AWL 3M
Academic Drawing
The Bargue Drawing Companion
Course Notes
lessons
1. introduction
a. Tools & Materials
b. How to Draw
2. The Construct
a. Construct / Schematic
b. The Construct Measurement
c. Simple Shapes
3. Articulation
a. Describing the Contour
b. Overlaying the Plumb Lines
c. Measuring the Contour
d. Rules of Light
4. Massing In
a. Division of Light & Shadow Patterns
b. Massing in the Shadows
5. Transfer the Drawing
6. Edges
a. Hard Edge
b. Blended Edge
c. Lost Edge
7. Modeling (shading)
a. Rendering the Dark Shadows
b. Rendering the Lights
8. Accenting and Highlighting
a. Adding Accents & Highlights
9. Summary
a. Summary & Next Steps
AWL 3M
Academic Drawing
Tools and Materials
Pencils
At a minimum, you will need 2 each of the following grades of pencil - 2B, HB and 2H. Use only
standard pencils with wooden barrels and purchase a good brand name like Staedtler. Pencils should be
properly sharpened to a long tapered point (1to 1.5 inches in length) prior to drawing.
Paper & Drawing Boards
You will need 1 pad of white cartridge drawing paper 18 x 24 for your working copies. For the final copy,
you will need 1 sheet of Grey Stonehenge paper. As a support, you will need an 18 x 24 drawing board.
Smooth plywood, Masonite, or MDF board. Most art supply stores will carry these.
Other Tools
In addition to the above you will need:
• 1 Knead able Eraser (Staedtler or Prang)
• 1 white vinyl eraser (Staedtler)
• 1 sheet of 200 grit (or higher) sandpaper
• 1 utility knife ("snap off" blade variety). Buy one of the larger ones – they are safer.
• 1 Knitting Needle (3 - 3.5 mm) about 30cm long
• 1 Roll of Masking Tape. The preferred kind is 3M "High Tack"
Use of Kneaded Eraser
• Fine tapered point (should resemble mouse’s tail)
• Chisel point
• Pouncing tool for lightening lines and values
AWL 3M
Academic Drawing
Preparation of Graphite Pencil Points
The Bargue Copy Process
AWL 3M
Academic Drawing
The Construct
The purpose of the construct is to get the size, location and proportions of every part of
the drawing correct and to decompose the image into a series of smaller more
manageable parts.
All drawing at this stage should be done with a 2B pencil.
The process proceeds as follows:
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Take the plate you are planning to copy and
photocopy it larger as the images from the
book are too small in size. Work from the
photocopy.
If there is a supplied construct for the
drawing, separate it from the final drawing.
Put the final drawing away for safekeeping
and work with the construct. If there is no
construct for the drawing, then the student
must design one. This is done by taking a
piece of tracing paper, placing it over the
drawing and then placing the 2 sheets onto a
light table or window during daylight. Trace
the major movements of the drawing onto
the paper. Examine other plates to see how
Bargue prepared the constructs.
Secure the construct onto the drawing board
on the left side (if you are right-handed) or
on the right (if you are left-handed ). Use
masking tape at all corners to ensure that the
construct does not move
AWL 3M
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Academic Drawing
Using a T-square, draw a set of reference axis on the construct. Placement of the axis
is best centralized to the drawing. One vertical and one horizontal axis will be
needed. In some cases, the image may have one or more already supplied, but only 2
will be used.
Take a sheet of Cartridge drawing paper and fold it in half. The bottom sheet will
cushion the pencil on the hard surface of the drawing board. Affix the paper firmly to
the drawing board with masking tape at all corners.
Using the T-square, extend the horizontal axis from the construct onto your paper.
Using the T-square draw a vertical axis on your paper. Wherever you decide to place your vertical
axis, please ensure that there is sufficient space on either side of the vertical axis to enclose the whole
diagram.
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Academic Drawing
A construct is composed of parts made from line segments, both straight and slightly
curved. Each of these segments of the construct we will call a "movement". For line
segments, we measure with the knitting needle, the distances from the axes to the 2
end points of the movement, and we transfer the measurement onto the drawing.
For each measurement, ensure that the needle is parallel to an axis and that you are
sighting perpendicularly down on the point you are measuring. Transfer your
measurements carefully to the working drawing sheet. It is very similar to geometry
in that the deviation from each axis will give you a point in space.
