Reflections

This drawings was done in graphite pencil and was designed to show reflective surfaces. I drew a selection of glass bottles on different levels and angels to get different light effects. i used a graphite pencil as it is a material i am comfortable using and i did not want to risk using something else. By using a putty rubber i could get some good reflections on my work that would have been difficult if i was relying purely on shading. As it was all glass some areas were very difficult, especially where the bottles over lapped meaning i could see one through the other making some very interesting reflections. A lot of the bottles had labels causing a big area where there where no reflections to show this i drew the labels as a solid black shape as it would have taken too long to draw them in detail. The part that took me the longest was the gin bottle, because of the way it was angled and its shape it took me a while to get right. The main area I'm not very happy with is the drapes underneath the bottles as i feel they could be better.

This charcoal drawing shows plenty of reflective surfaces and how light interacts on a spherical object. the focal point of this picture is the ball as that is where the light is hitting in the most interesting way. there was a cone behind the sphere which had some very interesting light effects on but unfortunately i couldn't see a lot of it from where i was sitting. the light on the sphere was very interesting as there where some very definite reflections on the top and a couple of fainter ones on the bottom. But at the same time there was also a lot of shadow on the ball especially on the bottom closest to the table. The drapery worked really well on this drawing, having had practice on my previous charcoal picture I got the folds and creases a lot better this time. I made the lines around the edge of the ball and drapes quiet heavy making it stand out so it might become an implied line. The fact i could smooth and smudge the charcoal made it possible to have some good gradients and soft highlights. Just like the last one i shaded the background black so as to make the foreground stand out.

I did this picture using charcoal and putty rubber. My main focus for this drawing was the shading and lighting. The entire piece of work is drawn from charcoal, i didn't draw it out in something like pencil first. Charcoal is great at showing how light interacts on different shaped surfaces as it can be smoothed and blended together, or highlights can be easily applied with a putty rubber. From where i was standing the objects were very light as the light source was right next to me. This meant that i got more practice with the putty rubber putting in light areas and reinforcing reflections. the objects further back weren't get that much light and as such are covered in shadow with only the tip receiving any form of light. For the drapes i shaded them all in making them quiet dark and then went back with the putty rubber bringing out the lighter areas. The dark shaded back ground not only serves to highlight the light areas but also frames the image quiet nicely. If i was to fix anything there a couple of areas where i have an almost halo effect round some of the objects where there are white spaces, i only noticed this after i had set the charcoal making it very difficult to change.

shape and form 2

For this drawing I used a graphite pencil to draw a group of objects arranged on a table, it took me about 20 minutes to draw. The lines on these objects are there to give them perspective and to add depth to the image, making them more three dimensional. The lines help show an implied line making it easy to follow them. On this image I didn’t draw the table or anything the objects were stood on as I wanted the focus to only be on the objects and nothing else. As a result curtain areas look a bit strange as you can’t see the full object. The direction of the lines is important as they helped me know which direction to shade in and it makes the shadows look more realistic, the shadows also help with the implied line making the eye follow the direction I shaded.  I left the area around them whit with no outside shading as I wanted the shading on the objects to be the most prominent thing and it would have been too difficult to use the same line technique for shadows on the floor. I used a putty rubber to get light areas on the edges of the objects and to add reflections.

shape and form

This drawing was done in graphite pencil; unlike my other graphite pictures this one only shows the silhouette.  Making all the objects silhouettes makes the focal points stand out even more and really draws the eye towards the centre. As they aren’t any actual detail to the objects it is important that the viewer can tell what an object is by just looking at the silhouette. There are even implied lines in this as the viewer has to follow the black silhouette line around the picture as there is no solid thing to look at. When I look at it I start at the handle of the jug as it is a big black area and one of the darkest features on the picture, I then move to the spiralling pieces of metal, down around the top of the jug, down and around the bottle, across to the vase, round the bottom of it, round the glass, over the top of the vase and finally finishing back at the jug spout. The dark sections inside of handles and  small gaps help make the inner white area stand out more and force the eye to move around them picking out the shape in the white.

Planning a drawing, more perspective

This is a graphite pencil drawing of a selection of vases and pots with flowers in-between them. The objects were arranged in such a way as to give it an implied line around the picture, when I look at it I start at the large vase, come down the right hand side across the flowers, around the small jar, down the drapes, back up towards the flowers, and finally the back to the vase we started with. Despite the table and drapes being the biggest thing your eye is drawn to what is on the table. There were a lot of shadows on the objects and table when I drew this, the vase especially had a lot of shadows and reflections making it quiet tricky to draw. The table cloth as well was difficult as it has a lot of folds and creases. I think the dark sections of the cloth when contrasted with the lighter parts really helps show the shape of it as well as making my objects stand out more. This was one of the first drawings I did with a graphite stick and as such it is not as good as it could have been, I had great trouble with the flowers as I’m not that good at drawing flowers anyway never mind with a material I’m not used to.