Mass Drawing

Mass drawing refers to rendering the solidity of the subject by masses of tone or color, without emphasizing lines or edges. Also called weight and modeled drawings, they are one of the basic exercises in figure drawing along with contour drawing and gesture drawing.

Shape and Mass. Shape is a two dimensional area with identifiable boundaries. Mass is a three-dimensional solid with identifiable boundaries. Volume may be synonymous with mass except that volume can also refer to a void as in an empty enclosed space. Visual perception by the weight of the object is the amount of flu. Body texture and texture in the painting performance is an important factor in the sense of volume. If the screen is a non-volume of the plane, even though the show has a sense of texture, it is difficult to produce a sense of volume. The different texture will arouse people’s different experience of volume, such as soft light of silk produced by the sense of coarse or heavy sense of weight and so on.

In art it’s easier to think of density as actual or perceived weight.
Mass or volume can be simulated in two-dimensional work though the use of:
color–darker and more intense colors appear heavier
placement–objects closer to the lower edge of the picture plane appear heavier
size–larger objects appear heavier
overlapping objects creates a sense of space

Mass drawing is a exercise to practice between what we know and what we see. For example, though we can see a person or object only from one vantage point, we know that the person or object is rounded, and continues beyond the “edges” that we can see. Though we can draw figures or objects with a line on a flat surface to try to depict reality, we also need to have a real sense of the actual 3-dimensional form.

Mass drawing exercise, dealt with the element of line. This exercise, Mass Drawing, deals more with the 3-dimensional reality of figures or objects, that is, their form, or mass, using tonal values of light and dark.

This experience of the 3-dimensional form gives our work not only physical depth, but depth of content as well. Even if we choose to make art without the illusion of three dimensions, our understanding of these dimensions will add substance to our work. For example, the painter Paul Cezanne had a strong sense of the flat surface as the reality of painting, but his understanding of the third dimension gives his work a solidity that not many artists have achieved, and creates a tension between the 2-dimensional and the 3-dimensional realities. This is one reason why his work is so powerful.

Mass drawing is to practice the transition from drawing to painting a bit daunting to contend with variables . Harold Speed’s books on both drawing and painting are among the finest sources of classic art instruction. Speed uses the term “mass drawing” to distinguish it from “outline drawing.”

Mass drawing in monochrome oil paint is one of the transitional steps from drawing to painting. The purpose of mass drawing is to bring students “from simple outlines to approach the full realization of form in all the complexity of light and shade.”

In this demonstration, Speed follows four logical steps:

Step 1. The blocking in of various areas in charcoal.
Step 2. Middletone block-in with lights painted into it
Step 3. Shadows added with dark paint.
Step 4. Refinement and completion.

Choose an object or figure to draw. Figures work very well for this exercise, including yourself in front of a full-length mirror, in a non-symmetrical pose to avoid monotony. Don’t be intimidated by the figure – just look at it like you would at any other form – just draw what the forms do. But if you find the figure too daunting, find a solid, large form, like an animal; or a large sculpture or still life object.

Always start a drawing by sitting quietly and studying your object, waiting to draw until you are relaxed and prepared. Allow your eyes to receive the information, rather than pursue it. You are trying to feel the solidity and volume of the form. Start in the “center” of the form by pressing the crayon slowly and lightly in a relaxed, circular motion, as though you were building the object with clay. Continue to “build” the form in outward circles, gradually reaching the outer edges of the form. Work on the whole figure first, before you go back to refine your drawing. Do not worry about proportions or edges – you are only thinking of the mass of the form. When you have the whole form roughed in, go back over it, slowly increasing the pressure of the crayon in the bulkier areas of the form, where the weight is.

This darkening of certain areas will help define the form of the object or figure. You don’t want details or individual hands, feet, etc. here – only the sense of form. Again, this is an exercise to increase your understanding of forms. You’re not making a product – you’re practicing. In art, it isn’t enough for the intellect to understand a concept – the whole art-making apparatus must be brought along – the eyes, mind, heart, soul and hands. The only way to do this is to draw with these ideas in mind, and the more drawings you do, the more understanding and strength you will have in your work.