Drawing lessons - illustrated lesson notes for teachers and students

Textises and cloth No2

6-2 FABRIC TEXTURE

2. Texture this is the roughness or smoothness of the material and us usually apparent in two
   places, the boundaries or edges of the garment or at its general mass where light values change
   (turning points -basic lesson on texture).

a) Edge : silk obviously can combine the highest degree of smoothness with thinness of material

so its edge treatment is the sharpest. Next would be linen or cotton gauze where the edge would

appear a thin line. Note - light will often reflect from a cut or bare edge. Fur is the other extreme.

b) Turning points: here texture can be shown as individual weaves, hair, cotton or thread

stand proud of the material and cast their own minute shadow. The length of the shadow being

determined by the sharpness of the fold (see below). This is where the professional artist makes

judicious use of the many brushes at his disposal as well as carefully adjusting the paint to the

viscosity necessary for the appropriate effect. Some will paint wet into wet and others paint over

dry surfaces. Still others prefer to use glazes, palette knives or a multitude of instruments.

Can you decide from the above examples which is silk, cotton, linen and velvet?

3. Value differences: Tonal - this is the value difference on the grey scale between the
   highlights and the shadows of the material being painted.
   This factor should be approached completely independently of any color considerations and for
   practical purposes we shall assume one light source and one direction (not backlighting). The
   artist will usually limit these tonal divisions to a minimum of two and a maximun of four with the
   following approximations;

Fur and wool - two - with little value difference between highlight and shadow

Flax-linen and heavy cotton - three - values between highlights and middletones closest Satin

• three - values evenly spread (note that highly reflective materials like silk or satin are very
  prone to secondary surface reflections.)
  Silk, taffeta and satin- four - values closer at the highlight end. See blue taffeta dress below.

http://www.geocities.com/~jlhagan/advanced/cloth2.htm (1 of 3)1/13/2004 3:40:45 AM