Value Scale: Shading

Overview

Across ten 50-minute classes, students learn how value—the lightness or darkness of a color or mark—creates form, depth, mood, and focus. Week 1 develops graphite control through six progressive shading worksheet assignments; Week 2 applies those skills to an 8 × 11-inch tonal drawing supported by artist examples and critique.

Learning intentions

Students will be able to:

• Define value, shading, highlight, midtone, and shadow.
• Create at least six distinct tonal values with graphite.
• Use hatching, cross-hatching, blending, and directional strokes intentionally.
• Analyze how artists use value to show form, space, light, and mood.
• Plan and complete an 8 × 11-inch drawing with at least five clearly different values.

Essential question: Why do shading and value scales matter in artwork?

Content objective: Students will create and explain a tonal graphite drawing using controlled value changes.

Language objective: Students will describe value choices using the terms highlight, midtone, shadow, contrast, texture, and form, and justify how shading supports their drawing.

Success criteria

• I can arrange values from light to dark without large gaps.
• I can use more than one graphite technique to show texture or form.
• I can identify at least five values in my finished drawing.
• I can explain how value makes an object look three-dimensional.

Curriculum links

• Grade 8 Social Studies: identifying American art, music, and literature that reflect society in different eras.
• Grade 8 Social Studies: analyzing how the arts show continuity and change in the American way of life.
• Grade 5 Social Studies: identifying significant art from various periods in U.S. history.
• Grade 5 Social Studies: explaining how art reflects the time in which it was created.

Lesson structure (10 classes × 50 minutes)

1. Class 1, 0–8 min · Hook and pre-assessment. Display a striking before/after tonal drawing in the hook and before/after comparison and ask, “What makes the second image look more solid?” Students complete a quick sketch and circle where they would place the light source. 8–20 min · Teach. Model value, highlight, midtone, core shadow, cast shadow, contrast, and form using a graphite pencil and a six-step scale. Students add definitions to their notes. 20–45 min · Assignment 1. Distribute the six-part value-scale practice sheet and model pressure control from light to dark. Students create six even values. 45–50 min · Exit. Students answer: “Value matters because it helps an artwork ____.”

2. Class 2, 0–7 min · Warm-up. Students shade three small boxes using light, medium, and heavy pressure. 7–18 min · Model. Use the graphite tools and pressure demonstration to show pencil angle, hand position, layering, and lifting graphite with an eraser. 18–43 min · Assignment 2. Students complete smooth-gradient and block-value sections on the worksheet, then compare their lightest and darkest marks with a partner. 43–50 min · Check. Students hold up fingers from 1–5 to show confidence and name one control strategy.

3. Class 3, 0–8 min · Texture warm-up. Model short strokes, long strokes, scribble, stippling, and directional marks. Students imitate each texture in a practice row. 8–15 min · Demonstrate. Show the shading-texture examples and discuss which marks might describe metal, wood, fabric, or skin. 15–43 min · Assignment 3. Students complete texture boxes, varying pressure and spacing to create at least three values in each. 43–50 min · Reflect. Students label their strongest texture and explain why it works.

4. Class 4, 0–8 min · Visual warm-up. Students identify the light source in three projected objects. 8–18 min · Model. Demonstrate hatching and cross-hatching, including changes in line direction, spacing, and pressure. 18–43 min · Assignment 4. Students complete a cross-hatching value range from light to dark on the cross-hatching practice section. 43–50 min · Formative check. Teacher conferences with students who have fewer than five distinct values.

5. Class 5, 0–8 min · Compare. Students examine two shaded spheres and identify which has clearer form. 8–18 min · Model. Use the six-value sphere demonstration to show highlight, midtone, core shadow, reflected light, and cast shadow. 18–43 min · Assignment 5. Students shade a sphere or cylinder using blended graphite and visible directional marks. 43–50 min · Exit ticket. Students point to the highlight and cast shadow and explain their placement.

