Scratch board

For this project we had to pick something that shows movement or texture on a scratch board. I decided to do my dog because there is a lot of texture in his face, and I thought the direction of the fur would look good in the scratch board.

The most difficult part of this piece was making the shadows on his face, and the darker fur, look dark enough. Since I'm use to using pencil, and going from light to dark, it was difficult to go from dark to light. If you don't start out scratching to much, it will make you're piece too light and you can't fix it. Although the shadows are difficult the highlights are easy. To make the bright areas, like the eyes, I used cross bathing to remove as much black as I could to make it light.

Although it's isn't super detailed my favorite part of the piece is the eye. I like how it is the darkest part, but the bright highlight give it light and depth 

Gesture drawing

Gesture drawings are quick sketches just to map out people's body position and make them proportional. For this project we had people pose on a table and drew them from different angles. This was the first time I had tried to draw people, or figures, from life and I think it helped me better understand body proportions.Some challenges I had were making the body proportional and understanding that gesture drawings are not just an outline of the body. Since I was going so quick I would make the legs too short and the torso too long. The arms were always a different length too. Then I learned that the legs are twice the length If the torso.

My favorite part about these gesture drawings was that they were so quick, but you could make them as detailed or sime as you wanted. I like how they all have the same basic shape, and outline, no matter who you are drawing.

Figure drawing

    For this project we were supposed to do a life sized drawing from life. Some challenges I had were proportion, spacing, and shading with charcoal. The face was difficult because when you're drawing from life things are constantly moving and it is hard to capture just one face that they make. The body was also difficult. With a photo you can section it off and make proportions easier, but you can't from life. Shading was difficult because the charcoal was so dark that I was afraid I could make the entire thing black.

    While working with charcoal I think I gained some skill with a familiar media. I had used it before but never for a project this big. By doing this I think I learned how to better control the charcoal pencil and add value, not just color in the shapes.

    My favorite part of the drawing is the folds In her pants, and my least favorite is her eyes, because they look dead and unproportional.