Lesson video

Hello, everyone.

How are you today? I hope you're feeling really good.

My name's Ms. Afzal, and I'll be your art teacher for this lesson.

Our lesson is gonna be quite interesting, I think.

We're exploring tone.

The lesson is called The elements of art: tone.

So we'll be looking at, what is tone? How do we achieve tone? What effect does it have? All about tone.

The lesson comes from the unit of work, The elements of art.

Yes, it's pretty elemental to explore tone and to have an understanding of tone.

It's gonna make a difference to your artwork.

Well, if you're ready, you'll need a few drawing materials and some enthusiasm and focus.

If you have all of that, I think we're all set to begin.

The outcome for today's lesson is, I can identify different types of tone and add tone in my drawings.

We are gonna be exploring tone in all sorts of different ways today.

We have some keywords in our lesson.

Let's go through each of them.

Shadow, highlight, shading, cross-hatching, and tone.

Let's find out what they mean.

Shadow is the areas of darkness where the object or figure rests on a surface.

Highlight, a bright or reflective area in a painting, picture, or design.

Shading, a technique used to depict different levels of light and dark in an image.

And cross-hatching, a technique for shading and adding tone with intersecting sets of parallel lines.

Tone is how light or dark something is.

These are our keywords, shadow, highlight, shading, cross-hatching, and tone.

Let's look out and listen out for them.

They'll be coming up in our lesson today.

Our lesson is called The elements of art: tone.

It has two learning cycles, identifying different types of tones and applying tone to an observational drawing.

Yes, of course, we're getting practical, we're getting observational.

We're gonna be exploring tone through our drawing.

But let's begin with identifying different types of tones.

Mm, take a look at these images.

How has the artist made these images look three-dimensional? Pause the video and share with someone.

Perhaps you said something about, yes, you guessed it, our keyword, tone.

This artist has been making use of tone.

Tone refers to how light or dark something is.

Tone is created by the way light falls on an object.

By using a wide range of tones in an image, objects will appear more three-dimensional.

The parts of the object in which the light is strongest are the highlights, while the darker areas are the shadows.

Where these areas fall depends on where the light source is.

Pause the video and share with someone, where do you think the light source is in this image and where are the highlights and where are the shadows? Thanks for sharing your ideas.

I'd say the light is coming from the right-hand side of this image, from the lower right-hand side.

And here are the shadows, we can see the shadows behind the apple, and we can see the highlight is right at the front where the light is being directed onto this object.

In this image of an apple, you can see where the light source is because of the positions of the highlights and shadows.

Artists use tone in many different ways.

Caravaggio, 1571 to 1610, was an Italian painter famous for using a technique called chiaroscuro, meaning light-dark in Italian.

His use of high contrasting tones was used to create dramatic effects in his work.

Photographer Edward Weston uses dramatic tone in his images to encourage us to look at everyday objects in unusual ways.

So you can see with both of these artists, Caravaggio and Edward Weston, the tone is something that's really bringing drama, dramatic effect to the work.

There are different ways of creating tone.

Pause the video and share with someone, do you know any different ways of creating tone in your artwork? Thanks for sharing your ideas.

Let's explore a little more.

Perhaps this is some of what you came up with.

In drawing, shading, hatching, or cross-hatching techniques are often used to build up a variety of tones.

We can see some shading here with a pencil, and here's cross-hatching.

Cross-hatching involves using intersecting sets of parallel lines, one direction and then another.

Let's have a check for understanding.

Which of these tonal drawings uses the technique cross-hatching most clearly? Take a look at these spheres, A, B, C, and D.

Pause the video and share with someone.

Well done if you selected B.

Absolutely.

We can see the cross-hatching is really clear there, parallel lines going in one direction and then in another.

And sometimes with more space in between the lines, which is what's giving us the highlights.

It may be easier to spot different tones in black-and-white artworks, but tones can also be created with colour across all art mediums. And we can see some very colourful textile thread art on the screen here and the use of tone in this work.

Let's take a look at another artist who makes good use of tone.

Bisa Butler is a textile artist who uses colour to create tonal ranges in her work.

She often uses exaggerated colour tones to create aspects of people's appearance.

Butler also applies unrealistic colours when creating facial tonal ranges.