6. Class 6, 0–8 min · Review game. Students sort their worksheet examples from lightest to darkest and use the terms contrast and tonal range. 8–15 min · Model. Demonstrate how value changes can show depth and mood in a simple still life. 15–43 min · Assignment 6. Students complete a small tonal composition using at least six values and two techniques. 43–50 min · Week 1 assessment. Teacher checks the six assignments; students write one goal for the final drawing.

7. Class 7, 0–10 min · Artist-example presentation. Show the illustrated artist-example presentation featuring close-up tonal details, varied value ranges, and a before/after comparison. Students record one technique and one purpose for value. 10–18 min · Plan. Model selecting a simple object or still life, cropping an 8 × 11-inch composition, and marking the light source. 18–43 min · Drawing start. Students lightly sketch the composition and block in the lightest and darkest areas. 43–50 min · Checkpoint. Partners identify the focal area and light direction using art vocabulary.

8. Class 8, 0–8 min · Demonstration. Model layering graphite, preserving highlights, creating five or more values, and correcting edges with a kneaded eraser. 8–43 min · Work session. Students develop midtones, shadows, and cast shadows while the teacher conferences using the project criteria. 43–50 min · Pause and assess. Students place a value strip beside the drawing and mark any missing tonal range.

9. Class 9, 0–8 min · Warm-up critique. Students use the visual arts critique cards in pairs to describe, analyze, interpret, and evaluate a peer’s drawing. 8–15 min · Model. Demonstrate strengthening contrast, softening transitions, varying texture, and cleaning the paper edges. 15–43 min · Revision. Students complete their drawings and respond to one peer suggestion. 43–50 min · Self-assess. Students score their work against the rubric and identify one final improvement.

10. Class 10, 0–8 min · Gallery setup. Students display drawings with the light source and title visible. 8–25 min · Gallery walk. Students leave specific feedback about value range, form, technique, or mood. 25–40 min · Final assessment. Students submit the 8 × 11-inch drawing and worksheet assignments. 40–50 min · Closure. Students complete the exit ticket: “Shading matters because…,” “My strongest value decision was…,” and “Next time I will….” Invite several students to explain how value creates form.

Resources

• Graphite pencils ranging from hard to soft, erasers, kneaded erasers, sharpeners
• Drawing paper, 8 × 11-inch final paper, scrap paper, rulers, masking tape
• Value Scale: Shading and Tonal Values deck
• Value Scale and Graphite Techniques practice worksheet
• Still-life objects, desk lamps, and printed or projected reference images
• Visual Arts Critique Cards
• Document camera or board for live modeling

Assessment

• Pre-assessment: Quick value sketch and light-source prediction in Class 1.
• During learning: Teacher checks worksheet assignments, observes pencil control, questions vocabulary use, and conferences at Classes 4, 6, and 8.
• Summative rubric: 4 points each for five or more distinct values, convincing form and light source, controlled graphite techniques, thoughtful composition and craftsmanship, and accurate reflection. A score of 16/20 or higher demonstrates the learning goal.

Differentiation

• Provide a printed six-value reference, enlarged demonstrations, pencil-grip support, pre-drawn simple forms, and sentence starters: “The highlight is placed ___ because ___.”
• For students needing support, permit a traced basic contour, fewer objects, breaks between stages, and teacher-marked lightest/darkest zones; offer verbal rather than written reflection.
• EAL students may use labeled picture vocabulary, partner rehearsal, and a bilingual glossary; explicitly point to each value while speaking.
• Extension students may use a complex still life, dramatic lighting, reflected light, atmospheric depth, or a limited eraser-drawing technique.

Teacher notes for pictures and illustrations

Use high-contrast, age-appropriate images with clear light sources. The slide deck should include a graphite pencil, six value-scale examples, labeled shading textures, cross-hatching close-ups, an illustrated sphere sequence, artist examples, and a before/after tonal drawing. Model slowly under a document camera, keep completed examples visible, and avoid images whose detail is too complex for a 50-minute drawing.