogh Foundat ion, London

Stedeli jk Museum, 193 ALBRECHTDURERAmsterdam Portrait of his Mother ,

88 Palaeolithic Cave 1514

Painting Ch arcoal

Bison, 163/ . xl C /s(42.1 x 30 .3 )

15,000-1 0,000 BC. Kupferstichkabinett,

Lascaux Caves, France Staatliche Museen,Berlin

89 ALBRECHT DURER194 RAPHAELThe Four Horsemen of Study for the Figure ofthe As,0calypse, 1498

Woo cut Poetry, 1509

15 1h x I1 l/s(39.3 x 28.3 ) Grey chalk over sketch

Brit ish Museum, squared in black chalk

London 14 '/sx 85/s(36x22 )Royal Librarb,W ind sor

100 HANS HOLBEIN the Reproduced y graciou sYounger permission of HerGeorg Gisze, 1532 Majesty The QueenTempera on oak

195 REMBRANDT377/sx 3 ]31. (96 .3 x 85 .7 ) A Woman Asleep ,Gemiildegalerie, c. 1655-6Staatli che Museen , Brush and bistre, washBerlin 95/sx 8 (24 .5 x 20.3)British Museum,London

213

Page 218: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

fabric rend ering 144-53floor-covering rendering

144-53for eshortening 18-19, 141,

178- 9,1 81

imagination 189-91inference 121

harmony 88highlight 117, 145

glass rendering 98-100,104-7,110-11 ,11 8-31,133, 183

graphic communication 120,161,1 67,191,201

graphic represent ation 7, 165graph ics 9, 49, 87-8, 155, 201

and rendering 11, 136, 141,149

etching 174, 176

leather rendering 144-53Letraset International Limited

155light 17, 25

deflected 26, 29, 60reflected 13

and absorption 68-71and atmospheric effect

26-7, 32-3,35-40,42,44-9

pr inciples 49, 71and rend ering 95, 97-9,

111glass 106, 122,

124-5,129shade and shadow 52,

54-6table 79- 80und erstanding 15,18

line drawing 2,92,101, 107,158-9, 161and rendering 72-81, 128

line, freehand 135-6, 148line, ruled 135-6line of sepa ration 78

and rend ering 114, 139,144, 161-2cone 101-3cylinder 92-5sphere 107-9,111

line of vision, cent re 21, 73,113, 120, 125

locom ot ive, rendering of166-7elevatio n 165, 167, 170

delineator 17, 156 , 182-3design 9, 11, 191

abstract 173and architecture 183dr aw ing 164-5and graphics 165and light reflection 49, 112and perspective 2, 8and picto rial literacy 201pr inciples 67, 88, 90

diminuti on 18-19, 75,1 79,181

distortion 20image 22- 5sphere rendering 111-12

dominance 88drawing 7, 15, 106- 7, 180,

182-4abstract 189-91brush/chalk/charcoal

193-5line 2,92,101 ,107,158-9,

161and rendering 72- 81,

128perspective 144, 161-2,

168, 183and pictorial literacy 201portraiture 187- 8skills 100and style 191-200

Index perspective 21-4, 78- 9,111

absorptio n 68-71 shadow 19, 76-8, 90,1 74abstract dr awing 189-91 space 162-3, 184architecture 20,182-5 three-point 167art 11 two-point 72-3, 167

and cont rast 87-8 cont rast 7, 11, 82-91 ,1 80and graphics 165 in architecture 183-4imagination and style 191 and atmospheric effectand light reflection 49, 112 28-9and pictorial literacy 201 and imagina tion 189

atmospheric effect 7, 11, and line draw ing 80-8125-51,180-81 portraiture 187-8and absorption 71 reducing 62-3architecture 183-4 and rendering 111, 145,and contrast 84-7 158,162line drawing 80 glass 99,106,122, 129optical laws 18 convergence 18-19, 75,1 78,and overlapping 174 181pattern 93, 95-6,162 cube rend ering 84-6,158-60and rendering 103-4, 109 , cut block rendering 161-2

114, 148, 159 cylinder, obje cts based onand sciagraphy 172 164-7and tone 60-63,65-7 cylinder rendering 91-11 7

atmospheric pollution 26-7,29,42,47

atmospheric umbrella 54-6,58, 106 , 111and atmospheric effect

29-30, 35, 38-47,49-50,52

background 98-9,104and glass rendering 110,

128-9,131balance 88blacking-in techn ique 153brickwork rendering 138-43,

183brush and rendering 80buildings 45-6, 116, 126,

170-71 ,182

camera 16,21-2,29,49, 126,166

carpet rendering 148-9centre of interest 88, 90centre line of vision 21 , 73,

113 , 120, 125colour 7, 11, 15, 61, 155

and rendering 95,11 8,134,146, 149

composition, pictorial 67, 88concrete 142,183con e rendering 91-11 7cone of vision 20-25, 73, 125construction

one-point 39, 167

214

Page 219: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

mater ial(s)and architecture 183dry-transfer 155fabric rendering 144-9graphic 155and reflection 112and rendering 95-6, 98­

