Day 4: Manipulating Fabric Tones

Day 4: I did not get too much done today. I continued to do a little more work on the hair. I am using a very fine point brush and doing each hair as an individual line so it is taking awhile. I can not make the whole head completely black because there are some hairs that look lighter because of the reflection from the light. I mostly worked on the wrinkles on the top left shoulder. Making the shirt look realistic is all about how you manipulate the tones of the wrinkles. I am doing this by first putting down the darkest part of the wrinkle, letting the ink dry, and then working my way up from lightest to darkest to transition the rest of the shadow. This method is working well for me right now but it is a long process that I am finding quite soothing.

Previous Day (Day 3)

Day 4

Sumi Ink Day 3, Working On Shadows

Day 3: I started to go into more detail today. I continued to work focus on the darkest areas first and then work up in tone value from there. I also put a lot of time into the right side of the face to emphasize the shadow being casted. Just like my last charcoal drawing I am still trying to figure out how to get that cloth like feel on the shirt. It is hard because I am still used to making hard edges, especially in paintings, and I've realized that you need to have more of curving lines and free flowing lines instead. I am happy with the way the for arm came out but I am going to go back to that and add finer details and touch ups. I also learned that if you make a mistake you can use a wet sponge and a paper towel too add water and dry it to remove some ink. It doesn't remove the ink completely and can ruin the paper but works well for touchups.

Previous Day (Day 2)

Day 3

Sumi Ink Self Portrait Day 2

Day 2: I started using ink today on the painting. I am using a easel so sometimes the watery ink will start to run down the paper when I don't want it too. The good new is that the water color paper I am using is very high quality and very absorbent. I was encouraged to put the lightest tones on first and work my way up in darkness but I realized I prefer putting the dark tones on first. This is because I do not have to lighten the darkest tones at all with water which is difficult to predict how light it will be, This may not be the best way to approach it but I feel this way to be most comfortable for me. Ive realized I need to loosen up more with the brush. Im trying to make it as detailed as I can when at this point I should be trying to just get good brush strokes and tones in.

Day 2: Adding Ink

Day 1: Previous Day

Sumi Ink Self Portrait Day 1

Day 1: I am starting a Sumi Ink self portrait. I have never worked with Sumi Ink or even painted in ink so this will be a new experience for me and will be interesting. I have started the the same way I start my oil paintings which is by lightly sketching the picture onto the water color paper. It makes it a lot easier to divide the paper into quadrants. I split it up into eight sections and I did the same on the photo. This makes it easier to scale the photo onto the paper. I then used the quadrants to sketch the photo as eight separate pieces instead of one big one. Next time I will start using ink to start finding the right tones.

Rough Sketch of Photo

Photo I Will Be Painting

Day 4: Final Day

Day 4: I think that I am going to call this the completion of this piece. I continued to lighten some areas in the background and worked on the inner shadows of the round pillar cap. I used compressed charcoal and a lot of pressure to get a very dark black tone and then a subtle lighter tone at the bottom. I worked on the paper drapery as well. I tried to transition the tones of darks and lights smoothly and I found that the best way to get that realistic paper look. I also realized finding shadows in something is a lot easier if you try to see it all as shapes. If you are able to see the shapes of the shadows instead of just seeing them as shadows it becomes a lot easier to illustrate them on to the paper. Like I said I am now done with this piece but if you comment any things I could fix I will most likely go back and make edits. My next piece I am working on is a ink self portrait. I have never worked with ink so it will be a new experience for me. Feel free to comment any tips.

Day 4 Progress/ Final Piece

Previous Day (Day 3)

Day 3: Emphasizing Mid Tones

Day 3: I continued to work on the shadows casted in the background. I tried to capture the curves and different tones in the draping paper with a kneaded eraser and a tissue but its difficult to get the right transition of darks and lights to get that realistic paper look. I also continued to lighten areas and in the brightest parts of the still life I used a white charcoal pencil to emphasize the highlights. Next time Im planning on spending most of my time working on the draping paper and making it look right. Ive learned that taking a picture on your phone and going into edit you can switch the image into black and white. This helps to show the different tones and I have found it quite helpful.

Example of Black And White Photo of the Still Life

Third Day Progress

Previous Day (Day 2)

Day 2: Finding Shadows and Outlining

Day 2: I started enhancing the darks and light tones of the bust. I added more details to the dress by adding a layer of charcoal and then using a kneaded eraser to remove the layer of charcoal in the lighter areas and leaving the dark shadows. I also left the neck bones dark to highlight the bones. I lightened the areas above the breasts to emphasize the curvature and the reflecting light. I also started to remove charcoal with a pink rubber eraser to start the outline of the draping paper above the bust. Ive always found it difficult to show the shadows and curves of paper and cloth so if anyone has any suggestions please leave a comment.

Previous Day (Day 1)

Day 2 Progress

Day 1: Getting Started

Day 1: My first piece will be a reductive charcoal drawing of this still life set up. Charcoal has never been my favorite form of drawing because of how easily it smudges and how messy it can get. On the other hand reductive charcoal is nice because it is easy to fix a mistakes you make. Charcoal also works well when your image has many shadows because you can go from very dark darks to vibrant whites and the contrast can end up being beautiful. Feel free to comment anything I should change/ fix in the piece.

Start of Process

Still Life Set Up (Charcoal)

Overview:

On this blog, I will be posting pictures of my art that I am working on each time I work on it. I will then be talking about problems I am facing during the creation of this piece and how I have overcame them. I would also like this to be a place that artists can come and make suggestions to fix and better the pieces, help problem solve and give constructive criticism. The purpose of this blog is not to talk about art but is to help people solve problems they face in art. I hope this helps other young artists and answers some of the questions they may have to make amazing works of art. I will be dabbling in many types of art including charcoal, pen, and pencil drawing along with painting as well. I hope this blog helps you.