Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Rather than building up a drawing from lines, this innovative method encourages students to begin with tonal masses. Suitable for experts as well as beginners, its step-by-step demonstrations feature over 200 illustrations.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Project 1 Materials and Exercises
• Charcoal
• Erasers
• Blenders
• Paper
• Fixative
• Exercises
• Project 2 Seeing Tonal Quality
• Single Light Effect
• Tones and Their Relationships
• Learning to See the Tonal World
• Project 3 The Difference Between Lines and Edges
• A New Way to Observe
• Defining Terms
• Using the Middle Tone
• Project 4 Objects As They Are
• Lifting Out Lights
• Thinking About What You See
• The Mind's Influence on the Eye
• Project 5 The Traditional Use of Plaster Cast Figures
• Charcoal as a Study Medium
• Squinting to Compare Tones
• Project 6 Keying A Drawing
• The Value Scale
• Value Keys
• Interpreting Tones and Their Values
• Project 7 Translating Color to Black and White
• Judging Color Intensity and Tone
• Light and Shadow with Color
• Project 8 Some Basic Figure Proportions
• Two Goals of Life Study
• Establishing Proportions
• Staying Loose and Free
• Project 9 Keeping The Figure From Looking "Stiff"
• Examining Parts of the Body
• "Movements of the Spine, Shoulders, and Hips"
• The Expression of Action
• Project 10 Seeing Large Tonal Masses
• Mass Versus Detail
• Simple Statements in Tone
• Staying Within the Large Tone
• Project 11 Allignments: Constructive Aids to Correct Proportions
• Checking Relationships by Alignment
• Aligning by Triangulation
• Using Lines for Construction
• Estimating Contour Angles
• Project 12 The Recling Figure
• Using a Measuring Device
• Proportioning Problems
• Project 13 Foreshortening
• Foreshortening as Body Perspective
• "Drawing What You "See"
• Project 14 Idealization or Interpretation
• Copying the Figure
• Two Creative Directions
• Project 15 Why Study Anatomy?
• The Burden of Anatomical Study
• "Seeing" First - Anatomy Second"
• Project 16 Male and Female Figure Distinctions
• Comparison of Anatomical Differences
• Some Standard Proportions
• "Fat Deposits, Subcuaneous Prominences, and Hair"
• Project 17 Negative Shapes
• Seeing Negative Shapes
• Using the Grid
• Tone Mosaics
• Project 18 Two Sources of Light
• Values and Secondary Lights
• Reflected Light and Double Contrast
• Geometric Poses
• Project 19 A Tour of the Life Class
• Working over the Whole Figure
• Seeing Larger Tone Masses
• Preconceptions and Figure Distortions
• Preoccupation with Detail
• Self-Concepts and Figure Relationships
• Project 20 Controlling Edges
• Textural Qualities of Edges
• Making Hard and Soft Edges
• Project 21 "Scupturing, Modeling, and Rhythm"
• Modeling for Added Dimension
• Rhythm and Composition
• Constant and Progressive Rhythms
• Project 22 Movement and Muscles
• Controlled Falling
• The Moving Figure
• Arm and Leg Movements
• Project 23 "Drawing the Face, Head, and Hands"
• Placement of Facial Details
• Project 24 Different Modes of Charcoal Rendering
• Project 25 Composing a Figure On a Page
• Project 26 Mass Drawing in Fast Action Poses
• Warming-up with Quick Sketches
• Contour and Gesture Sketches
• Making Lines with Tonal Media
• Project 27 Line Drawing: A Bonus from the Mass Approach
• Expressing Light and Shadow in Line
• Tonal Drawing as a Step to Line
• A Final Word
• Index