Still Life Drawing Analysis

The objective of this assignment was to recreate what we saw. The drawing must include things we see directly in the present. Before arriving on good copy paper, I played around with my available objects and composition choices. After all the rough work, I began sketching the contour of the chosen objects and curtains as lightly as possible using an HB pencil. I purposely drew the objects small and created larger curtains. However, this decision turned out to be a mistake. I started to shade in the areas that had any shadows using an HB pencil after finishing the contour lines. As the teacher had stated, I followed step by step.  Shading everything using the lightest value and gradually darkening, helped me produce a more realistic and balanced artwork. The 2B pencil was used to give the shadows a darker value after completing the first layer of value. However, during the process, I realized, I drew too many curtains, and the curtains were a lot harder to shade than I expected. My goal was to create a realistic and natural drawing, but the curtains were a mess. Erasing, finding another curtain and drawing it again took up all my time, and before I realized it, I was falling behind. After the curtains, I went straight to the flower. Using a 2B pencil, I darkened the shadows that were shaded by the HB pencil. The pencil was darker than I thought, so I blended the dark spots using my HB pencil. I moved onto the skull after the flower. Being hesitant about which to keep or replace, I ignored the curtains. After the second layer, the objects were turning out amazing. The curtains and the background were chaos. I shaded in the shadows of the curtains using an HB and 2B pencil. Afterward, I went in with the final value and shaded in spots that were meant to be very dark, using a 6B pencil, while blending everything using my 2B and HB pencil once again. Afterward, I went in with the final value and shaded in spots that are supposed to be very dark, using a 6B pencil, while blending everything using my 2B and HB pencil once again. 

Throughout my rough copies, I tried many different types of compositions. The diagonal composition was most attractive among the choices. To create a diagonal composition in my drawing, I positioned the skull on the bottom left corner. The flower would run from behind the skull and point diagonally to the top right corner. Emphasizing the diagonal angle, I drew the curtains running from top right corner to bottom left corner. The shadows of each curtain and the skull’s eye were shaded in darker than usual, for a more balanced composition. The page produces a clearer line through the negative space on the first half of the drawing.