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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A charcoal drawing with dark and light shadows against a white background. This drawing demonstrates how light varies on objects depending on their shape and placement.
This is a charcoal drawing of still life. It contains a spray bottle, wine bottle, a ball, and it looks like tape. Value was the main concept practiced in the drawing.
A charcoal drawing done with charcoal and blending. This was my first time working with charcoal in this way and I tried my best to capture what I was seeing. I first covered the paper completely in charcoal. I then blended and outlined with charcoal and an eraser as necessary as well as blending with my fingers just a bit. I tried to limit using my hands and fingers as the oils from fingers and hands can make erasing and correcting more difficult in the long run. I also included a blending chart in the corner for reference. I tried to blend and shade based on what I was seeing in the still life itself as well as making the outlines dark but not so dark that it wasn’t realistic.
I am hoping to improve over time and I realize it’s not a perfect drawing. However, it is a first attempt and it is not expected to be perfect on the first try.
For this drawing, I wanted to do a still life with some negative space qualities, as well as use cross contour and shading to give the objects depth in an interesting way. First, I drew out the objects in the still-life, then I drew the contour lines in. After that, I shaded in the shapes, letting the graphite contrast with the contour lines. Finally, I filled in the background to contrast with the objects in the frame
I think the visual effect could have been better executed with a more consistent background color, as well as shaded the shapes in darker to make the white color pop more.
That said, I’m happy with the concept and now have something to further develop if I want to.
In class we had to look at a painting on the projector. The picture was blurry and we had to keep shading until the picture was fully focused and we found out that the picture we was drawing was upside down. It turnt out to be a portrait of a female artist.
