Charcoal Still Life Drawing
Medium: Compressed and vine charcoal on newsprint paper
Completion: 2021 August
Reflection
Looking back on my piece, I am happy with the way it turned out. This was my first time using charcoal as my medium for drawing and I really liked the way it looked in the end. The vine charcoal was nice because if you didn't like a line you could always rub your hand over it and it erases. The compressed charcoal was a lot harder to rub away but you could still blend and shade it really nicely. The most important skills I used to create my work included; shading, sketching, and light theory. In the piece, a huge tool was shading, in order to have the best level of shading I needed to include big amounts of contrast between the light and the dark. I made sure the I drew all the darker part of the fish black and all the highlights of the fish the lightest I could. Sketching was a technique I used, when I started the piece. I had to sketch the piranha out and draw it to space it out on the newsprint paper. I then had to sketch out the fins using different lines. Light theory was a skill I used because I had to see where the light bounced off the piranha. When the light shined on certain parts of the fish I knew it had to be one of the lightest parts of the still life. When shadows were cast on the piranha that's where I shaded the fish a lot darker. This helped create contrast between the light and dark parts of the fish. Overall with this piece I liked the way it turned out and how the charcoal worked, I want to try to use it in more upcoming projects. The hardest part was the spacing but after I put down a basic outline of where I wanted everything to go, it got easier. I now also have a better understanding of balance to a piece. For example I needed to make sure the piranha was covering all of the newsprint so the paper didn't look uneven.
Looking back on my piece, I am happy with the way it turned out. This was my first time using charcoal as my medium for drawing and I really liked the way it looked in the end. The vine charcoal was nice because if you didn't like a line you could always rub your hand over it and it erases. The compressed charcoal was a lot harder to rub away but you could still blend and shade it really nicely. The most important skills I used to create my work included; shading, sketching, and light theory. In the piece, a huge tool was shading, in order to have the best level of shading I needed to include big amounts of contrast between the light and the dark. I made sure the I drew all the darker part of the fish black and all the highlights of the fish the lightest I could. Sketching was a technique I used, when I started the piece. I had to sketch the piranha out and draw it to space it out on the newsprint paper. I then had to sketch out the fins using different lines. Light theory was a skill I used because I had to see where the light bounced off the piranha. When the light shined on certain parts of the fish I knew it had to be one of the lightest parts of the still life. When shadows were cast on the piranha that's where I shaded the fish a lot darker. This helped create contrast between the light and dark parts of the fish. Overall with this piece I liked the way it turned out and how the charcoal worked, I want to try to use it in more upcoming projects. The hardest part was the spacing but after I put down a basic outline of where I wanted everything to go, it got easier. I now also have a better understanding of balance to a piece. For example I needed to make sure the piranha was covering all of the newsprint so the paper didn't look uneven.
Process
Picture One-
To begin, I started by using vine charcoal to sketch out the piranha so that I could have an understanding of how the charcoal worked and how much pressure I would need to draw with it. I needed to make sure that the fish filled up the entire newsprint so I spaced out where I wanted certain fins and the mouth before I drew the whole fish. This made is easier when I connected the lines because everything was already in place I just needed to make it look more realistic. After I had a good outline of the fish I added the darkness of some of the main shadows with the vine charcoal.
Picture One-
To begin, I started by using vine charcoal to sketch out the piranha so that I could have an understanding of how the charcoal worked and how much pressure I would need to draw with it. I needed to make sure that the fish filled up the entire newsprint so I spaced out where I wanted certain fins and the mouth before I drew the whole fish. This made is easier when I connected the lines because everything was already in place I just needed to make it look more realistic. After I had a good outline of the fish I added the darkness of some of the main shadows with the vine charcoal.
Picture Two-
As I continued, I start by laying out the shadows and the darkest parts of the piranha. This is where I started adding more detail. I looked where the light reflected off the fish and made sure to keep that a light gray. I saw where the shadows were cast and took the compressed charcoal to create the shadows. This is the step where I wanted to sketch all the detail of the fins and gills on the fish. In this step I also drew the eye. This was a hard part because I wanted to get the shape just right, but after I did that I had to make sure the color of the charcoal were in the right spot to make it more realistic.
As I continued, I start by laying out the shadows and the darkest parts of the piranha. This is where I started adding more detail. I looked where the light reflected off the fish and made sure to keep that a light gray. I saw where the shadows were cast and took the compressed charcoal to create the shadows. This is the step where I wanted to sketch all the detail of the fins and gills on the fish. In this step I also drew the eye. This was a hard part because I wanted to get the shape just right, but after I did that I had to make sure the color of the charcoal were in the right spot to make it more realistic.
Picture Three-
This was my final step for my still life drawing. Overall I am happy with the way it turned out. For this step, I wanted to show the contrast between the shadows and highlights. I did this by really going in there with the compressed charcoal. I wanted to emphasis that the top of the piranha and the head had cast more shadows than the middle if the fish where the light bounced off. A challenge I faced with this step was when I would almost be done then want to add more detail somewhere but press to hard with the charcoal, so I would have to go back in and blend it out some more.
This was my final step for my still life drawing. Overall I am happy with the way it turned out. For this step, I wanted to show the contrast between the shadows and highlights. I did this by really going in there with the compressed charcoal. I wanted to emphasis that the top of the piranha and the head had cast more shadows than the middle if the fish where the light bounced off. A challenge I faced with this step was when I would almost be done then want to add more detail somewhere but press to hard with the charcoal, so I would have to go back in and blend it out some more.