The purpose of this task is to observe how light interacts with more than one object, causing shadows to lay themselves across their partnered object and for light to be reflected off an object onto another.
Pencil Sketch
I did a pencil drawing of the still life arrangement and marked out the main areas of light and dark, using cross hatching to try and differentiate the mid tones from the dark shadows.
Proportionally I am pleased with how this sketch turned out, but I struggled a little in finding a way to differentiate between indicating shadow and indicating where the object it self is dark (as most of the headphones are black). I’m pleased I’ve been able to show where the shadows defuse and also where some of the light from the surface reflects back onto the object, lessening the dark intensity of the shadow, and giving the object shape and form.
Go big or go home
I decided to set myself a bit of a challenge for this task and chose to complete this piece in my A3 sketchbook. A5 is my go to size to work with but I wanted to try and step out of my comfort zone and experience working on a larger scale.
I chose to use charcoals and chalks as I felt they would lend themselves well to depicting and defining tonal values.
I started by observing the shapes and marking them out on the page with the charcoal. I found having the objects placed on the white paper really helped with identifying the shapes of the shadows and marking out negative space. I think this helped me to more accurately draw what I could see in front of me, and helped me to plot realistic perspective and scale.
Working on larger paper also allowed me to be able to work true to size for this exercise. Usually, I would be trying to cram the sketch within the confines of an A5 space which can lead to accidental distortion.
I don’t always remember to take progress photographs of my work as I go along as I can get too consumed with the creation and forget to document it, however I did take one photo as I was plotting out the outlines, prior to adding in the tonal values.
Using the chalks and charcoal sticks was fun and allowed for a free and expressive marks. However, due to the size of the sticks, it wasn’t very easy to create details. I had to instead rely on larger marks and blending to create the tonal values.
I marked out the shapes of the objects as well as the shadows using the willow charcoal. I then started to use the compressed charcoal to create the midtones, used the willow charcoal again to make the even darker tones and used the chalks to make the lighter tones.
I think if I was to attempt this task again, I’d use non white paper. This would mean I could use the white to show and blend in highlights, rather than relying on the white of the paper.
Comments