New
New
Year 7

The elements of art: tone

I can identify different types of tone and add tone in my drawings.

New
New
Year 7

The elements of art: tone

I can identify different types of tone and add tone in my drawings.

These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

Switch to our new teaching resources now - designed by teachers and leading subject experts, and tested in classrooms.

These resources were created for remote use during the pandemic and are not designed for classroom teaching.

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Tone indicates how light or dark something is
  2. Tone can be organised into groups of lights, mid tones, darks
  3. Tone is used to create form

Keywords

  • Shadow - the area 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

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

  • Tone - how light or dark something is

Common misconception

Tone is all about smooth blending

Tone can be captured in a variety of ways and mediums


To help you plan your year 7 art and design lesson on: The elements of art: tone, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Use a range of pencil grades to increase tonal variation
Teacher tip

Equipment

sketchbook or paper, pencil and optionally a pencil pot/tin can with pencils in to observe.

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

Loading...

6 Questions

Q1.
What is tone?
The layering of detail in an artwork
How brightly coloured something is
Correct answer: How light or dark something is
The opacity of an object
The colour blending in an image
Q2.
Fill the gap: Tone can be achieved in an artwork by showing the __________ and __________ .
Correct answer: highlights and shadows
colours and blending
details and texture
techniques and materials
creativity and expression
Q3.
Match each term with its correct definition
Correct Answer:shadow,a dark area or shape produced by blocking rays of light

a dark area or shape produced by blocking rays of light

Correct Answer:highlight,a bright or reflective area in a painting, picture, or design

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

Correct Answer:shading,an art technique depicting different levels of light and dark

an art technique depicting different levels of light and dark

Correct Answer:cross-hatching,a technique for adding tone with intersecting sets of hatched lines

a technique for adding tone with intersecting sets of hatched lines

Correct Answer:tone,how light or dark something is

how light or dark something is

Q4.
Tone can be used to ...
give your artwork an Abstract Expressionist feel
Correct answer: create form, or the illusion of it
Correct answer: create atmosphere and variety in an artwork
Correct answer: create contrast
Correct answer: create areas of value and focal points
Q5.
There are different ways of creating tone. Which of these is NOT a technique for adding tone?
shading
Correct answer: contouring
hatching
cross-hatching
mark-making
Q6.
Which of the following artworks shows a range of tones?
Correct answer: Option 1
Option 2
Correct answer: Option 3

6 Questions

Q1.
It can be easier to spot different tones in __________ artwork
sculptural
Correct answer: monochromatic (black and white)
photographic
aesthetically pleasing
Abstract Expressionist
Q2.
What does "tone" refer to in art and design?
The mood of a painting
The texture of a surface
Correct answer: The lightness or darkness of something
The use of warm and cool colours
Q3.
Which of the following best demonstrates a full tonal range?
Only using black and white
Correct answer: A gradient from light to dark
Primary colours arranged in order
Different line thicknesses
Q4.
Why is tone important in drawing?
It helps create colour
Correct answer: It gives the illusion of three dimensions
It shows perspective
It defines line quality
Q5.
What is a "highlight" in tonal drawing?
The darkest area of an object
The background tone behind an object
Correct answer: The lightest part where light hits the object
An outline of an object added for emphasis
Q6.
What is the purpose of a value scale in tonal studies?
To practice line drawing
To arrange colours by temperature
To test brush techniques
Correct answer: To show a range of tones from light to dark

Additional material

Download additional material