At each such point make a small plus ("+") sign to indicate the measured and transferred point.
Work your way around the contour of the construct, transferring the points of each movement. For
each pair of points so transferred, join them with a light, thick line. Hold your pencil at the end away
from the point, with the point about half-way between the endpoints of the movement. Without
touching the paper with the point, rehearse drawing the segment. Once you are happy with it, lower
the point of the pencil and draw a light, thick "bandy" line from one endpoint to the other. You should
deliberately overshoot each endpoint slightly.
When you have transferred all of the movements of the construct, step back from the drawing and
check the contained shapes. Also use the needle to look for and check any horizontal or vertical
alignments in the construct. You should also take a number of point-to-point measurements and then
check them in your drawing. Also check your drawing by using the "animation test" (flicking your
eyes rapidly back and forth from the construct to your drawing looking for points or segments which
jump around and correcting the points which move).
Correct any and all errors you find in your drawing of the construct. Do not proceed to the next step until
all errors have been corrected.
AWL 3M
Academic Drawing
Articulation
The Random House Dictionary gives the following definitions for "articulate"
• made clear, distinct and precise in relation to other parts
• having a meaningful relation to other parts
• having parts or distinct areas organized into a coherent or meaningful whole
• unified
The construct breaks the image down into smaller, more manageable pieces. This next step in the Bargue
copy process is intended to supply more details for each of the simplified movements of the construct, but
also to unify the pieces into a meaningful whole by describing the contours and separating the light and
shadow patterns of the image.
All drawing at this stage should be done with an HB pencil.
This stage proceeds as follows:
• Remove the original construct from the drawing board. Do not remove or move your working copy.
• Put the final drawing that you had in safekeeping on top of the construct you just removed from the
drawing board and using a light table or an outside window transfer the axes used for the construct
onto the final drawing.
• Secure the final drawing to the drawing board in place of the recently removed construct. Ensure that
the horizontal axis of the final drawing is an extension of the axis from your working copy of the
construct.
• For each line segment, locate the endpoints in the final
drawing. Start from one of the endpoints and using the
needle measure and transfer its location onto your
working copy. From the point just measured progress
along the contour ( in the final drawing) until you
reach a "point of inflection" where the line or curve
changes direction. Measure and transfer this
intermediate point onto your working drawing. All
drawing at this stage should be done with an HB
pencil so that we produce dark thin lines. Once a
complete movement from the construct has been
finished, the original movement can be erased. In
terms of measuring, this stage is the same as the
previous one.
• Work your way around the contour of the construct
articulating each movement in the manner described.
Do the same thing with any internal structure or
shadow edge.
• Once completed, step back from the drawing and
check all of the expanded contour lines. As before,
check the enclosed shapes, look for vertical and
horizontal alignments. Take some random point-topoint measurements and check them on your drawing.
Correct all errors in your drawing before proceeding.
AWL 3M
Academic Drawing
Massing in a Uniform Tone
Begin to mass in a uniform note for all of the enclosed shadows. This will enable the
student to more clearly see the shapes in terms of mass, as opposed to solely line. The
value should be dark enough for the student to clearly see the difference between the
light and dark families. Keep in mind that all shadows should be kept crisp and clear.
AWL 3M
Academic Drawing
Transfer the Drawing
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Place your copied articulated construct face down on a light table (or facing outward
on a window) and affix it with tape.
Using a very soft 6B graphite pencil go back and forth over the line work in a
direction perpendicular to the lines -- i.e. go across the lines. About 5 mm on either
side of the line is sufficient. Ensure that the lines are covered uniformly with graphite
and no white spaces remain within the darkened area.
Remove your copy from the light table or window, turn it over so the drawing faces upward and place
it carefully onto the Stonehenge paper in its final position and orientation. Affix it to the drawing
board with tape on only 1 side so that you can flip it up out of the way to check on the progress of the
tracing.
Lightly trace the movements onto the final paper. Do not press heavily or you will indent the surface
of the Stonehenge and leave an impressed scored line on the surface which will be impossible to
remove and difficult to camouflage.
Once the complete drawing has been traced and transferred you may permanently remove the cartoon
from the drawing board.
edges
(Massing in a Uniform Tonal Value)
The "massing in" stage is designed to re-establish the light and shadow patterns on the Stonehenge paper.
