From dark to light

Light and mystery in a drawing, flowing transitions, structural identity

We started with doodling. This has loosened us up and ensured that we understand the basic concepts of lines. With geometry, we’ve added already a concept. A contour, a kind of limitedness we searched for quite knowingly. This time, we’re adding the idea of drawing from dark to light.

Take a sheet of paper and put it in front of you in portrait format. Either you make a small pencil margin parallel to the edge of the paper, spaced 3-4 cm from the edge, or you leave it as it is. The aim is to do an exercise from dark to light. As we progress, we’ll need these basic concepts of lines and light. So light is our topic today, drawing from dark to light.

How does that work? You are welcome to use music that inspires you as a basis again. But it can also be quiet. From dark to light means that the lines on one side are denser and stronger and therefore the side appears darker. Light means that the lines become airier and more delicate and thus the area appears lighter.

But from dark to light also means there’s a smooth transition. Try to really work on this blending. There’s a little effort behind it, a perseverance, to go over it again and again until the transition is as smooth as possible. You will need to control your hand very well. You can start with smaller elements to better spread them through the blend. The elements may be strokes; they may be small scribbles, that are very dense at the beginning and then become less dense and also more delicate so that they appear airy and filmy.

This task is easier with short elements. On one sheet of paper try out different short elements. What can short lines look like? Are they just strokes, or are they little doodle monsters, or little round elements, or scribbled elements of some kind?

Then, you choose one of those for yourself and stick with it for the next sheet of paper, where you try this smooth transition. This ties into the concept of structural identity, which I would like to introduce to you. Structural identity means that once you’ve found your drawing module – how you go from dark to light – you take that module, and it remains binding for this particular work.

If it’s strokes, the strokes begin very narrow and dark, then they become less and less dark and are spread further apart. The same with doodling elements, first they’re very narrow and overlapping and you work the pencil with a lot of pressure, and then it becomes less towards the bottom, less strong and less dense.

The result should be a nice flowing transition. This may take several attempts. You’ll have to go over the sheet again and again to get this smooth blend. You can also observe this in nature, watching sunsets or sunrises, where this gradual transition from dark to light happens very delicately and magically.
We will need this transition for all our future exercises and drawings. Now, this first exercise, focuses only on the transition itself.

What are transitions? Transitions are very sensitive areas. There are different kinds of transitions. There are transitions that form a border between complete darkness to sudden light. Or from water to land. Or from land to air. Or from land to fire. These are boundaries. In nature, if we stay in one element, we can also observe color transitions.

For example, in the sea or in lakes. For those who prefer working with color, color is very welcome. But then please stay in one color for the entire exercise. I regard blue as the easiest color for such transitions. But of course, dark graphite also works very nicely. It would work the same way with ink and brush. But that’s only for the brave and experienced.

As I said, transitions are sensitive areas. We also have transitions in dreams, from being awake to falling asleep. Especially with lucid dreams. These are phases in sleep where we’re floating between consciousness and subconsciousness. Or the transition from one season to another.

That is also very fluid. Very slow and very fluid, there are no sudden jumps. Sometimes you may have the feeling that when it’s been dry for a long time and then it finally rains, suddenly everything is green. Yes, there are little jumps. But otherwise, everything in nature develops fluidly. Like a flower or a tree, like life develops from the cell to its fertilization, how cells are added step by step until the human or the animal comes into being.

Again, sit down consciously, prepare yourself by relaxing, becoming aware of yourself, taking deep breaths. Through this, too, there’s a transition from everyday consciousness to aesthetic consciousness. Namely, drawing with your consciousness on the tip of the pencil until there’s an inner impulse to begin.