Planning Sketches
For this project I was using techniques that were taught to me by Mr Chad. I started by covering the entire paper in a tone of vine charcoal so that not even the background would be entirely empty.By spreading charcoal across the piece, it adds tone and a level of texture, and also helps to blend the object into the background later on.
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I then started by forming the basic outline of the shape, with no detail on the current interior of the project.This would help me keep any details put later on to be proportional and not sticking outside of the outline should it have been done later.With the outline made, it would also become easier to add varying levels of shading within the interior, as well as help blend the object into the background later.
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Reference
Process and Experimentation
With the outline in place, I began by filling in some of the most notable interior details of the objects. In this case, the crevices in the glass and the light and detail on the spoon would be the most prominent details. These details stand out well enough that they could receive a relatively visible line.
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It was at this point that I wanted to include some extra shading on the exterior of the piece, representing the table that the objects were on by shading the area around the main objects, and then attempt to blend them into the object as to make them more three dimensional. This worked with a varying degree of success. It actually still proved to be difficult to create proper blending to make it look like it wasn't a flat object on a surface. The angle of the surface was also relatively difficult to get a handle on. Despite that I tried to work with what I had created.
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With the exterior completed and the major segments of the interior being complete, it was time for me to finish shading the interior of the objects. I wanted to represent the crevices of the glass by moving some of the shading under the main point of the crevice, in order to show the appearance in further detail. This worked to some degree, but it became slightly difficult to show the bottom portion of the crevice. I also attempted to show the base of the glass by shading it in a circular motion, with a lighter tone on the upper portion of the glass. As for the spoon, I tried to shade lightly on the brighter portions of the spoon, while also progressively shading more intensively as I went along the spoon.
The spoon looked a little too dark in areas, but further strokes would likely make it spread too much and affect the brighter portions of the picture. So with that, I left it as it was. |
Reflection
I was relatively content with the result of this practice. Compared to my prior still lifes, this practice had more tone and texture applied to it by spreading charcoal throughout the piece initially. It also changed the mood of the piece by having all parts of the paper share a relatively dark tone rather than a stark contrast between heavy amounts of charcoal against a blank newsprint background. Aside from the general improvement of the background, I also felt that my shading had improved significantly as well. I was less reliant on concentrated charcoal, which turned out to work better compared to my last pieces, where the charcoal easily stood out way more than intended, especially against the blank newsprint. I feel as though if I were to repeat another still life, it may help me to improve significantly as well as experiment with my shading using concentrated charcoal.
I was relatively content with the result of this practice. Compared to my prior still lifes, this practice had more tone and texture applied to it by spreading charcoal throughout the piece initially. It also changed the mood of the piece by having all parts of the paper share a relatively dark tone rather than a stark contrast between heavy amounts of charcoal against a blank newsprint background. Aside from the general improvement of the background, I also felt that my shading had improved significantly as well. I was less reliant on concentrated charcoal, which turned out to work better compared to my last pieces, where the charcoal easily stood out way more than intended, especially against the blank newsprint. I feel as though if I were to repeat another still life, it may help me to improve significantly as well as experiment with my shading using concentrated charcoal.