Artists might also use tone to create the illusion of form, create atmosphere, contrast, and add a focal point in their art.

There are so many uses for tone.

Tone can be created through colour with tints and shades, adding white, tint, and adding black is a shade.

Adding white or tinting a colour makes it lighter, while adding black or adding shade will make the colour darker.

Most objects can be understood through their tonal range.

Highlights and shadows created by light sources.

We can see the highlights here and the shadows.

And between the lightest and darkest tones, there are various midtones.

So we can see the lightest tones are right at the top of this shell, darkest tones are the ones down at the bottom, and we can see some midtones that are kind of halfway in between.

Let's have a check for understanding.

Why might artists use tone? Is it A, to create the illusion of form and create atmosphere; B, to add colour to their work; C, to create contrast and a focal point; or D, to use different materials? Pause the video and share with someone, why might artists use tone? Well done if you selected answers A and C.

Indeed, artists use tone to create the illusion of form and create atmosphere, and to create contrast and a focal point.

There are so many uses for tone.

And now it's time for your first task.

I would like you to fill in the missing words from the keywords and their descriptions.

So we have the keyword shadow, and something is missing in the description of it.

We have a description of the next keyword.

What is the keyword? For shading, we have a couple of words missing from that description.

One word is missing from cross-hatching, and our final keyword is missing.

Pause the video while you have a go at this task and fill in the missing words from the keywords and their descriptions.

I'll see you when you're finished.

Okay, good to be back with you.

How did you get on with this task? Let's have a look.

So shadow is the area of darkness where the object or figure rests on a surface.

The next keyword was highlight.

It's a bright or reflective area in a painting, picture, or design.

Shading, a technique used to depict different levels of light and dark in an image.

Cross-hatching, a technique for shading and adding tone with intersecting sets of parallel lines.

And our final missing keyword was tone, how light or dark something is.

Well done for filling in the missing words.

Well done for filling in the missing words from the keywords and their descriptions.

We're sticking with the keywords for the next part of our task.

I would like you to describe how each of the keywords have been used in this drawing of a marble.

You should mention the use of tone, shadows, and highlights.

Pause the video while you do this.

Okay, how did you get on? Let's hear from Laura.

"This drawing shows a range of tones to create a 3D effect.

Dark shadows contrast with bright highlights to give a clear sense of the light source." Fantastic use of those keywords.

And now we're onto our next learning cycle, apply tone to an observational drawing.

Yes, we are getting practical, we are drawing, we're using tone.

So let's explore how different tones affect your artwork.

You'll need the following pieces of equipment for this part of the lesson: paper or sketchbook, pencils, a pencil pot or cup, and a sharpener.

So pause here while you go and collect these pieces of equipment.

Okay, great to be back with you.

Glad you have everything you need.

Artists can use a pencil to create a tonal value scale.

In this lesson, you will explore the different densities of light and dark you can create and how you can gradually build up shading and tone, as we can see on the screen there.

How many variations of tones can you create is what we'll be finding out.

So I will have a go at creating a tonal scale.

So as you can see, this is what I've done.

I've gone from light to dark.

And now it's your turn.

Can you have a go at creating a tonal scale, a tonal value scale by gradually building up your shading and tone? Pause the video while you have a go at this.

Well done for having a go.

Here's Andeep.

"Gradually pressing harder with the pencil helped to create a range of tones." Artists can use a pencil to create tonal value scales in different ways.

This artist has used cross-hatching to build up the dark, mid, and light tones.

So we can see such a contrast there from those light tones on the left all the way through to the dark tones on the right.

So you can see on the left what I have done.

Here's my cross-hatching tonal scale, light tones on the left, midtones building up in the centre, and then all the way over on the right, got much darker tonal value.

Over to you.

I would like you to have a go at creating your own cross-hatching tonal scale, building up from light to dark.

Pause the video while you do this.

Here's Laura, "I found pressing harder and leaving less space between lines was most effective for this cross-hatching tonal scale." Great reflections from Laura.

Tone can be applied to a still life pencil drawing by following the steps.

So first of all, place some pencils in a pot or cup in front of you to observe.

So pause the video while you do this.

Place your pencil pots in position.

