Tuesday, December 4, 2007


Charcoal on 14x17 vellum bristol. This is a 3-hour pose of Liza, I believe we are on our the 7th meeting in tonal drawing. In the heirarchy of interest, I decided to have the thigh as the first, as it was getting most of the light. The torso as the second and the head as third. After I blocked the light from the shadow, I used the soft charcoal vine then blend it with a brush to create a middletone, then pick up some highlights. Although I started this drawing with a linear form, it is always ideal to soften them in the last stage- a soft charcoal pencil is best to used at this stage. I tried to pick some highlights for the hair in its middle section to suggest the roundness and give volume to the face. The background seemingly appeared as it was, although I toned it down so as not to distract my focal point. I was trying to maintain some nice highlights at the lower back of the torso, but Rick suggested to keep it simple and to practice squinting a lot more. He suggested also that darkening the lower part of the thigh will give space between the foot--that is, if you have an adjacent limb or part of object that needed to appear one part receeding the other. It not yet perfect, but I am getting there.