Drawing Exercise 1.

Here's a simple drawing exercise for those who would like to while away a few minutes.

OBJECTIVE: To create the impression of a three dimensional object on a flat surface.
Start with a decent sized piece of paper (a).
Take a small box and place it in a strong light - sunlight or a desk lamp.
Draw only the outline planes of the box (b, c and d), ignoring any detail on its sides), but carefully shade the shadow, working it up into a nice strong dark grey or black.
The object of the excercise is to carefully look at and transpose onto your paper the parallel lines that make up the sides of the box and the shadow - and to create the impression of VOLUME when you draw the shadow.
If you would like to make this exercise a little more challenging, using your pencil, you could ‘colour in’ the sides of the box, giving each one a slightly different tone, with the actual cast shadow being the darkest.