<strong>Lesson 8: Blending Tones</strong>

The Role of Blending in Realistic Drawing

Blending, sometimes called smudging, means smoothing out the graphite tones in order to soften the edges of a transition between tone values and add significant realism to a drawing. Look at the two drawings of the bowling ball below; one is before blending and one is after. What differences do you notice? How does it affect the feeling and dimensionality of the final drawing?

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<em>vPic: still life bowling ball tone drawing*</em>

<em>vPic: still life bowling ball completed blend drawing*</em>

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Using Tortillions and Blending Stumps

Tortillions and blending stumps are the two main tools for shading. Tortillions are thin, rolled strips of paper shaped like a cone near the tip and are shorter and smaller around than stumps. The paper used to make tortillions is not as soft as the paper blending stumps are made from. Blending stumps often contain felt in the paper they are made from. You’ll primarily use tortillions to blend most of the fine details of your drawing. There are different methods for sharpening and cleaning them, but many people use an emery board or fine grit sandpaper.

<em>Vpic: tortillions*</em>

The other major tool used in blending is called a stump. Blending stumps are used less often, but for larger areas of a drawing than tortillions. A stump has the same shape as a tortillion, but is longer and much thicker, hence the name, stump. It is made from a softer paper and it can’t reach into the same small areas of a drawing as a tortillion. Stumps are usually pointed on both ends. As with tortillions, you can sharpen a stump with sandpaper, but you will want them to remain much blunter than a tortillion.

Unsurprisingly, these claims are probably overblown, scientists say.

"Using a spinner-like gadget is more likely to serve as a distraction than a benefit for individuals with ADHD," said Mark Rapport, a clinical psychologist at the University of Central Florida who has studied the benefits of movement on attention in people with ADHD.

(The so-called fidget cube — which is a plastic cube equipped with various buttons and dials for fidgeting hands — may be more classroom friendly, according to a scientist who studies intersection of human computer interaction and games, who pointed out on the website The Conversation that the cube doesn't require visual attention. "They can serve the same purpose as the spinners, but are more classroom-ready and less distracting," Katherine Isbister, professor of Computational Media at the University of California, Santa Cruz, wrote on The Conversation.)

Regardless of their usefulness in keeping kids' distracted brains focused, fidget spinners have sparked a conversation about attention spans in kids and how to help the little ones focus, experts told Live Science. For instance, though there isn't a lot of data supporting the idea that kids have less focus today than in the past, some research does suggest attention spans have decreased as multitasking has increased with the digital age, one expert said. There are various methods for bringing kids' focus back to the lesson at hand, psychologists say, including fidgeting devices, activity breaks and the simple removal of extra distractions. (The devices may also teach kids something about physics, or at least ball bearings.)

<em>Vpic: blending stumps*</em>

Blending Direction

<em>Vpics: one image for each point below*</em>

Artists traditionally blend in dark areas first, working toward the lighter areas of a drawing. This allows the artist to gather unwanted graphite from the dark areas that can be used to work the lighter areas. You can even use it to add value and details. You can choose to blend lighter areas first if you are afraid of darkening a particular area with excess graphite on the tortillion.

Over time, you’ll become more comfortable with your blending tools. Some artists clean their tools as needed while other keep a collection of them organized by the amount of graphite on them. You’ll eventually develop methods and habits best suited to your style.

Following Contours

<em>Vpics: one image for each point below*</em>

It’s important to follow the shape and contours of the object you are blending with a tortillion. Go along with the outline you’ve drawn. Going against the grain will detract from the realism of your finished work. Smooth over the outline of the object so it looks less harsh.

Think back to the basic shapes you created in Lesson 7. The prism and the pyramid both have straight lines, while the cylinder and bowling ball are curved. When you are blending, go in the same direction as the edge you are closest to or the surface of the object you’re shading on.

Think of shading a series of rolling hills verses a row of skyscrapers. You wouldn’t shade <em>or</em> blend in vertical strokes for the hills. And buildings should be blended in the direction they are built, usually in straight vertical or horizontal strokes.

A good way to get started is to experiment with your blending tools. Make some patches of graphite of various values and then use your tortillions and stumps to blend out from the patches. Use the tortillion first to see how fine of a line you can pull from one of the patches. Try putting two patches close together and blending them. Don’t use the very tip of the tortillion or it will collapse back into itself. If that happens, use a pin to push it back out from the other end. Use the side of tip, instead. When you finish blending some of the patches, play around with the graphite on the tortillion, seeing how you can use it to add graphite to the paper. This is how you add some very light color to areas that need to be just a touch darker than white. Next try drawing a line, curved or straight, and adding shading that meet up with the line, but doesn’t cross it. Use your tortillion to soften the line against the shading, pulling some of the line and shading together. You can use this technique to give objects a softer edge.

Next, try the blending stump. Use your pencil to shade a larger area of the paper – about 4” square – then use the stump to play around with blending it both inside and out of its boundaries. Shade another patch close to the first one, either lighter or darker, and try blending those together. Then use it to add graphite back to a white portion of the paper. Next, do the same experiment as you did with the tortillion. Draw another line and put some shading with it, then use the blending stump to soften the transition between the two. Sometimes you will use both the tortillion and the stump in very close proximity to one another in a drawing, depending on the size of the area you are blending.

Now that you’ve had a chance to try out your blending tools, take a couple of minutes to clean them. Use an emery board or fine grit sand paper and gently file with the grain. Remove as much of the graphite as you can and use the sander to gently restore the original shape.

As you progress, you may find there are other tools you like to use for blending, cleaning and shaping, but these are excellent ones for starting out. Now you’re ready to move on to the next assignment!

<strong>Assignment #8: Blend Tones to Form an Egg Shape</strong>