Studio Art Timed Oil Pastel/Conte Blog Post

With my timed oil-pastel drawing, I tried my best to maintain a sharp and defined contour line throughout the figure. To make the line as sharp as I could, I used a contrasting light color next to the contour which I learned from the demonstration; this helped clean the contour. With the oil pastel, the shading was a fairly quick process. I kept in mind that I'd need thicker, more prominent lines around bigger parts of the body and finer lines around small details. I asked for feedback throughout my process to find out where I can improve, like how I can show evidence of my foreshortening and how to get the white lines in between the fingers to show the slight gap between the fingers. This really helped me improve and push myself to do better. I enjoyed this process because I was observing at an angle that showed foreshortening, overlapping, and interesting negative space.

There were many similarities and differences between the pencil and oil pastel. For one, the oil pastel was way harder to get a sharp contour line than the pencil. It was easier to get finer details with the pencil. However, the shading in the oil pastel went by faster than the pencil. The benefit of oil pastel was definitely that I could clean up the edges with a contrasting color. I prefer oil pastel as a medium because the oil base made it easier for me to blend in colors while shading.

Although my piece isn't complete, I look to completing this and making it a part of my portfolio.