Blog Post #5 - Shading Project at Home ( Sorry again for no pictures D: )

At home I decided to draw my metal ruler on top of my dark wooden desk. I chose this because I thought that it would be challenging and interesting to draw the metal and then the grain of the wood. During this drawing I did find it really challenging to draw the grain of the wood because my desk is so dark it was hard to see the texture of it but, I think that it had a really nice contrast to my ruler which was a lighter color. Another difficult part of this was the light shine on the desk.

For this drawing I had my desk lamp shine down onto my desk and then reflect to the ruler. I did this because I wanted the lighting to be interesting but I also wanted it to be off of the ruler so you could see the measurement lines.

I think that it was easier to draw at home because then I could listen to the music on my phone which helps a lot and it was also quieter and I didn't feel like I had to rush through my drawing. I could take as much time as I wanted to when I wanted to, I didn't have a time limit or a time amount that I had to work on this. In all I am very happy with how my work turned out, I don't think I would have changed anything.

Blog Post #4 - Post Shading Project ( Didn't have pictures, sorry... D: )

       Since blog post #3 I don't think that I have shown improvement in my art, it was hard to add more detail in my drawings and cast shadow drawings are more difficult than I thought they could be. In all it was difficult but I may have gotten a little bit better.

       I think that the first drawing I did, the paint brush one turned out the best.  I think that it had the best detail but I think I could have worked on the cast shadow a bit more.  I think that the paint splatters and the brush bristles were the best part of that drawing but I still think I could have done a bit more with the shading and the paint splatters on the metal of the brush.  

In these projects the most difficult part has been the shading. In the future I think I should spend a bit more time on the shading rather than the basic shape of the object I'm drawing because I feel like I spent most of my time changing the shape of the actual drawing itself rather than working on more important things like shading and detail.

In this past week or two I learned that shading and detail are very important to a drawing. Instead of trying to make the shape perfect have people use their imaginations instead and work on the more important parts of the drawing like the details or shading. They are very important to a drawing because it makes the drawing look more 3D and less like a drawing, more like the actual object. They also help the drawing look like a picture rather than a drawing if thats what you're looking for.

Blog Post #3 - First Drawing and Shading Practice.

Final Drawing

Final Drawing Sketches

First Shading Worksheet

My first shading worksheet (to the right) was really fun for me. I have had some experience shading but I think this helped a lot. One thing that really helped me make the blends were the eraser and the side of the pencil. The eraser helped because it helped me smooth out the shading and the side of the pencil helped a lot because it made it so it looked like actual shading, not just multiple lines put together so that it looked darker. Although the eraser did help, something that I still struggle with in shading is blending the pencil so that it doesn't look as blocky.

       In my final drawing I decided to draw a paint brush.  I chose to draw it so that the paintbrush was slightly going off the page in two different places at an angle; the top and the right side of the paper.  I chose this composition because I think it really made the paintbrush look interesting and it was an unusual way to draw a paintbrush.  I chose it also because it followed the rule of thirds, I made it an open composition, its not symmetrical, and it followed the rule of odds.  Before I started to contour it I drew the basic shapes of the paintbrush, the wood, the metal that connects to the wood and then the bristles.  After that I started to draw the basics of the bristles and the bigger details in the metal of the paintbrush.  After that I started to draw the different paint splatters on the handle and metal of the brush.  At the end I worked with the shading.  The hardest part about this drawing I think, was the shading.  Having all of the paint splatters on the handle along with the different textures of the wood the metal and the bristles I don't think this was a good idea to draw first.  

Something that I want to improve in my final project is more detail within the shading. I also want to incorporate a better cast shadow and more detail in general in the wood and the metal.