Whenever the luminous source moves, a shadow changes its shape and position.

A standing figure will cast a short shadow at midday when the sun is high in the sky, and a long one in the evening when it starts to slip below the horizon.

The higher the source of light the shorter the shadows. In the summer, when the sun is set higher in the sky, the shadows at noon are not as long as they are in winter at the same time. There are even parts of the tropics where the sun is sometimes vertical and a stick set upright in the ground will cast no shadow. But that is an exception. Conversely, the shadows lengthen considerably in the morning and in the evening when the sun is low in the sky.

Objects, lighting and shadow

Objects can receive three kinds of light: sunlight, ordinary daylight and artificial light. Their aspect and that of their shadows will vary depending on which of these lights we see them in.

Generally speaking, the brighter the light the stronger and sharper the shade. This is the case when an object is exposed in full sunlight. If the light is indirect in an overcast sky, the shadows are less distinct and less contrasted, and they tend to disappear completely in diffuse light.

When an object is lit by a single source of light, its sides situated opposite the light are said to be in the shade, whereas we use the term “projected shadow” to define the dark form cast by the illuminated object on the ground or on other interposed objects. This projected shadow is the result of the absence of light at the place where the luminous rays are intercepted by the object.

Shadows take the same form as the objects by which they are cast. For example, a rectilinear figure will cast a rectilinear shadow and a curved object will have a curved shadow. But the shape of the shadow varies according to the form of the surface onto which it is cast.

In sunlight, the source of illumination, that is to say the sun, is so far away and so powerful compared to the objects it illuminates, that the rays of light falling on our planet are supposed by convention to be parallel and this is how they are always treated in daylight scenes (although in fact, as with any luminous source, they “radiate” from the centre of the sun).

The thing to remember, then, is that, in natural light, you should treat the rays as though they were parallel.

The higher the source of light the shorter the shadows. In summer, when the sun is set very high in the sky, the shadows at noon are not as long as they are in winter at the same time. There are even parts of the tropics where the sun is sometimes vertical and a stick set upright in the ground will cast no shadow. But that is an exception. Conversely, the shadows lengthen considerably in the morning and the evening when the sun is low in the sky.

In sunlight, parallel rays will cast parallel shadows which, seen in perspective, will naturally converge towards the same vanishing point.

If the shadow cast by a solid object is intercepted by other objects, for example a fallen tree trunk, a wall or a staircase, it is “carried along” the surface of these objects. The exact form of the shadow will be determined by the points of impact of the rays passing over the perimeter of the illuminated object and continuing towards the object receiving the projected shadow.

This shadow also obeys the laws of optics and will have to be put into perspective in order to give a realistic effect.

Our free trial on SIGNUS is actually a wonderful entrance hall to the world of drawing. It’s not designed to actually give you a certain level but rather to show you what drawing really means, how much time you will need to reach the level you want or what kind of satisfaction you can expect.

As for the full SIGNUS course, on the other hand, I can say with no hesitation that, for most students, a very high level can be reached. For some, it will take 6 months and for others, 18 months. It all depends on the amount of time invested by each one according to the availability.

Technique as well as creativity are both necessary in any artistic occupation. Those elements play a major role in the student’s improvement and they can be quite different depending on the person.

One will often be more at ease in an area more than in the other and, when both aspects meet, that’s when the work can become a masterpiece. That’s what I wish you to discover if you decide to follow the full SIGNUS course.

The free trial is not a full class, it’s only an initiation. It would not be honest on my part to let you think that it will make an advanced artist of you. You can find, however, plenty of fun and discoveries in the world of drawing. No need to reach for a level, then. It doesn’t have to be a goal in itself. You should, instead, ask yourself what could bring you a good amount of satisfaction and joy in your life. Drawing is practically a way of life. Think it over…

Piet Herzeel

7 years of development to elaborate an outstanding online drawing class.

Signus is an e-learning  platform dedicated to the art of drawing. Result of 7 years of development, Signus is built on the most innovating technique in order to recreate online the real life of a drawing workshop with communication between students and regular advices of the master, with commented corrections, exercises, animations…
But there is a lot more: The Signus workshop is open 24/7 and students from each part of the world can meet at all times.

Characteristics of the Signus platform

Innovating : This interface owns an e-learning platform dedicated to the teaching of visual arts. Signus was sponsored by the French ANVAR (Research and Value National Agency).

