Art technique: Shadowing

There are many ways to put an image on a gourd, or any surface for that matter. We'll explore several traditional techniques I learned at the School of Design at North Carolina State University under the tutelage of George Bireline. George was a thoughtful and wizened artist who, not only produced intense pieces of visual commentaries of everyday and traumatic events, would answer questions with questions, demanding critical thinking on my part. I hated it at the time because all I wanted was an answer to my question so I could move on with my work, but in the end self-reflection and exploration has made me a better researcher and innovator.

As the first technique for getting an image to live, let's explore shadowing. [This is different from showing shadow or highlights.] Shadowing is following a previous line with an neighboring line, again and again and again. With each line, the subtle differences and changes will produce a natural pulse to the overall image. For this example, we'll use a feather.

Feathers have regimented vanes, as is shown by this drawing from the University of Waikato. There is a shaft and vanes that extend from it like marched soldiers. They would have to be sturdy against bending in order for a bird to stay awind. Flexible feathers would be too floppy for bird to maintain altitude. However in art, movement is critical and producing movement with line and color is how artists convey action.



In this simple sketch of a feather, the shaft is curved, and the vanes are certainly not regimented. However, as a stand-alone image, it moves! In fact, it appears to be waving in the current of multiple directions. That effect is done with shadowing! Begin with a main curved line, making an elongated triangle at one end. Once the shaft is determined, make several curved lines extended from it that move from the end to the tip.

Once there are several secondary lines in place, the vanes, all the rest is nothing more than filling in with additional lines. DO THIS: begin at one vane, make a second line that tries to mimic the first vane line, but not so completely that it becomes a mirror image. It will basically follow the vane line, but dance to it's own drummer (so to speak). The handout at the right illustrates the process.

There will be times when space runs out between vanes, and those areas are filled in with short lines and become part of the diversity that make the magic. If this is a woodburned image, a rounded tip produces a primitive line whereas a chisel tip offers a more refined line. My advice for artists using a chisel tip: work the lines from the shaft outward since it is much easier to start dark at the shaft and lift the tip toward the end to make a lighter burn mark at the ends of the vane.

In this image I use a round tip which tends to make lines that look the same coming and going, and it is apparent I do not use a high-end woodburner. I generally encourage people to test new concepts on the low end at first until it becomes plain that better tools are worth the effort. Try this technique on a scrap first, as I did. Then move on to a whole gourd as the I did with the feathers on the gourd bowl.

Picture of the finished bowl to come!

Keep it Crackin' by dear Apples,
cam