Art of Drawing: Drawing Light and Shade: Understanding Chiaroscuro

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Giovanni Civardi shares his great expertise in drawing light and shade, beginning with the basics of drawing simple 3D shapes. There are sections on shadows and cast shadows, simplifying tone, methods of shading, form and relief, composition, the perspective of shadows and many more. We also learn a little bit about how light and shade have been used thoughout the history of art. Finally the artist shows through his own superb drawings how the techniques and principles learned can be put into practice.

Reviews

August 2006

Search Press have been issuing books from this Italian author for quite some time and its quietly building up into a comprehensive encyclopaedia of techniques for people, faces and figures.

Classical in style and very slightly old-fashioned in their approach, the books and the instructional material are nevertheless very well presented and quite easy to follow.

Chiaroscuro is, simply, light and shade. Its about using cross-lighting to create shadows that provide instant modelling on any subject and its the technique most associated with Rembrandt portraits. Used to excess, it soon looks hackneyed and care needs to be taken in its execution to avoid being heavy-handed. Used thoughtfully, it can instantly introduce natural modelling and a lifelike appearance. For the beginner struggling to avoid portraits that look flat as a pancake, it has great appeal and over-use will inevitably follow. However, practice makes perfect and more subtle handling will come with greater experience.

Its isnt possible to provide a complete guide in only 64 pages, but this book will give the reader a solid grounding in technique as well as point the way for further study and practice.

Nov 06

Any artists will know how complex it is to achieve the accuracy of lighting on a scene. Accomplishing 'chiaroscuro' - the graduating tones in picture, sets the mood and volume in a drawing. I wondered whether there was a structured way to achieve 'chiaroscuro' and after reading this book my questions were answered. Detailed diagrams in this book implore the importance of finding what angle the light source is emitted to achieve a realistic result. Chapters on shadows, perspective, tone and graduation illustrate every aspect of chiaroscuro. The book features tons of drawings and photos to emphasise the structured way to achieve 'chiaroscuro'. To me this book has been a non-stop source of reference. The photos in the book which are intended for you to draw to produce shaded drawings are excellent exercises for you to truly understand this technique. This book has provided me with loads of information on how to inject the real-life accuracy in to my drawings. An excellent read!

Author Bio

GIOVANNI CIVARDI was born in Milan in 1947. While training to become a sculptor, portrait artist and illustrator at the Free Life-Study School of the Accademia di Brera, he also studied medicine and surgery. For over a decade, he worked as an illustrator, producing commissions for newspapers, magazines and book covers. During frequent trips to France and Denmark, Civardi put on one-man exhibitions of this work and pursued his interest in studying the relationship between medical anatomy and the human form as depicted by the artist. His experience gained from teaching anatomy, life drawing and portraiture in schools and institutions over many years has led to the publication of numerous books in which Civardi's experiences are brought into focus.