Graphite Value Still Life

This here is a still life drawing I did in my Drawing I course. Graphite was the main medium; a viewfinder was also used to make sure the objects were proportional.

I actually don’t like this one as much as my vine charcoal drawing I uploaded because I can tell some areas were rushed. The hardest thing for me was sketching things out as quickly as I could before going back and shading.

Reductive Value Drawing

This drawing is a still life reductive value drawing – I was to completely cover the page in vine charcoal and erase from it to form the picture.

I absolutely hated this one because I was highly frustrated getting charcoal everywhere and not being able to have it come out the way I would have like. The most challenged part was going back in and trying to darken and lighten certain areas to make it look like the still life presented in front of me.

Still Life 2

Charcoal drawing on white sketch paper. Horizontal orientation. Consists of a still life scene with bottles, styrofoam shapes, branches and a metal crockpot all resting atop of a curtain.

This drawing was done practicing value, proportion, scale, and keeping negative/positive shapes in mind. For this drawing, I aimed to have the items as correctly placed as possible, which took many adjustments to get right. Looking through my viewfinder, this drawing closely resembles the actual still life scene. I believe my shading techniques have improved, but still need more shading to resemble life. To start, I tried to quickly draw the basic shapes and positioning, which made it easier to make adjustments to get the drawing right later on. Overall, this drawing shows three-dimensionality and recognition of each object’s different form. I tried to shade differently based on the different types of objects and materials. I found it difficult to draw shapes that I didn’t “know.” Like the styrofoam rectangular object in the foreground and the branch in the background. It was very difficult to get the shape/form/value right. I struggled with the curtain due to the way it was draped, and also drawing it reflecting in the pot. It is sometimes hard to show dimensionality with cloth.

Still Life 1

Charcoal drawing with white sketch paper background. Consists of a teapot, 2 glass bottles and a pear. It is oriented vertically.

This was one of the first drawings done with value. This drawing focuses on basic shapes, shading, proportion and scale of the still life. I began this drawing by making basic shape outlines for each outline. For example, I drew 2 different sized circles and connected them to form the pear. While learning and practicing shading, I wanted my objects to appear more realistic and have more of a three-dimensional form. I struggled shading this because the tea kettle is metal, so is a reflective surface, and the 2 glass bottles in the background were clear – all of which were hard to see shadows on. I also had trouble keeping the drawing from smudging and all the lines running together and having the forms losing some of their clarity. Looking at it now I believe the value should have been pushed further to resemble life. The object shapes also aren’t all correct.

Portrait

Charcoal drawing on grey newsprint - straight, front facing portrait of male

This drawing was an example of practicing portraiture – learning proportion and scale of facial features. This was my first portrait drawing, and my classmate Shugo is the subject. To begin this drawing, I started with a line drawing which was first general, then made specific with more intense observation of my subject. After I had the basic line drawing/outline of his face, I made a few adjustments to make it appear more realistic such as defining the eye shape, adjusting the nose shape, and finding where the shadows/highlights were on his face according to his skeletal structure. I began adding shading to the entire face, and erased or darkened highlights and shadows. The lighting conditions were diffused so light wasn’t casting on any specific area of his face. After doing 2 more portraits, I feel as though this one is unfinished since the neck is left bare and some areas lack enough value or detail.

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