RENDERING Rendering is not colouring in! It is the ability to apply tone and colour to a drawing to make it appear 3D and “real”, actually better than real. To render well you should plan the final presentation. Start by selecting the line drawing then: scale it to size; possibly using the photo-copier. position the drawing on the page. select the colour paper, white cartridge is difficult to render whites and highlights. determine the light source direction, this will in turn determine highlights and shadow position.

RENDERING: Light source The choice of light source is personal and depends on what effect you want to create. Look at lots of examples to help your choice. For L1 students it is probably best that they choose a position above and to one side of the object that they are rendering. The rays of light from the light source should be seen as parallel (like natural sunlight). Moving to radiating light rays is more difficult to draw and still make the object look “correct”. The light source will help you identify where the highlights will be. If you are rendering onto white paper, you will need to leave these areas free from colour.

RENDERING: Highlight and shadow map Use a sketch plan to identify the highlight edges; these are usually the edges/joins in the object that are perpendicular to the light source. The light at these points will reflect depending on the material being rendered. Remember a rendering is presentation of an object, it is not the object itself so a rendering exaggerates reality. The shadow s are found on the other side of the edges/joins in the object as well as on the surface that the object sits on. The shadows on the object generally are in the colour of the object, rarely use Black.

RENDERING: Tonal zones On the sketch plan work out the tonal zones. These are the areas of progressively darker tone the further away from the light source that they are. On a rectangular prism they are usually seen as light, medium and dark surfaces. On a sphere or cylinder they usually seen as tone getting darker (or lighter) across the curved shape.

RENDERING: The underlay drawing It is better to render a trace or a copy of the original line drawing. That way you keep the original if you make a mistake and the construction lines don’t intrude in the rendering. Trace very lightly using either a soft pencil 2B or a colour pencil of the same colour that will be used in your rendering. Just trace in the outlines as you need them. Access to a light box is invaluable here.

RENDERING: Adding tone Identify an area to work on, using the colour that you want, lightly apply. You should use the pencil at a low angle using the width of the pencil lead. Support your rendering with a pad, a hard surface compresses the “nap” (the thickness and bounce) of the paper. You will also pick up scratches from rendering over a hard surface. Don’t worry too much about going over the outlines of the area that you are working on. You will be able to erase the excess.

RENDERING: Cutting in the tone Use your eraser to remove the excess tone/colour, use your eraser shield or French Curves to act as a block to only remove what you want. Keeping your eraser clean is important, rubbing it on the carpet is a good trick and the residue is vacuumed away by the cleaner. Use your French Curves and ruler to outline the areas of tone. You should use the same colour as the tone, take care to use a strong line in the dark areas and a lighter line near the highlights and light areas. Build up the tone between the outlines.

RENDERING: Building the tone As you build the density of the tone between the outlines, use a contrasting primary colour (Red in this case) over the base colour. This has the effect of creating a strong dark tone without the flattening effect of using Black. This also has the effect of creating a perceived depth due to the fact that the eye sees different colours on different parts of the retina and our bi-optic vision recombines this as depth; like 3D movies. Blend the tone to the outlines, use a lighter colour to accentuate the tone change from dark to light.

RENDERING: Highlights If you are rendering on white paper you will have to leave space for the highlights, this includes the lighter areas of tone, try building tone rather than erasing. White pencil on white paper doesn’t work well! Your highlight plan will come into effect here. Bring the tone lightly up to a highlight and leave the highlight itself free from colour. You can cut back some tone with and eraser over the broad areas. The highlights should be supported by a corresponding shadow on the other side of the part being rendered. Rendering with grey/silver will often require more that one tone/pencil. A good set of pencils is vital.

RENDERING: Blending Try to include the main colour into the lighter areas by using either a lighter tone of the same colour or by adding traces of the actual colour. This has the effect of unifying the colour scheme, your eye ties it together.

RENDERING: Contrast Depending what you are rendering, it can be very effective if you add colour or tone contrast. In this example we have “turned the light on”, this adds brightness and contrasting colour and communicates more about the design, it is also a type of highlight. This can be very effective on a coloured paper where white as a colour can be used.

RENDERING: Shadows The addition of shadow locates the object on a surface (or above it). The shadow can be geometrically cast or a “smudge” shadow can be used. It is important that the shadow be in the correct place, this should have been established by the plan at the beginning. Shadows should also be rendered on the object itself. These are normally opposite to the highlights as darker lines defining the boundaries between parts and colours. These lines can describe a lot of detail that are otherwise absorbed into the overall shape.