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Erik M. Gist www.erikgist.com

Part 3: Forms

Form by definition is the shape or struc-ture of anything# At this point in our drainge should have alread! defined the forms hene defined the structure$ but no e need tocreate the illusion of light on form# To do this it

is best if e break things don into the fourbasic primitives of form&the cylinder, sphere, cube, and cone#

B! breaking things don in to basicforms e remove ourselves from having tothink about draing complicated things likelegs$ fingers$ etc# On an! basic form lit b! a sin)gle direct light source$ 'this is the best a! toobserve and learn about form( there are tobasic fields of value& lit and unlit or light and

dark# We have alread! discussed this to somedegree in the previous chapters$ but as in allthings art related$ there is overlap# Because ealread! discussed value I am going to jumpright into the ke! factor in developing form andthat is edges, or the transition between light anddark. An! time !ou have a light and darkvalue coming together ithin a form$ a corneror change of plane is created visuall!# The sud)den or gradual transition from one value toanother is going to tell us eather this change

of plane is sudden like on a cube or gradual likeon a sphere or c!linder# This transition is hatis called an edge in draing or painting#

Basicall! there are four kinds of edges$soft$ firm$ hard$ and lost# Soft edges are thosegradual transitions that !ou ill see on a round)ed form# Hard edges are hat !ou ould seeon an angular form like a square or at the edgeof a cast shado# A firm edge$ as its nameimplies$ is somehere in beteen and ould be

found most commonl! on an angular form thatis not completel! squared off$ like a nose$ kneeor other bon! areas#

Occasionall! !ou ill observe a darkband of value at the edge of a shado# This iscalled a core shado# Basicall! this is createdhen there is a transitional plane that is notbeing lit b! the direct light source or b! thereflected light bouncing off the surface beneaththe form#

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Erik M. Gist www.erikgist.com

Identif!ing the value "ones is ver!important to developing form# Even beforeappl!ing !our edges the careful anal!"ation andplacement of !our light$ shado and reflectedlight can reveal important changes of plane tothe vieer# Be careful to not over)pla! thereflected light or core shado card# When usedtoo often the! can create a metallic look to !ourfigure# Even more$ the! can break don a dra)ing into too man! values$ and in doing so createconfusion for the vieers e!e# You shouldala!s strive to keep the lighting situation ver!clear# It ill allo the vieer a stronger foothold in !our little orld !ou have created$ andtherefore make a more comfortable place for thevieer to visit#

A fe problem solving tips% If !our

draing or painting is looking cartoon)like$check to see if !our edges are too hard# Thiscan create a graphic or cartoon)like look to !ourdraings# If !our shapes are appearingambiguous and lacking in structure$ check tosee if !our edges are to soft$ this can create afogg! or eak appearance to the draing#Overl! hard edges are generall! favorable tooverl! soft for to reasons# One$ vieers illgro quickl! bored of a draing the! are hav)

ing difficult! solving$ and to$ it is easier tosoften an edge than to harden an edge#