Continuing on the theme of ”Everyday”, I decided to get my hand at drawing a metallic surface using non metallic pencils.
I spent a long time observing the can shape, the tones/colours and the reflections. I think with an object this iconic and well known, it can be easy to start to slip into drawing what you expect to see rather than what is actually in front of you. Until drawing this still life study, it hadn‘t even occurred to me that you can’t read the full logo when looking directly at the can.
I kept catching myself looking at the sketchbook as I drew in details and had to have a word with myself to “look at the can, not the page. Draw what you can see”
I think keeping that consciously at the front of my mind really helped with picking out the reflections and with navigating the perspectives.
I bit off more than I could handle in terms of getting realistic colour and tones with the limited pencil palette I had, and the fact that pencil crayon marks are, by their very nature, grainy and textured, which is the complete opposite to a metallic surface which is shiny and smooth.
Some helpful feedback I received suggested it might be possible to create a more realistic metallic tone by using a technique called burnishing. This wasn’t a technique I was familiar with, but I understand it to be a method of blending the crayon marks which would reduce the grainy texture and replace it with a more painterly effect. I look forward to trying that out on a future sketch.
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