The Elements of Drawing - Exercise 3

The Elements of Drawing - Exercise 3
Ink on Paper
10cm x 18cm (4" x 7")

Exercise 3 from John Ruskin’s The Elements of Drawing is an extension to Exercise 1.

Ruskin says:

"As soon as you find you have some command of the pen as a shading instrument, and can lay a pale or dark tint as you choose, try to produce gradated spaces like Fig. 2"

The Elements of Drawing - Exercise 3

The instructions are 

"Draw, therefore, two parallel lines for limits to your work, and try to gradate the shade evenly from white to black, passing over the greatest possible distance, yet so that every part of the band may have visible change in it."

My lines were wobbly because I drew them free hand, without flattening the page - which was a mistake. The exercise would be easier with properly straight and parallel lines. After that, the exercise went  smoothly. One skill I improved was my ability to remove ink using 

"the edge of your penknife very lightly, and for some time,"

During Exercise 1, I was scratching the paper which made adding more ink difficult. In this exercise, I managed to scrape off ink without creating any noticeable damage. It seemed like I could have carried on for a lot longer adding and removing ink. Eventually, I stopped because I couldn’t tell whether I was improving the gradations or making them worse.

Ruskin says

"The perception of gradation is very deficient in all beginners (not to say, in many artists), and you will probably, for some time, think your gradation skilful enough, when it is quite patchy and imperfect."

He emphasizes: 

"Nearly all expression of form, in drawing, depends on your power of gradating delicately"

And suggests

"look for gradated spaces in Nature. …

At last, when your eye gets keen and true, you will see gradation on everything in Nature."