Lesson 3: Exploring tonal shading
Developing tonal shading skills using control and pressure.
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Learning objective
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To develop tonal shading skills using control and pressure.
Success criteria
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I can explain the meaning of the word ‘tone’ in art.
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I can describe how artists use tone in their drawings.
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I can vary the pressure to show tone.
Before the lesson
Check all images, videos, links and presentation slides are suitable for your class.
- Presentation: Texture hunt.
- Presentation: Tone.
A range of drawing materials, such as charcoal, white chalk, graphite sticks, soft pastels, colouring pencils, wax crayons and very thick coloured pencil crayons.
Masking tape (see Teacher knowledge).
Cartridge paper or children's sketchbooks (see Teacher knowledge).
Link: Museum of Modern Art - 'Small self-portrait' by Käthe Kollwitz.*
Link: ARTCITI - Saeed Akhtar.*
* These are external websites and we do not have control over their content – please check before showing them to the children.
Subject knowledge
Tone refers to how light or dark a colour or shade appears in a drawing or painting.
Artists use tone to create depth, contrast and form, making objects look more three-dimensional.
Tone can be adjusted when shading by changing the pressure used or by layering different materials.
Saeed Akhtar
Saeed Akhtar is a well-known Pakistani artist who is celebrated for his detailed portrait paintings and bold, realistic style. Born in 1938, he studied at the National College of Arts in Lahore and later taught there. His portraits often show important people from Pakistani history and culture. He is also known for designing the national logo for Pakistan’s Olympic team. His work shows great skill in capturing emotion and expression.
Misconceptions
The children may think that:
'We only use shading when using pencils' - shading is the process of adding light and dark areas (tone) to a picture to create a three-dimensional appearance. This can be achieved with a wide range of art materials.
'Shading is always black, grey and white' - creating and adding different tones of colours to artwork is a form of shading.
In preparation for the lesson:
Stick down masking tape in random, overlapping lines on good quality A4 cartridge paper or on a page in the children's sketchbooks, creating various shapes. Ensure the tape is securely pressed down.
Prepare a piece of A4 paper with masking tape as a teacher copy for demonstration.
Lesson plan
Display the Presentation: Texture hunt and ask the children to discuss in pairs which words best describe the textures they can see.
Take feedback from the class and drag and drop the words to each object in the illustration. Check the answers using the button on the slide.
Use the links below to display artwork created by Käthe Kollwitz and Saeed Akhtar, a Pakistani artist known for his portrait paintings.
Ask the children to discuss in pairs:
- How have the artists made some parts of their drawings darker or lighter? (Pressing harder with the drawing materials to make it darker and pressing lightly to make it lighter, using white chalk.)
Remind the children that in art, the word 'tone' is used to describe how light or dark something is.
Questions
- How have different tones been used?
- What mark making tools do you think have been used?
- Do you think these artists also use sketchbooks?
Play the Pupil video: Four rules of shading to introduce the four rules:
Use the side of the pencil.
Shade in one direction.
Press evenly.
Leave no gaps.
Hand out a selection of drawing materials and the prepared A4 cartridge paper or the children's sketchbooks (see Teacher knowledge).
Demonstrate holding a pencil in the shading grip and on the teacher’s copy, model how to shade within each shape from dark to light.
Ask the children to choose a drawing material to shade with and practise shading within each shape from dark to light, applying the four shading rules. Challenge the children to experiment with shading from light to dark.
Questions
- How should you hold your pencil for shading?
- How can you shade smoothly to show tone? (Shade in one direction, pressing evenly and leave no gaps.)
- Which drawing materials did you choose?
When their shapes are complete, the children (or adults) can remove the masking tape.
Hold the paper steady with one hand and use the other to pull the tape off in one direction in one smooth action. If the paper starts to rip, stop and try removing the tape in the opposite direction.
Display the Presentation: Tone and ask the children to tell their partner how they showed tone in their shading using as many of the words as they can.
For example:
I changed the pressure and ...
I made a darker tone by...
I varied my tones by...
Take feedback.
Full-screen slides, ready for your classroom, chosen by you.
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To develop tonal shading skills using control and pressure.
Example work
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Susan is an educator, artist and an active advocate and well-known champion of art craft and design education. Her roles include: Secretary to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Art, Craft, Design Education, Past President, and now Honorary Fellow of the National Society for Education in Art & Design (NSEAD), World Councillor (representing Europe) for the International Society of Education through Art (InSEA), and an Associate of the Big Draw. When Susan isn’t sharing her passion for the arts, she loves photography, making her own art, absorbing culture and travel.
Susan designed our free lesson on Clacton Pigeon Mural by Banksy as well as many others in our Art & Design subject.
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