Middle School

How can artists use value to show form when drawing organic shapes?

Students will create a still-life drawing of popcorn, focusing on shape, value, form, and texture using pencil shading techniques.

• a variety of graphite drawing pencils
• blending stubs
• kneaded erasers
• regular erasers
• popcorn or popcorn photographs

Step 1
Using studentsʼ prior knowledge, review how basic geometric shapes are different from organic shapes and discuss how value and form can take a shape from being flat to having form.

Step 2
Put a finished example on the board and discuss how artists use midtones, highlights, and shading to show form; how an artist will add shadow on the table to show space; and how contour line and line weight is used to show depth, interest, and shape.

Step 3
Demonstrate how to draw a piece of popcorn. Discuss selecting which piece to draw and deciding how many to include in your still life (one to three is ideal). Start by lightly sketching the overall shapes with a focus on irregular forms throughout.

Step 4
Add values to show form. Emphasize the highlights, midtones, and shadows, and consider the movement of the pencil strokes moving in an arching motion to show the rounded shape of the popcorn.

Step 5
Refine details and texture through additional shading and adding contour lines.

Were students able to show all values of the graphite value scale?

Keriann Kirkeng is an art teacher at Lake Mills High School in Lake Mills, Wisconsin.