Help with hard edges in drawing?

[Steven Sweeney]

Jennifer,

Best course here is to review Chris Saper's exposition on Edges.

I'm not quite sure what areas in this drawing you're focusing on, but I'd just briefly suggest that you not be concerned so much about getting rid of hard edges, as about orchestrating edges, hard and soft, lost and found, to create the effects you want.

One facet that I might mention is your definition of shapes by relatively heavy lines (I'm looking at the ears, the jawline, the lower edge of the bottom lip, for example). I suspect that those lines are some of the "edges" you're having trouble with. Try to remember that there aren't any lines in nature around, say, the perimeter of an ear or a hand. Instead, one hue or value ends -- perhaps in rapid transition (harder edge), perhaps in a more graded transition (softer edge). If the values in adjoining shapes are similar, the "edge" may be lost completely -- a very useful and often very lovely effect. In pencil or charcoal drawings, try to define the separation between shapes or value areas by accurately capturing the values of the respective shapes or areas and the rate of transition between them, rather than drawing a line and leaving it there, a visibly separate element of the drawing having little to do with the subject.

Also remember that abrupt or sharply defined changes in values in the face indicate significant changes in the facial planes. That doesn't happen often in the round features of the face, especially a toddler's. Mold a kneaded eraser into a point and tap out some of the dark value in the transition area between lighter and darker areas, to create a less sharp "edge" between those areas.