Week 2- Shape and Pattern

 This week we have been presented a way more difficult still life, that had very interesting objects with very different textures. I knew this task was going to be difficult, but at least this time we were allowed to shade, which made me really happy.  We had multiple still lifes to choose from, and the one that attracted me the most was one that had a basket and multiple shells inside it.

As always, I have started with some thumbnail sketches. The first one ended up having the object too far from each other, which made to composition look off, so for the next one, I brought the elements closer and positioned the vase slightly higher in order to get a nice S shape going on. I also made the canvas size smaller, because I had way too much negative space on the side.

After that, I started working on the final piece, which was more challenging than I thought. The basket looked off and I was struggling to get the shapes of the shells right. Teodora reminded me that the elements that were making up the basket would get smaller on the sides due to the perspective. I have made the adjustments, and that totally fixed the visual. She also told me that I should try to understand the shape of the shells better before I start drawing them, so I took photos of them from different angles, which helped me a lot in the process. The problem was that I was looking at them from a 2D view, which was flattening my drawing. 

Unfortunately, the session was over by the time I finished the sketch, so I took some pictures and continued working at home. I worked some more on the shapes, added more detail, and then started the shading part.

At the start of my projects, I like adding some graphite powder all over the canvas to have a nice gray as a starting point. After that, using a rubber I erase the lighter objects and also the highlights. I found this method incredibly helpful for achieving the objects' tonal value.

As advised by Teodora, I started shading the dark object first, the vase in this case, in order to have more range of shades when I get to the others. Since the object was the furthest away, I didn't add too much detail, but I tried to induce that t was highly reflective with very bright highlights and a lot of contrast.

To make the objects pop even more, and showcase the difference in the tonal values, I have added a darker background around the shells, and a lighter one around the vase. After that, I started adding the shadows and details to the shells, trying to showcase their structure at the same time.

I decided to give the basket more contrast than the ones on the shells since it was a darker object, and also one with a lot more texture. I have also simplified the shapes a little, not too much though, because I think the basket was way too detailed for an A3 drawing. 

The final step was drawing the nuts and adding the shadows of the objects, which tied the entire composition together in a nice matter.

Final piece

I am particularly happy with how this drawing turned out! I think It achieves the effect that I was aiming for, but I think I could add a little more detail to make it even more interesting.

For this drawing, I have used a range of materials, as: Graphite powder, rubber, rubber pencil, and F, HB, B, 2B, 34, 4B, 6B pencils.