Studio Art Charcoal Still Life Reflection

Reflection

          This work of charcoal was very important because it showed our ability to draw reflective objects as well as understand concepts like composition (cropped object), contrast, and use of lines. I think this has appropriately pushed me as an artist to look carefully at a set-up in front of me instead of looking at a reference photo. Since our viewpoints and positions kept changing every day, this project taught me how to critically observe positioning. One very valuable piece of advice I learned from Mr. Laurence was that the white pencil for highlights need to be minimal, as it can easily get overdone and ruin the overall realism. I had worked with charcoal once before (in 8th grade), so that experience had taught me things like dirtying the paper, using highlights, and utilizing my materials appropriately. This experience was very unique though because we had to set the objects up in front of us and directly observe the still-life. 

Successes:

          I think I was successful at the highlights, especially the highlights of apple and glass's reflection. I tried to use the white pencil only when necessary, but the white pencil really helped bring life to the objects. I also think the composition of the overlapping objects helped because not all objects were equidistant and I also got a good variation of shadows. 

Challenges/Things to work on:

          I feel like my shadow of the candlestick could have been further refined. I could have also shown it through the glass. I big challenge in charocal work is smudging, and many times I'd wipe away a lot of my work and have to work back. For me though, my biggest challenge was getting started with a strong idea. I started off with something but wasn't committed to it, and spent about 2 blocks figuring out what I wanted to do. Consequently, I lagged behind and needed extra hours after school to catch up. In the end, though, this experience taught me an important lesson on time-management and the importance of starting off strong. I will use this as a reminder to keep my future projects on schedule. 

Feedback:

          Some feedback I recieved was that I had smooth shading and my reflection highlights weren't too harsh. They said I had strong compostion with different shadows, and my objects showed variation in shape and size. They also said I had a good contrast, with blacks against whites to define the sharp edges. But they also recommended I work on my candlestick's shadow as well as distinguish the apple from its shadow.

MY PROGRESS:

First Day
 

Second Day 

Third Day 

Fourth Day