Exploring Light and Shadows with Glass Marbles

 

In this art lesson, students learned how to draw and shade glass marbles, focusing on the effects of light and shadows. This exercise is perfect for teaching spatial perspective, shading techniques, and the importance of light in art. Here's how you can guide your students through this engaging activity.

Step 1: Drawing the White Marble

• Trace Circles: Start by having the students trace circles using spatial perspective to create a realistic marble shape. I have circle templates in my class for student's to use.
• Draw Guidelines: Next, ask them to draw a diagonal guideline that divides the marble in half. This helps in understanding how light interacts with the object.
• Shadow Guidelines: Students can refer to the teacher or visual aids for guidance on adding shadows, ensuring they place them accurately based on the light source.

Step 2: Adding Highlights and Reflections

• Highlighting: Students add highlights to their marble using bright white with hard edges, making the marble look shiny and reflective.
• Reflected Light: They should add a small area of reflected light on the opposite side of the main highlight, using a soft edge with a graduated value that follows the curve of the marble.
• Light in Shadow: To make the marble more dynamic, students add light within the shadow area, ensuring the edges are soft to create a subtle effect.

Step 3: Shading the Grey Marble

• Graduated Shading: For the grey marble, students start by adding shading from hard to soft edges using graduated values. This creates a realistic transition from light to shadow.
• Soft Shadows: They continue shading by darkening the area around the marble, keeping the edges soft and blending well to avoid harsh lines. Remind students to avoid a "sunburst" effect and instead aim for a smooth, gradual change in tone.

Step 4: Enhancing with Black

• Adding Black: Finally, students use black to deepen the shadows and enhance the contrast. They apply black on top of the grey shading and carefully blend it into the highlights.
• Final Touches: To finish, students add black to the shadow beneath the marble and softly fade it around the areas where the light hits.

Conclusion This lesson not only teaches students essential drawing and shading skills but also helps them understand the complexities of light and shadow. Encourage them to experiment with different light sources and angles to see how it changes the appearance of their marbles.

Feel free to adapt this lesson to different skill levels by adjusting the complexity of the shading and the number of marbles drawn. Happy creating!

I ran across this particular lesson on Instagram. Great instructions and visuals on this post. Check it out @smms_studio_art 

This art reminds me of the artist Glennray Tutor. Maybe, we should study him next. See his work below in the link https://www.glennraytutor.com/

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