Final Piece: Figure

A 25 minute conté crayon drawing. This is a relaxed pose shown by the position of the arms, the slumped shoulders, and how the model is laid back in the chair. All of these indicate that the muscles are resting, and that the weight is mostly on the chair. There is contrast to this in that one of the legs is on top of the other, and the toe is pointing. While this is also a resting pose, it appears to be one that would not be able to be kept up.

The way the chair has been sketched in helps to give the impression that the model is relaxed, and also helps to create a sense of the room that this drawing is in. This is further aided by the shadow on the floor, which also adds tonal value to the left side of the drawing, balancing out the composition.

Overall the anatomy in this drawing is decent, there are about 7 heads following the shape of the body, but the legs appear to be slightly too short, and one appears to be slightly more twisted than it should.

Final Piece: Still Life

A 30 minute charcoal drawing. This image focuses on complex information within a composition, primarily through the jar of marbles, which has a very solid feel, showing the viewer that the marbles are clearly held within the jar. This is done to a large extent by the rim of the jar, in which the lines override the marbles behind, which in combination with the shape of the jar and how the marbles are placed gives it this solid feel.

This solidness is shared with the rest of the composition through bold lines and shades, creating a picture with depth. This is especially shown in the plastic cube, which has very strange refractive properties, but makes sense when studied. The tall glass also distorts the fabric lines behind it, giving it a place within the image.

Compositionally this image works, the glass is saved from being an orphaned object by the shadow that connects it to the jar, and also by implied lines that follow the bottom and top of the jar and the block. These lines also join together along the glass and the block to create a circular line, aided by some of the folds in the fabric.

Final Piece: Landscape

A 45 minute chalk pastel drawing. This image has good depth provided by the buildings. The building on the right especially does this, framing the edge of the image and showing where the house in the background ends. The trees and sky at the top also create another layer which hints at the world behind the buildings.

The smudging of the wall of the middle house and the detail on top of it creates an area of interest as it is different to the other walls, showing that it is one of the more important areas of the image. This is confirmed by the detail in the piping of the same house, and also by how it is fairly central in the composition.

The way the marks on the walls are made also contributes to this, as they all point towards the central area, drawing the viewer's eye into the detail.

Week 12: Facial Expression

A 15 minute conté crayon drawing, this image is focused on expression. For this particular expression, while at first glance the viewer may think it is shocked due to the eyebrow, the lack of expression in the mouth shows that this is not the case, and that this is a face that is authoritative, calm, slightly sarcastic, and says "Really?"

The focus on the expression is helped by the fact that the rest of the image is fairly low-detail, while still showing what form is being described. This tells the viewer that the low detail areas are less important, but still valid to help with the overall image.

The anatomy of the face is good, and the view works as a tilted 3/4 view, helped by the darker left side of the face and the dark outline where the hair starts.

Week 11: Portraiture

A 25 minute conté crayon portrait drawing. This was focused on getting correct facial anatomy and likeness. The facial anatomy in this image is helped by the way the marks are made, creating weight and depth, and showing the curvature of the face, through following this curvature with the marks. This is equally effective in the representation of the hair, which is not highly detailed but suggests enough that the viewer can understand what it is simply through the marks.

The anatomy itself is accurate, with the eyes a third of the way down the face, the nose another third down, and the ears aligned to the bottom of the nose. This shows that the image has been planned and measured beforehand. There are also changes visible, as the bottom of the chin can be seen to have moved up. However this is not too obvious as the dark outlines of the face draw the attention back to the face itself.

There is also a good contrast in the tonal values of the dark and light areas, specifically the two sides of the face, where the further one is barely visible and just suggested in the shade.

Week 10: Colour in Skin

A 30 minute conté crayon portrait drawing focused on the colours in skin and how it reacts to light. In this image this is done through yellow, red, and blue. There is not much in between the two layers of skin at the neck, which is why the light has shown through substantially more in that area than in others. This is equally true of the hair, where some individual strands have caught the light, but overall the outline is thicker than it is for the face.

The outline of light on the head, by contrast, is thin. This is because there is much more here for the light to pass through. The blue between the nose and cheek is another indicator of this, showing a lack of light. The red at the bottom of the nose is a contrast to this, showing where just red light has passed through the skin. This depiction of light and how it reacts with the skin is very indicative of some of the properties of skin.

The rest of the skin is brown as the image is backlit, and so there is not much tonal variation in the brown, as it is more to depict the lack of light in those areas.

Week 9: Figure and Drapery

A  30 minute conté crayon drawing showing perspective and drapery interacting with the human form. This drapery has tonal variations and one of the darkest parts of the image, which lends itself to the idea of it being draped over the human form, and having a shape because of this. In addition to this, it also helps to show the human form underneath, as the viewer knows it would not have a shape without the body.

The foreshortening of the body in this is explained through the perspective of the body, in addition to the perspective of the bed to which it is parallel. With foreshortening, the anatomy of this figure is correct, and appears to be relaxed and slumped. This is shown especially through the legs, which are in comfortable positions, and the shoulders, which have a gentle curve and are not stretching.

The shadow at the top of the image gives the drawing a sense of not just being in a void, which is also helped by the bed on which the model is laid, and also creates a line which the viewer can follow to return to the bottom of the image, where they can then follow the body or bed back up to the top again. This creates an image which the viewer is more likely to linger on.