Introduction to Pointillism - Drawspace
Introduction to Pointillism Brenda Hoddinott Y12 Advanced: Creating in Color Pointillism is a method of drawing or painting with several layers of small colored dots, strokes, or individual brushstrokes. In this lesson, you try your hand at shading a section of a rose with pointillism and colored pencils.
10 Pages – 27 Illustrations
Supplies: Good quality drawing paper with a weight of at least 90 lbs, pencil sharpener, sandpaper block, and colored pencils that are similar in color to those in Figure 101. The range of values created by these colors is shown in Figure 102. Figure 101
Figure 102
Recommended for traditional and digital artists, as well as students of home schooling, academic, and recreational fine art educators Published by Drawspace Publishing, Halifax, NS, Canada (2011)
Page |2
Lightly Sketching a Rose Follow along with Figures 103 to 111 to very lightly sketch the outlines of the rose with your lightest yellow. Remember, if you press too hard, you’ll destroy the paper’s tooth . Figure 103
As you can see in Figure 103, my actual sketch is too light for you to see well. So, all sketch lines (Figures 104 to 111) have been darkened in Photoshop so you can see them. Also, don’t worry about getting your proportions exactly like mine – as, you know roses are all different. By the way, my drawing is less than 4 in (10.16 cm) wide. I began with the innermost section of the rose and worked my way outward to the edges of the petals on the left. Figure 104
Figure 108
Figure 105
Figure 109
Figure 106
Figure 107
Figure 110
Copyright to all intellectual property, images, text, projects, lessons, and exercises within Drawspace curriculum belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail [email protected] Web site http://www.drawspace.com
Page |3 Figure 111
Getting the Point of Pointillism Values are integral to creating the illusion of form in colored drawings. You need to combine the following three methods to create a range of different values with pointillism: o Use colors that are light in value for light sections and colors that are dark in value for darker sections. o Dots are farther apart for light values and closer together for darker values. o Smaller dots are used for lighter values and larger dots for darker values. A close-up view of pointillism rendered with colored pencils clearly shows a few of the thousands of dots of various sizes and shapes. Compare the color and grayscale versions to get a realistic sense of the values of the color palette with which you will be working. Figure 112
Figure 113
Copyright to all intellectual property, images, text, projects, lessons, and exercises within Drawspace curriculum belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail [email protected] Web site http://www.drawspace.com
Page |4
Drawing Lots of Rose-dots When viewed from a distance, the dots in pointillist paintings and drawings appear to blend together to create the illusion of depth, visual masses, and forms. Nineteenth-century French impressionistic artists (including George Seurat and Paul Signac) helped this genre to become a highly respected style of painting, and (more recently) drawing. The process used in this drawing to create a broad range of values is to work from light to dark. The lightest values have small sections of the white paper showing through. The darkest values have mostly large dots and an occasional small dot and short line to better define edges. You need a lot more patience for darker values because you need to draw many more dots that are closer together. You may want to print this image of the completed drawing to supplement the individual step-by-step drawings. Figure 114
Copyright to all intellectual property, images, text, projects, lessons, and exercises within Drawspace curriculum belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail [email protected] Web site http://www.drawspace.com
Page |5 Follow along with Figures 115 to 127 and use whichever colors work best to create graduations of values. From this point on, the values shown are close to those of the actual drawing. Also some images are slightly cropped to emphasize their sections with shading (cropped illustrations have a gray border). Figure 115
Figure 116
Figure 117
Figure 118
Feel free to add a few short lines to identify the edges of areas that need to be dark in value
Copyright to all intellectual property, images, text, projects, lessons, and exercises within Drawspace curriculum belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail [email protected] Web site http://www.drawspace.com
Page |6 Figure 119
Figure 120
Copyright to all intellectual property, images, text, projects, lessons, and exercises within Drawspace curriculum belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail [email protected] Web site http://www.drawspace.com
Page |7 Figure 121
Figure 122
Copyright to all intellectual property, images, text, projects, lessons, and exercises within Drawspace curriculum belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail [email protected] Web site http://www.drawspace.com
Page |8 Figure 123
Figure 124
Copyright to all intellectual property, images, text, projects, lessons, and exercises within Drawspace curriculum belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail [email protected] Web site http://www.drawspace.com
Page |9 Figure 125
Figure 126
Copyright to all intellectual property, images, text, projects, lessons, and exercises within Drawspace curriculum belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail [email protected] Web site http://www.drawspace.com
P a g e | 10 Figure 127
At this point, I usually show students a large illustration of my final drawing. However, drawings created with pointillism usually look better when viewed from a distance. So, here’s the final image - smaller than its actual size.
Brenda Hoddinott Co-owner of Drawspace.com, owner of Drawspace Publishing, art educator, visual artist, portraitist, forensic artist (retired), illustrator, and author of several artrelated books
“My philosophy on teaching art is to focus primarily on the enjoyment aspects while gently introducing the technical and academic. Hence, in creating a passion for the subject matter, the quest for knowledge also becomes enjoyable.” Born in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Brenda grew up in the small town of Corner Brook. She developed strong drawing and painting skills through self-directed learning. During her twenty-five year career as a self-educated civilian forensic artist, various criminal investigation departments have employed Brenda’s skills, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. In 1992, Brenda was honored with a commendation from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and in 1994, she was awarded a Certificate of Membership from “Forensic Artists International”. In 2003, Brenda retired from her careers as a forensic artist and teacher to work full time writing books and developing her website (Drawspace.com). This site is respected as a resource for fine art educators, home schooling programs, and educational facilities throughout the world.