Rich Media Interface : Signus uses all the Web Multimedia tools: remote corrections with a graphics tablet, virtual classes, audio commentaries, videos and 3D in order to create a warm and lively atmosphere. Signus vividly plays the card of the online community and of interactivity.

Full and academic : 104 modules (class) as of today or in other words 2 years of daily class at the rythm recommended by Piet Herzeel, creator of Signus. It represents the equivalent of a 2400 page book. The teaching structure is available by branches (anatomy, shadow and light, perspective, composition, …etc) and has an impressive documentation and library of models.

Accessible to all : The access through Internet and a very affordable fee make it accessible to anybody in the world.

Who is SIGNUS for ?

• Amateurs, from the beginner to the advanced, anybody who wishes to learn how to draw or how to improve.

• Future professionals who can train on SIGNUS.

• Computer graphics designers who want to improve their  skills.

• Numerous professionals in various areas such as design, artwork and art-therapy.

What do you need to draw on Signus ?

What machine and what softwares: An Internet connection, preferably fast, a PC, Mac or Linux, a recent browser (SIGNUS is regularly optimized for the free and multi-platform browser, Firefox), a scanner or a digital camera.

Supplies for drawing:  a ream of white paper, a pencil and an eraser are sufficient to start with. The material needed is always affordable.

What makes the difference ?

With the other courses on the market.

A very progressive learning process with structured modules. Once registered, each member can reach his modules at the pace of one per week. However, each member is free to devote the time he chooses to.

A free trial period with no engagement. Each new member can try Signus for free, before subscribing. A certain number of modules are actually given and he can enjoy them for as long as he wants.

A 100% money-back guarantee. Signus refunds the current month to anybody unsatisfied.

A personalized and active follow-up. Different animations in order to motivate students and help them develop their creative potential, forums on every module, chat between the students…

A multi-leverage giveaway program designed to encourage members to improve and to thank them for their loyalty. Bonuses, presents, a turnkey gallery, contests, surprises…

A few numbers about SIGNUS:

2002-2007 : Development of the Signus innovation program.
January 2008 : Launching of the beta testing period with real users in France. Rising of the community with a progression of a 1000 members average per month.
September 2009 : Birth of the French SIGNUS. About 25,000 French speaking members.
December 2009: Launching of the English SIGNUS.

Piet Herzeel, founder of SIGNUS. An artist who spreads the word.

« Signus is the fruit of 20 years of personal experience and research in three different areas: arts, distance teaching and NICT. First of all, however, Signus is a human adventure.
It appeared to me essential to never let the new technologies used on Signus hide the real stake of such a platform. After puting together all the teaching skills acquired in actual workshops and analysing the real motivations of Internet users eager to learn, Signus is generously using a vast palette of new technologies.
Founded on a very audacious concept, Signus always went ahead of the users daily requests. This proactive stage allowed them to make the most of the many developments and adjustments of the tool.
A whole community of artists make it their daily social, cultural and artistic meeting. Signus is now spontaneously animated by people of all ages, places and social backgrounds. Used to be in constant motion and thanks to the success that we know today, Signus will continue to enrich continuously in order to remain the reference in its own field and allow its members to give birth to talents until now hidden. »

If you want to learn how to draw the human body, you will need to respect the “Canons of the Human Body” as we call the model used for reference in order to draw a body with correct proportions.

The first to be known whose proportions are listed in a chart goes back to the Egyptian Middle Kingdom. To establish a canon, one needed to decide what was “beautiful” in a body and gather those rules in one single model. Of course, the concept of beauty is quite subjective and discussions are still vivid.

In the Signus drawing course, Piet Herzeel explains very clearly what a canon is and how useful it is in the art of drawing. He introduces different models to us and then shows us how they evolved in time and how to use them.
Piet Herzeel defines what should be a good canon for the drawer.
In the special workshop about the human body, thanks to the step by step explanations, you will be able to draw a person with realistic proportions.
This first approach gives amazing results. In the “drawings to do“ chapter  you can have fun building different bodies using the special charts.

Short, tall, fat and skinny people… You can give the right proportions to all your characters thanks to Piet Herzeel’s explanations developed in the specific module about the human canons.

• The method:

Piet Herzeel’s program is very progressive. It allows you to fully and deeply improve what needs to be improved.