However, neatness and correct value are now essential.
In the darks, we use the 2B and HB pencils.
We want to fill each of the shadow areas with a value that is as close as possible to the average value in
this particular region of the shadows.
To protect the edges of a region, thicken them with a 2B pencil.
Rapidly fill in the area by veiling between the thickened lines. Target a value slightly lighter than the final
value you want.
Go back over the area, selectively filling in the lighter areas to achieve a flat even value.
Then, clean-up hard edges by using a chisel edge on the kneaded eraser.
Once the darks are established, you should check the drawing for a flat likeness of the subject - the
drawing should look like the subject from a distance.
AWL 3M
Academic Drawing
Modeling
Modeling, also known as rendering or shading, is the process of changing the surface
values in the light and dark portions of a drawing to give the illusion that the surface of
the form is turning in the light.
Nature uses light to reveal the geometry of an object in 2 ways.
• By the way light falls over a form and changes the amounts of light and darkness (known as value) of
the different parts of the object;
• By the hardness or softness of the edges of the shadow.
The examination and study of the effect of light on a three-dimensional form is known as "light logic"
which is explored and explained in a separate publication. In what follows, we assume that the
reader/student is familiar with the lessons and observations of light logic. If this is not the case, please
pause in your reading of this publication and acquire the necessary background knowledge.
The modeling phase always proceeds from the darks to the lights.
Rendering the Darks
Typically the dark shadow areas of the diagram are represented using only 3 values from the value scale.
In the darks we already have a uniform flat average tone (representing the middle tone), we need only
worry about going slightly darker or slightly lighter.
All work in the darks is done with a 2B and an HB pencil.
Darker areas can be achieved by applying another light veil of graphite. On small areas that go too dark,
the kneaded eraser finely pointed will lift out these small areas.
Reflected light can be achieved by "lifting out" or "taping out" small amounts of graphite with the
kneaded eraser.
Soft edges on the darks can be achieved using "airplane strokes" from the darks into the lights.
Rendering the Lights
All work in the lights is done using an HB and 2H pencils.
Recall that 3 values from the complete scale of 9 were used to model the darks. This leaves 6 values to be
used to model all the halftones in the lights. If this fact gives you the impression that modeling the lights
is at least twice as important as modeling the darks, then you have formed the correct conclusion.
There are 2 ways to model the halftones in the lights - veiling and big form modeling.
AWL 3M
Academic Drawing
Veiling
This method involves choosing a small area or patch in the lights and with either a 2H or
HB pencil, blocking in a uniform area of tone of the value required, and then progressing
to the next patch until all of the light areas are modeled. Areas or bands which get too
dark can be lightened with the kneaded eraser.
This method is probably your method of choice on your first several Bargue copies. It
produces very acceptable results although it is more time-consuming than the method described next.
Big Form Modeling
In this method of shading, we identify the direction of the light source and the simplified, conceptualized
main forms of the object being drawn - for example, treating the head like an ovoid (egg shape), and the
legs and arms like cylinders. We begin with the largest main forms and proceed downward in detail to the
smaller contained forms and then to the final rendering where we establish textures and the smallest
details.
As an example of this shading technique, let us consider Bargue Plate 53 entitled "Jeune Femme".
This image consists conceptually of:
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An Egg shape for the head
A cylinder for the neck
A truncated cone for the statue base
2 side projections for the hair
In this plate the light is coming from the upper right and in the
figure below we show the conceptualization.
After completing the first 4 steps of the Bargue copy process,
we have our working copy with the Apelles Line drawn in and
the darks already modeled as shown in the figure.
We now select one of the large conceptual forms, in this case
the largest egg-shape of the head. Knowing that the light is
coming from the upper right, we can model the halftones on the
egg as shown in Figure 3.
Within the head's large ovoid shape, there is another ovoid
stretching from the top of the head to just under the lower lip
and within this there is a sphere from the top of the head to just below the eyes. Modeling these smaller
forms in sequence and then paying attention to the planes of the face and darkening some and lightening
others, we end up with the halftone model as shown in the Figure to the right.
All that remains at this point is to do the modeling of smaller and smaller details and to perform a little
localized clean-up as required.