Copyright to all intellectual property, images, text, projects, lessons, and exercises within Drawspace curriculum belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail [email protected] Web site http://www.drawspace.com
10 Pages – 27 Illustrations
Supplies: Good quality drawing paper with a weight of at least 90 lbs, pencil sharpener, sandpaper block, and colored pencils that are similar in color to those in Figure 101. The range of values created by these colors is shown in Figure 102. Figure 101
Figure 102
Recommended for traditional and digital artists, as well as students of home schooling, academic, and recreational fine art educators Published by Drawspace Publishing, Halifax, NS, Canada (2011)
Page |2
Lightly Sketching a Rose Follow along with Figures 103 to 111 to very lightly sketch the outlines of the rose with your lightest yellow. Remember, if you press too hard, you’ll destroy the paper’s tooth . Figure 103
As you can see in Figure 103, my actual sketch is too light for you to see well. So, all sketch lines (Figures 104 to 111) have been darkened in Photoshop so you can see them. Also, don’t worry about getting your proportions exactly like mine – as, you know roses are all different. By the way, my drawing is less than 4 in (10.16 cm) wide. I began with the innermost section of the rose and worked my way outward to the edges of the petals on the left. Figure 104
Figure 108
Figure 105
Figure 109
Figure 106
Figure 107
Figure 110
Copyright to all intellectual property, images, text, projects, lessons, and exercises within Drawspace curriculum belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail [email protected] Web site http://www.drawspace.com
Page |3 Figure 111
Getting the Point of Pointillism Values are integral to creating the illusion of form in colored drawings. You need to combine the following three methods to create a range of different values with pointillism: o Use colors that are light in value for light sections and colors that are dark in value for darker sections. o Dots are farther apart for light values and closer together for darker values. o Smaller dots are used for lighter values and larger dots for darker values. A close-up view of pointillism rendered with colored pencils clearly shows a few of the thousands of dots of various sizes and shapes. Compare the color and grayscale versions to get a realistic sense of the values of the color palette with which you will be working. Figure 112
Figure 113
Copyright to all intellectual property, images, text, projects, lessons, and exercises within Drawspace curriculum belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail [email protected] Web site http://www.drawspace.com
Page |4
Drawing Lots of Rose-dots When viewed from a distance, the dots in pointillist paintings and drawings appear to blend together to create the illusion of depth, visual masses, and forms. Nineteenth-century French impressionistic artists (including George Seurat and Paul Signac) helped this genre to become a highly respected style of painting, and (more recently) drawing. The process used in this drawing to create a broad range of values is to work from light to dark. The lightest values have small sections of the white paper showing through. The darkest values have mostly large dots and an occasional small dot and short line to better define edges. You need a lot more patience for darker values because you need to draw many more dots that are closer together. You may want to print this image of the completed drawing to supplement the individual step-by-step drawings. Figure 114
Copyright to all intellectual property, images, text, projects, lessons, and exercises within Drawspace curriculum belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail [email protected] Web site http://www.drawspace.com
Page |5 Follow along with Figures 115 to 127 and use whichever colors work best to create graduations of values. From this point on, the values shown are close to those of the actual drawing. Also some images are slightly cropped to emphasize their sections with shading (cropped illustrations have a gray border). Figure 115
Figure 116
Figure 117
Figure 118
Feel free to add a few short lines to identify the edges of areas that need to be dark in value
Copyright to all intellectual property, images, text, projects, lessons, and exercises within Drawspace curriculum belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail [email protected] Web site http://www.drawspace.com
Page |6 Figure 119
Figure 120
Copyright to all intellectual property, images, text, projects, lessons, and exercises within Drawspace curriculum belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail [email protected] Web site http://www.drawspace.com
Page |7 Figure 121
Figure 122
Copyright to all intellectual property, images, text, projects, lessons, and exercises within Drawspace curriculum belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail [email protected] Web site http://www.drawspace.com
Page |8 Figure 123
Figure 124
Copyright to all intellectual property, images, text, projects, lessons, and exercises within Drawspace curriculum belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail [email protected] Web site http://www.drawspace.com
Page |9 Figure 125
Figure 126
Copyright to all intellectual property, images, text, projects, lessons, and exercises within Drawspace curriculum belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail [email protected] Web site http://www.drawspace.com
P a g e | 10 Figure 127
At this point, I usually show students a large illustration of my final drawing. However, drawings created with pointillism usually look better when viewed from a distance. So, here’s the final image - smaller than its actual size.
Brenda Hoddinott Co-owner of Drawspace.com, owner of Drawspace Publishing, art educator, visual artist, portraitist, forensic artist (retired), illustrator, and author of several artrelated books
“My philosophy on teaching art is to focus primarily on the enjoyment aspects while gently introducing the technical and academic. Hence, in creating a passion for the subject matter, the quest for knowledge also becomes enjoyable.” Born in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Brenda grew up in the small town of Corner Brook. She developed strong drawing and painting skills through self-directed learning. During her twenty-five year career as a self-educated civilian forensic artist, various criminal investigation departments have employed Brenda’s skills, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. In 1992, Brenda was honored with a commendation from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and in 1994, she was awarded a Certificate of Membership from “Forensic Artists International”. In 2003, Brenda retired from her careers as a forensic artist and teacher to work full time writing books and developing her website (Drawspace.com). This site is respected as a resource for fine art educators, home schooling programs, and educational facilities throughout the world.
Copyright to all intellectual property, images, text, projects, lessons, and exercises within Drawspace curriculum belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail [email protected] Web site http://www.drawspace.com