100, 104,11 0, 131,1 64rock, brick and stone

139-43self-adhesive 155transpare nt 118

Mecanorma Indu stries 155mountains 45mult idirectional linear

techniqu e 153

neutr ality 61, 64-5, 84-5, 180

octagon rendering 113one-look prin ciple 20- 25opacity 98, 111,123optical laws 18-25, 178-80

and contrast 84-7, 90cylinder rendering 95, 97and imagination 189, 191and line drawing 72-6and portraiture 187space constru ctions 184and tone 66

optical reality 39 , 183overlapp ing 75, 172, 174-5,

181

painting 15, 180, 191- 2pen-and-ink technique 162- 3,

181,1 84,1 88pencil in rendering 80-8 1,

158, 162-3, 184perspective 17-1 8,25, 72-3,

75,90, 148-9and design 2, 8drawing 144, 161-2, 168,

183pro jection 7, 17, 19, 22, 167

perspectivist 182-3photograph y 20-2 1,65, 112,

187, 201and atmospheric effect 27,

49-51and rendering 16, 98,

168-9plane, dynamic and static

40-41 , 66,1 72-3and line drawing 72- 6and rendering 84,86-7,

91-2,159plans 165, 170-71, 173

portraiture 186-8,200projection

alternative cabinet 167alternative cava lier 167axono metric 168box 144cabinet 167-8cavalier 167-8dimetric 167- 8isometr ic 167-8metri c 168oblique 167orthographic 165, 167-8,

170perspective 7, 17, 19,22,

167sha dow 7,9,72, 144, 161,

168,1 74trimetric 167

projector movie 167, 169proportion 88

realism 54 , 59, 189and rendering 6-7, 10-11,

161, 165reflection

pri nciples 112-11 7and rendering 122,125-6,

128,134-6reflector

effective 29- 35, 38, 58, 70per~ct111 , 132-3, 135

rendering 161definition 7, 10-11examples 181-91principles 165-6skills 184, 191

rhythm 88rock rend ering 138-43

sciagraphy 168, 170-74sculpture 112, 172section 165selection 88shade and shadow 7, 15, 25 ,

85-6, 180-81, 184, 189and atmospheric effect

45-6, 50-56construction 19, 76-8,90,

174correctly identified 161-2definition 53, 78and line draw ing 78, 80optical laws 18projection 7, 9, 72, 144,

161,168,1 74and rendering 113, 116-1 7,

144, 147-8, 159

cone 101-5cylinder 92-3, 95-6,98,

114-15glass 122-3, 126sphere 107-9,111

and sciagraphy 170-72and tone 57-60, 64,67

shadow shapes 17, 76-8, 144,161-2,170-75,183-4

skill-building 155-69, 172,201space 11,174,1 79

constructions 162-3, 184sphere rend ering 91- 117stipple technique 152-3, 184,

188, 191stonework rendering 138-43,

183style 191-200sunlight and glass rendering

122-3surface

dynamic 60, 65-7, 85, 107- 8receding 65reflective 106, 118-19, 124,

126 ,147semi-reflective 165

texture 7, 11,61,80, 112, 184,188rend ering 100,147-55

glass 118, 129rock , brick and ston e

139-41,143tone 180

pattern 57-67, 80, 82-3and rendering 107,146,

162cone 101-4cylinder 92-3, 96-7,

114-15and rendering 113,116-1 7,

129 , 144-5, 147sphere 108-9,111

values 57- 66, 80, 84variation 35-6

tracing 79-80transfers 80transparency 148

glass 98-9,1 04-6,111,118,121 ,124,126

water 131,133-5trees 181-3tubular pen 152 , 162

unity 88

vanishing point 76, 178

water rendering 131-7

215

Page 220: Basic Rendering - Effective Drawing for Designers, Artists and Illustrators (R. W. Gill).pdf

The most challenging aspect of the work of any artist or designer must be to rep­

resent convincingly a three-dimensional object or view on a two-dimensional sur­

face - that is, to master the technique of rendering. In this clear, step-by-step

analysis of rendering, Robert Gill demonstrates how to introduce the illusion of

realism into pictorial representations , from a simple render ing of a cube to

acknowledged masterpieces of artistic expression.

From the elementary principles of how we see, to the theories of perspective,

light and shade, contrast, atmospheric effect and color, rendering is shown to be

the essential language of communication for all those in the graphic arts. With

the aid of easy-to-follow diagrams , the reader discovers the techniques of render­

ing basic geometric shapes, such as cylinders, cubes and spheres, and is shown

how to give visual literacy to representations of innumerable different textures

and surfaces, such as glass , water, stonework and fabr ics. With more than 250

illustrations and a series of skill-building exercises, this book is essential read­

ing for all those in the fields of architecture, industrial design , interior design)

illustration and landscape design. For beginners and for those who wish to

expand and refine their skills, Basic Rendering is sure to become the standard

manual on the subject.

About the author

A designer and architectural renderer with some thirty-five years ' experience in

the field of graphics, Robert W. Gill heads his own industrial design office in

Toorak, Australia, and lectures in art and design at the Melbourne School of Art

and Photography. His previous books include Basic Perspective, Creative

Perspective and Rendering with Pen and Ink.

With 255 illustrations

Thames and Hudson

500 Fifth AvenueNew York, New York 10110

$15.95

Printed and bound in Yugoslavia

ISBN O~500-27634-X

51 595

9 780500 276341