SHADOW DRAWINGS ON PAPER
I begin my drawings using a “shadow chamois”. That is a chamois that has been saturated with charcoal particles (dust) by grinding vine charcoal under my shoe, into powder and placing an already well used chamois into the dust that I've produced and scrubbing it about till it is saturated with the dust..
I can hold a blackened “shadow chamois” in my fingers and produce a very rapid image on an 18 x 26 inch sheet of white paper. When the image is pretty representative, it can be developed, later, in my studio..
Models can only pose in some positions briefly... so I must move fast. I always wanted a better tool than a snappy vine charcoal stick, when I'm trying to work fast. These “shadow chamois” do it for me. Try it!
Try it more than once, sustained effort is how you get there. Use the same movements as if you were holding a stick of vine charcoal. Literally, draw with the folded up corner of the chamois...causing a shadowy image to come forth. It's a real kick...and so much faster than plain line.
THE SHADOW DRAWINGS..
FIVE VIEWS OF THE BEAUTIFUL PERUVIAN
If you have shadows in the right place, it easy enough to follow up with the outlines to complete the picture. All of the shadows drawings in the five drawings were completed in less than ten minutes. The outlines were added, in my studio, later.
Elbert Price 3/29/2011
