Sketches. Thinking about light and shadow

A man in a railway waiting room. A waiting room is a good place to draw people sitting still. Any way, while there I was thinking how much there is to learn from the four basic forms in terms of light and shade.If I could start again I would have spent a lot more time trying to understand how light works on these simple managable forms. It might be a bit boring, like practicing scales in music but very useful. After the B/W there is color to explore of course. And to make it less complex must be a good thing. I try to focus on four values, - the highlight, the halftone (or "actual" color) the body shade and the cast shadow. You can get a well modeled object with those four. Work with flat planes and decide what value that plane will be... Ok, more to follow.

Misty autumn scene. Gouache is a versatile medium, pretending to be watercolor.