• The material:

We learn how to use the different tools for drawing and how to choose the one most adapted to your projects and to your sensitivity.

• Ideas and inspiration:

That’s where any creation starts but there is no inspiration without a source. It’s
one of Piet’s Herzeel’s goals to show us how to find that source.

• Time:

Don’t be afraid to let time be your ally in the learning process.

• Desire and pleasure:

That’s where the motor of the whole process lies and as such, it needs to be regularly trained.

• Develop your skills:

Your brain, your eyes and your hand must learn how to work together toward the same goal: drawing.

Finally, with the exercises to be done at the end of each module, Piet Herzeel gives us a practical demonstration of the many differences between the images we engrave in our memory and the reality.

The influence of Cezanne on Picasso is a well recognized and interesting fact among art lovers. The intimate motivations and passions of an artist are always a thrilling aspect of art history. His respect and passion for Cezanne is well illustrated by the purchase of the chateau de Vauvenargues at the bottom of the “Sainte-Victoire mountain” in 1959.

Through 110 paintings, drawings, water-color paintings and sculptures, the Granet Museum focuses on the respectful passion of Picasso for Cezanne.
The recent exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris, “Picasso et les maîtres” showed us an artist, admiror of ancient painting. At the Granet museum, as he presents the love of Picasso for Cezanne’s work , Yves Kneusé uses a bare and even austere decoration as a reminder of the humbleness of Picasso toward the old master. It reminds us of the “Château de Vauvenargues” and its rough and peaceful garrigue (scrubland).

A CONSTANT INFLUENCE

Facing the one he always called “Monsieur Cezanne”, the one he never even dared to meet, the one he saw as his “one and only master”, Picasso is not the conquering adventurer of “Menines” or of “Alger women”. When he decides to climb the Sainte-Victoire mountain more than half a century after the death of the genius of “Provence”, he picks the north side. Almost like he wouldn’t dare going the south side, the dangerous one, the one Cezanne diffracted more than 80 times, revolutionizing art in an irreversible way.

When he thinks of Cezanne who was the most cultivated of the impressionists, Picasso doesn’t put himself first; he is not tempted to play his own role as he often does. What he sees first in Cezanne is the thinker in the process of imagining his own painting says Bruno Ely, director of the museum who, by the diversity of the paintings and drawings, proves himself right.

The exhibition, on about 400 m2, has four sections on two levels. On the bottom floor, Picasso gets the feel of Cezanne’s techniques (sense of values, structuring touch, a permanent lack of balance which, in the end, gives a true balanced composition) and of his themes (Harlequin, the white compote dish, the pipe smoker). We all see the love and respect for the master.

We admire, here, a great understanding of that period of Picasso’s work which is not as well known as the blue, the pink or the cubist period but yet, full of life and vitality. At the age of 77, Picasso finds, in the work space of Cezanne, a new youth.
He also painted sceneries. He painted three times the village of “Vauvenargues”. Unfortunately, we will not be able to enjoy “nude under the pine tree” which had to stay in the Chicago museum.

The Picasso family was actually very generous as they lent forty unpublished paintings. Other museums gave us access to many exceptional masterpieces like that splendid Harlequin by Cezanne who had barely ever left The National Gallery.
Altogether, the exhibition gives us another vision of Picasso’s immense work as we discover, through modern techniques, one major source of inspiration of this master of the 20th century that was Pablo Picasso.

This is the summary of “The pratice of science of drawing” wrote by  Harold Speed.

Just follow the links and you will be able to read the ENTIRE book for free.

Drawing is an inexpensive pastime, you can use anything to draw and create astounding pictures.

However here is some good advice in selecting and chosing the correct material which will help you obtain better results.

Pencil

Keep a good selection of pencils, from soft to hard tips.

In Europe the scale is: B5,B4,B3,B2,B1,HB,H1,H2,H3,H4,H5 The B5 begin the softest, HB average and H5 the hardest.

Paper

Cartridge, grain

Charcol

Ink

Brush

There are brushes of all sizes and with different hairs from silk to nylon to badger.

Rubber

Often the creation of a painting required hours preparation, with sketches and studies of objects, people, and the background.

• John Constable
• Jacques Louis David
• George Stubbs
• William Turner
• Leonard de Vinci