And now I'd like you to notice, where do the highlights and shadows fall? Pause the video and share with someone.

And now create a contour line drawing of your still life using pencils.

So just the outlines.

Pause the video while you do this.

Next, I'd like to add some smooth shading on selected areas where you can see midtones.

Pause the video while you have a go at this.

Can you see how that addition of the midtones has already lifted our drawing from the contour line drawing that we created in the last stage? Next, I'd like you to add darker tones in the darkest areas and shadows.

Lightly press your pencil to create lighter tones, and then use a rubber to create bright highlights.

Pause the video while you do this.

Fantastic.

I'm loving that contrast between the shadows and the highlights.

Laura's reflecting on how adding tone has changed the image she has drawn.

"As soon as I added the shading around my cylinder, the outlines disappeared, which made it seem less flat and created the illusion of form." This is what tone can do for us, it can bring things to life and bring them off the page, make them three-dimensional.

Well done for having a go at this.

Let's have a check for understanding.

True or false? Tone can be used in drawing to make objects look less flat and more three-dimensional.

Pause the video while you decide if this is true or false.

Well done if you selected true, and now I'd like you to say a little more about your answer.

Pause the video while you do this.

Perhaps you said something like this.

Tone introduces light and dark to a drawing, helping to provide a sense of three-dimensionality to objects.

Tone can be applied through line work across different mediums through cross-hatching and hatching.

Lubaina Himid's screen prints entitled "A Harlot's Progress: Tight Grip" shows how tone can be built up through layered cross-hatching lines.

How has tone been applied in this printmaking artwork of a still life? Pause the video and share with someone.

Thanks for sharing your responses.

This printmaking example also shows tonal application using cross-hatching.

Do the tones look different in this medium? Pause the video and share with someone.

Here's Andeep.

"The image is inverted, with white lines used to build tonal values, which creates a more moody atmosphere." Check for understanding.

Gradually building a range of tonal transitions is referred to as a, tonal value scale, colour wheel chart, or brush technique? Pause the video while you decide.

Well done if you selected tonal value scale.

Let's explore how different tones affect your artwork.

You'll need the following pieces of equipment for this activity: paper or sketchbook, black fineliner pen or biro, and a bottle or glass to observe.

Pause the video while you collect these pieces of equipment.

Okay, great to have you back with everything you need.

And now it's time for your task.

I would like you to apply tone through a still life pen drawing by following the next steps.

First of all, place a bottle in front of you to observe.

Take a few moments to notice where the highlights and shadows fall.

Pause the video while you do this.

And now, using your pen, create a contour line drawing of the bottle.

Pause the video while you do this.

Great stuff.

Now you have your contour line drawing, let's move on to the next stage.

I'd like you now to add cross-hatching lines to build up midtones to selected areas where you can see them.

Pause the video while you add the midtones.

And now I would like you to add darker tones and create shadows by building up more cross-hatching lines.

Pause the video while you add the darker tones through further cross-hatching.

And finally, I would like you to add in any final details, ensuring all the tones match your observations.

Pause the video while you do this.

Great to have those final details in place, and now I would like you to reflect on how you found the process of capturing tone through cross-hatching in this task.

Pause the video and share with somebody.

So, how did you get on with reflecting on the process of capturing tone through cross-hatching in this task? Let's hear from Andeep.

"As soon as I added the cross-hatching it helped add definition so the image stood out more and had contrast of dark and light areas." Love that.

And Sofia, "I felt hatching was harder to control than smooth blending as you couldn't be as neat." Yeah, great observation too.

And I hope you enjoyed sharing your reflections.

In our lesson, The elements of art: tone, we've covered the following.

Tone indicates how light or dark something is.

The way light falls on a subject creates highlights and shadows.

Tone can be organised into tonal values from light to dark, with a range of midtones in between.

Tone can be used to create form, contrast, atmosphere, and focal points.

Well done, everyone, for joining in with this lesson.

I loved exploring tone together with you, looking at how highlights and shadows are created and exploring tonal value scales, and, of course, creating your own drawings using cross-hatching to create tone.

I hope you've enjoyed this lesson, I really have, and I'm looking forward to seeing you at another art lesson soon.

Until then, stay creative.